# The Meaning of Life

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Stanwood Cobb, The Meaning of Life, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> The Meaning of
> LIFE
> 
> by
> STANWOOD COBB
> It is to develop the soul's creative will
> that it was submerged in matter. As the
> mystic views this worldly life it is a vast
> school whose tasks have but one aim: to
> strengthen and increase the will of man.
> Every obstacle surmounted, every diffi-
> culty overcome, every ingenious device
> by which man masters his environment
> -magnify within him the confidence
> and power and creative greatness of his
> soul, rendering it akin to the Divine in
> its ability to mould matter to its will.
> For matter is not really the harsh, im-
> possible medium that it would seem.
> Handled by the Divinity itself it is easily
> fluent to His will-harmonious, obedi-
> ent, joyously evolving into more and
> more magnificent forms of usefulness
> and beauty.
> As man, then, develops gradually into
> the enjoyment of his spiritual birthright,
> more and more will he too be able to
> control matter, to employ it, to dictate to
> it, and to mould it harmoniously to his
> will.
> The Essential Mysticism
> By STANWOOD COBB
> The Meaning of
> LIFE
> bv
> STANWOOD COBB
> 
> Author of
> DISCOVERJNG THE GENIUS WITHIN YOU ,
> CHARACTER, WISDOM OF WU MING FU .
> 
> PRI CE   I 0 CENTS
> 
> LIFE GUIDANCE SocIETY, Washington 15, D. C.
> COPYRIGHT 1932
> 
> BY STANWOOD COBB
> CHEV Y CHASE, MD.
> PR I NTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
> The Meaning of Life
> W       HEN all is going well we do not ask
> the meaning of life. It is sufficient
> then just to be alive. In the enjoyment of
> health, activity and successful achievement,
> existence is taken for granted and enjoyed for
> its own sake-just as are beauty and love. As
> Emerson has said, beauty is its own excuse
> for being; and so is life when it is zestful and
> JOYOUS.
> But there come into every life periods of
> depression, of frustration, of struggle against
> seemingly overwhelming obstacles . Periods of
> ill health, of over-work, of strain, of anxiety,
> of misfortune. Then it is we ask: What is the
> purpose of existence? What is the good of it
> all? Has life any meaning, or is it only the
> capricious gift of a fortuitous universe?
> I have given a good deal of thought to this
> problem, both in connection with the events
> of my own life and with the events of many
> other lives that have been disclosed in all dra-
> matic detail to my sympathetic study. And I
> have come to the conclusion that the sole pur-
> pose of life, so far as the individual is con-
> cerned, is growth through struggle.
> •3•
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> Life is a struggle. In truth, struggle seems
> to be an inseparable element of all existence.
> It is just this very fact that so frequently
> causes the complaint: What is the good of it
> all?
> Growth, I feel sure, is the purpose of it all.
> Life means opportunity for growth on the
> part of the individual. And we grow only by
> means of activity-or, as the psychologists
> call it, purposeful activity. Not to be active is
> to stagnate, atrophy, crystallize. Movement is
> the sign of life. It is more even than that. It
> is the essence of life.
> 
> T IFE, from one point of view, is simply a
> L succession of inevitable exertions. If we
> did not start out on a career of purposeful
> activity the moment we came into the world
> we would never learn how to walk; how to
> talk ; how to use our hands; how to think.
> After the infant period is passed, we strug-
> gle through an education. Here too we attain
> growth only by means of mental and manual
> activity. At its best education is a struggle-
> an arduous endeavor which has its strains, its
> anxieties, its obstacles, its frustrations. All of
> these scholastic difficulties of growing and de-
> veloping youth could be avoided simply by
> not receiving an education. But even with the
> • 4.
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> possibility of such a simple solution of our
> pedagogic difficulties, no sane person would
> avail himself of this way out of intellectual
> struggle. We wish an education, with all its
> strains and difficulties, because we wish to
> grow and develop intellectually. We may at
> times envy the savages who bask indolently in
> the sunshine of the South Sea Islands; but we
> are really never desirous of substituting such
> a mentally idle career for the intellectual
> training of the modern technological world.
