Why Does Life Feel Meaningless?

People are waking up to a painful truth: that no matter what we do and achieve in life, whether it be marriage, career, or even friendships, more and more of us feel ourselves playing host to an unfillable void within. Meaning is nowhere to be found, and when we face that emptiness, life freezes.

We lie in bed and ask ourselves, why get up? Why think, speak, or do anything at all? This is a paralysis of the spirit, and it is growing more common.

So where does meaning come from? It comes from a revelation above this state, a discovery beyond the ordinary pursuits and satisfactions. If we can somehow talk about life’s meaning and purpose, show it to people, and shake them awake, then there is hope.

If we do nothing, despair deepens. Ultimately, somebody will always try to sell an easy exit, such as pills that promise eternal sleep, and many will gladly take them, swallowing their despair with a glass of water, not caring about what comes afterward.

It might sound illogical: if someone feels so bad, should they not search for a solution? But what can they do when they see no way out? What is there to live for? Yes, people seek connection, for instance in clubs, groups, and small communities, but even those patches are temporary, and too often end up falling short.

Connection alone, without the revelation of life’s meaning, is not the solution. A true solution requires a breakthrough: crossing a barrier of absolute unwillingness and indifference to anything.

After we break through that barrier, we discover a different kind of life. In a sense it is like a death: we must agree, at some level, to renounce our egoistic life of chasing after self-satisfaction.

When we consent to turn away from that way of living, in whatever form that consent takes, we become ready for the next life, one that becomes filled by our forward-moving trajectory to the meaning of life.

What, then, should we do if our soul aches with despair? My simple and blunt advice is to read our materials, i.e., what we have made available at the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. It might sound small, but it is the beginning. Read, learn, and let the idea of life having a grand meaning and purpose enter. I wish I could offer more immediate remedies, but genuinely, this is the first step I can point to.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 23, 2025. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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