We are often so caught up in the ‘small stuff’ that it is hard for us to take a step back and consider whether there is really a higher purpose to my life.
In interviews with astronauts who have spent time living on the International Space Station, they all speak of a common experience of peering down at our planet and being struck by the reality that we live on one massive globe suspended, in a great ocean of darkness called space, and yet this planet is only a small dot in a vast universe. The astronauts were all moved by the intensity of the understanding that, as residents on this planet, we all share a common humanity. And when this hits home we change, becoming more tolerant and less disturbed by the small stuff.
The process of mantra meditation results in a person being able to also ‘step back’ from their life and see a much bigger picture. All the ‘stuff’ between my birth and the death of my body is not really my life. IT is mostly just a series of temporary and passing experiences. But I am eternal and need to be more concerned with the eternal than that which is temporary. This spiritual experience is part of the process of enlightenment and is the true purpose of our life.