> When the struggle and strain of education
> is over, can we then relapse into a life of ease
> and supilleness? Not at all. The real effort
> of our life has hardly begun. We now face a
> career. This calls for every ounce of energy
> in us. Here again we meet with difficulties,
> with strains, with disappointments and bitter
> frustrations . All the trials to which humanity
> is heir seem to be concentrated in the human
> environment of the business world-a Scylla
> and Charybdis through which the individual
> must carefully steer his bark if he would reach
> successful havens.
> Meanwhile marriage beckons from afar.
> This seems in prospect like a halcyon cruise
> amid Elysian islands. But in actual experience
> we discover that marriage has been but the
> portal to more struggle and effort. One of the
> most difficult things in life is the human ad-
> •5•
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> j ustment rendered necessary by marriage, if
> marriage is to result in any kind of harmony
> of living. All those pampered qualities which
> as son or daughter were deemed but charming
> peccadillos in the eyes of adoring parents, ap-
> pear now as inexcusable faults which must be
> shuffled off before married life can rise to a
> successfu l stage. Those twain are indeed for-
> tunate who in this marital struggle attain to a
> permanent harmony and happiness.
> To the mated life is eventually added an-
> other factor of difficulty-progeny. If the
> individual has faced anxieties before, they are
> as nothing to the anxieties met and faced in
> child raising. What difficulties of child health ,
> of child development, of child training! What
> financial strains and stringencies! What un-
> foreseen disturbances to the normal tran-
> quility of life!
> And now when life has run its course and
> the physical vehicle is too worn out to further
> convey the soul on its journeys, does death
> have its way with us without a struggle? Not
> at all. This universal event is accompanied by
> pain, by agony, by intense struggle-just as
> the event of birth. The soul seeks to maintain
> its hold upon the body, while the body seeks
> to shake it off. This tragic struggle can end, of
> course, only in one way. But why the wrestle,
> the struggle, the strain? Why can we not just
> •6•
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> go to sleep and fail to wake up? Some do die
> this way. Perhaps many more of us would if
> we knew how to do it .
> 
> W       HAT an immense struggle all this
> living is! Yet we can dimly perceive,
> even in the midst of it, something of meaning.
> And upon retrospection, as they say a drown-
> ing person sees his life pass before him, we
> can sense the purpose of it all-that purpose
> being growth.
> And these struggles, these obstacles which
> have been thrown before us, have been enor-
> mous aids to our development. We have be-
> come very different individuals because of the
> struggles of education. Again we have grown
> enormously through the struggles inherent in
> married life. Parenthood we have found a
> great field of development; for while we were
> training our children, they were training us.
> And in pursuing a career we have attained to
> undreamt heights of certitude and power.
> We cannot avoid struggle. But we can
> meet struggle as an opportunity for growth.
> We can suffer obstacles and frustration to be
> merely a misfortune to us; or we can utilize
> them as aids to development. If growth is
> attained, the struggle seems well worth the
> while. If growth has not been attained in the
> • 7.
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> course of struggle, in every case, I think it safe
> to say, the fault is our own and not that of
> Destiny.
> Growth, however, is not an end in itself.
> It is a means to achievement. The greater the
> development of the individual, the greater his
> power of achievement. To grow, to achieve-
> this is to perform our part in the universe.
> When we do this we have become creators.
> We are expressing the native genius which is
> within each one of us.
> And miracle of miracles, achievement
> causes further growth. So that we have here
> an infinite cycle, of which the mythological
> snake swallowing its tail may be taken as a
> symbol; for there is no end to this process of
> achievement by means of growth, and growth
> by means of achievement. Achievement there-
> fore becomes both the means and the goal of
> growth. And since growth is life itself, we
> must conclude that achievement is the evi-
> dence of a constantly expanding existence.
> Could any scheme of things more wonder-
> ful than this be conceived? Destiny has placed
> within the hands of every individual the com-
> plete means for achieving growth, and for
> expressing that growth in terms of achieve-
> ment.
> We might depict existence in the form of a
> diagram. At the center, is the Self-radiating
> •8•
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> out into the world of matter, and expressing
> itself by means of growth and achievement.
> At the perimeter, which we may call E xis-
> tence, we find struggle leading into growth,
> growth leading into achievement, achieve-
> ment leading to more growth, and so on to
> renewed struggle, et cetera, ad infinitum.*
> 
> T IFE forces struggle upon us at all times;
> L but especially is struggle a necessary fac-
> tor of achievement, as has been shown. Some-
> times one wonders why so many obstacles
> must arise between the conception and the ac-
> complishment of a project. Why is matter al-
> ways obstructing life?
> The farmer and his toil is a symbol of the
> difficulties that face all purposeful activity on
> a material plane. To get the earth to bear for
> him, the farmer must first plow it. This nec-
> essary process meets with obstruction at every
> step of the way. When the earth is at last
> thrown aside and reduced to submissive fur-
> rows, the planting must be done. But this is
> not the end of the matter. Constant cultiva-
> tion is necessary. The elements present new
> dangers almost daily. And as if that were not
> enough, the insidious attacks of the insect
> world call for incessant battle if these greatest
> *The cycle is repeated in ascendi ng curves, as we master the lessons
> li fe brings us .
> •9•
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> foes of man are to be conquered so that crops
> may grow healthy. To bring about a success-
> ful harvest is a long drawn out task, requiring
> infinite patience, industry and wisdom.
> And so it is with all thought of man toward
> achievement. The idea, the plan many come
> with a rush of joyous inspiration. Here on this
> inner plane all is clear smooth sailing. But
> between the idea and its accomplishment ap-
> pear a thousand obstacles, once a thought-
> form enters upon the plane of activity.
> This is so characteristic of life that we must
> accept it as a law of existence : achievement
> can be reached only over the barrier of in-
> numerable obstacles.
> Why is this so? Is it, perhaps, because if
> our ideas could be transformed immediately
> into realities we should become magicians
> and demigods-a veritable danger to the uni-
> verse? For we are not isolated individuals
> when we come to the plane of action, as we
> were on the plane of conception. In the world
> of the idea we can erect dream castles ad
> libitum without in any way interfering with
> other people's dream castles. But when we
> come to deal with the phenomenal world, our
> plans and efforts must somehow fit in with
> plans and efforts of other people; they must
> harmonize with the organization of humanity
> and with the universal scheme of things. All
> • 10.
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> such plans can be achieved only in competi-
> tion with the plans of millions of other indi-
> viduals, in a medium of matter which itself
> opposes obstinately the will of man.
> ff we understand these laws, we shall not
> be so impatient at difficulties in our career;
> at unexpected obstacles in the working out of
> projects and ideas.
> 
> 0      NE thing that we can do is to make
> certain that what we are attempting to
> accomplish is reasonable-is worth while not
> only for ourselves but for the world in general;
> and that it is in line with our own abilities and
> strength.
> Much of the struggle in life is unnecessary
> and avoidable. It is due to the unwise en-
> deavor to accomplish impossible enterprises
> -things not meant for us.
> When Napoleon, in the intoxication of his
> titanic vanity, undertook to invade Russia, his
> rashness and lack of wisdom had already
> guaranteed insuperable obstacles to the ac-
> complishment of his plans. Never before had
> his military aims been impossible of achieve-
> ment. Always his power of will and military
> genius had enabled him to overcome any ob-
> stacles which existed. But here, for the first
> time, Napoleon undertook a quixotic enter-
> • 11 •
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> pri$e. ttere was an und~rtaking in which his
> geniµs ,could not suffice for vidory, for it was
> P.ot simply a case of defeating the enemy on
> the field of battle. For the first time Napoleon
> found himself up against insuperable ob-
> stacles.
> Therefore, we must always consider care-
> fully everything we undertake, realizing that
> quixotic quests are sure to meet with insup-
> erable difficulties and to end in disaster.
> We must budget and economize our energy
> as wisely as we do our income. If a shipload
> of banknotes goes down to the bottom of the
> sea a lot of money may be lost, but very little
> real wealth. For actual wealth is labor con-
> verted into things of human need. The mis-
> direction of labor, either our own or that of
> other people, into futile enterprises is the
> greatest loss of wealth that can befall. There-
> fore, make sure that your labor is creating
> real wealth for the world; and rest assured
> that in that case it will bring sufficient recom-
> pense, both in income and in happiness, to
> yourself.
> 
> I  F we find ourselves obstructed in the
> course we are taking; if we find obstacles
> hemming us in on every side; or if we find
> ourselves plunged into misfortune-our first
> step should be to analyze the situation. See
> • 12.
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> where the trouble is coming from. Perhaps it
> really flows from ourselves; the fault may be
> in us. Or, if it comes from without, let us s e
> what causes it, and move out of the dang
> if possible.
> Nature has planted in even the humblest
> and lowest of creatures the instinct to analyze
> danger and to move away from it. Touch a
> caterpillar with a stick and it will immediately
> wriggle and try to escape. It senses danger and
> is using its insect intelligence to escape that
> danger. So must man use all of his human
> intelligence to escape from situations that
> hem him in unfavorably. First think, and then
> act, in such a way as to get out of difficulties.
> Every difficulty, be sure, can in time somehow
> be overcome.
> And we must not rebel against life and the
> universe because of the necessity for daily
> struggle. How would progress and evolution
> get on if there were no obstacles to strive
> against, no difficulties to overcome? Where
> there is little need of striving, life degenerates.
> Evolutionary progress has resulted from over-
> coming obstacles. Only by biological striving
> has there been evolved a nervous system, a
> backbone, and a brain.
> We cannot avoid struggle. It is the law of
> nature. What we can do is to utilize the neces-
> sity of struggle as a means for growth. We
> • 13 •
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> can allow a misfortune to be merely a misfor-
> tune, or we can turn it into progress. We must
> see to it, therefore, that our trials and suf-
> ferings become a means for growth; for other-
> wise they are black tragedy indeed.
> The creative person knows well how to
> utilize misfortune as a stepping stone to higher
> forms of expression. Whatever comes into the
> artist's life is so much grist for his mill. A
> trial, a sorrow, a tragedy, by means of the
> alchemy of art become a sonata pathetique, a
> painting which blesses the world, or a noble
> tragedy which refines and inspires the heart
> of man.
> What the artist does, we can also do. We
> can forge out from our misfortunes a golden
> coin to pay our way onward and upward. We
> can make stepping stones of our dead selves
> and rise to higher things. It is our own fault,
> after all, if we do not turn struggle into
> growth; and growth into achievement.
> Right effort applied wisely and persistently
> cannot fail to win out. A remarkable state-
> ment to this effect emanates from one whose
> own life exemplifies extraordinarily the power
> to achieve a world mission in the face of ap-
> parently overwhelming odds; for although a
> prisoner for forty years, he yet managed from
> prison walls to spread over the whole world
> his message of universal peace and goodwill.
> • 14.
> THE MEAN I.NG OF LIFE
> 
> "Man must be tireless jn his efforts," says Ab-
> dul Baha in "The Divine Art of Living."
> "Once his effort is directed in the proper
> channel if he does not succeed today he will
> succeed tomorrow. Effort in itself is one of the
> noblest traits of human character. Devotion
> to one's calling, effort in its speedy execution,
> simplicity of spirit and steadfastness through
> all the ups and downs, these are the hall-
> marks of success. A person characterized with
> those attributes will gather the fruits of his
> labors, and will also win the happiness of the
> Kingdom.~'
> 
> ;\ GREAT comfort in times of stress is the
> _ft knowledge that the hardship will in due
> time pass, and it will seem as if it had never
> been. In the struggle of life there are periods
> of respite, a truce to battle, a time for rest and
> recuperation.
> Nature obeys a sublime law of rhythm. In
> the plant world the periods of activity, of rap-
> id growth, of harvest, are unfailingly followed
> by a period of brumal rest which is a time of
> preparation for further expansion and growth.
> And so it is in the life of man. We have our
> periods of zestful activity, of thrilling achieve-
> ment. These may be followed by periods of
> weariness; of depression; perhaps even of fail-
> ure and frustration. But development goes on,
> • 15 •
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> even in "the winter of our discontent." For
> we too, like the plant world, are being pre-
> pared (though we little know it) for further
> and greater achievement. In these periods of
> retirement we can grow mightily, gathering
> our forces for renewed and more successful
> struggle.
> What a great lesson came to Milton in his
> blindness! "God does not need my service,"
> he discovered: "Thousands at His bidding
> speed, and post o'er land and sea. They also
> serve who only stand and wait."
> Into the life of Lincoln came a period of
> disappointment, of lull, after his enforced re-
> tirement from Congress. For some five years
> his growth in character was mostly in the
> silence of his own meditations and rumina-
> tions. He spent hours in his office writing, re-
> flecting, and studying the stupendous and baf-
> fling problem of slavery. At the end of this
> period of political retirement he was much
> nearer being of a calibre for President than
> he had been during his congressional period.
> We too may be but gainers from moments,
> from years even, of frustration. For during
> our enforced rest from the strains of achieve-
> ment and success we learn our dependence
> upon Destiny. We discover the need of relax-
> ation, of resignation, of renunciation.*
> *One of W ag ner's noblest operas. Tristan and l sold e, was composed
> upon the them e of re nunciati o ni1S the res ult of a bitter experience
> in bis own life.
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> We learn to give up our own will to that
> vast Cosmic current which bears us toward
> more glorious harbors than we even know of.
> This is not loss, but gain, if we but knew it.
> Thus we find strength to repeat once more
> the cycle of struggle, growth, achievement.
> And so we wend our way ever onward and
> upward. Upward, that is, provided we know
> how to utilize the circumstances which Des-
> tiny places in our way.
> 
> I   N all this life process, this complicated
> system of existence which so baffles the
> human intelligence, let us make sure to use as
> much as possible our intuitive powers. Here is
> a force given to us for our use-a wonderful
> guidance.
> I believe the intuition to be a higher, more
> far seeing power than the intellect. It gives
> us an advantage in finding our way out of dif-
> ficulties, such as a man who was lost in a for-
> est would have if he could climb a high tree
> and overlook all the environs; or if he could
> find a trail which guaranteed some definite
> though unseen goal.
> Before embarking upon any important en-
> terprise, therefore, you should consult your
> intuition most carefully. And if it should ap-
> pear that you are wrongfully embarked upon
> • 17 •
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> an enterprise from which the jntuition draws
> back more and more the farther you go into
> it, pay heed to these warn ing signals. Do not
> hesitate to turn about. If a mistake is being
> made, have no false pride here. There are
> very few dilemmas from which man cannot
> extricate himself when he obeys the guidance
> of his intuition, and uses courage and will
> power. Pride and consistency have no part to
> play jn such a situation.
> There is, it would seem, a negative warning
> which comes to us often- a feeling that things
> are not right and that it is not best to continue
> along this line. Socrates called this the warn-
> ing of his "daemon," or good angel. He said
> this daemon never bothered him when he was
> doing something which was wise and advanta-
> geous for him; but that it never failed to warn
> him if he was getting entangled in an unwise
> or unfavorable line of action. By heeding
> these storm signals, Socrates guided his life
> very well. This intuitive guidance, you will re-
> member, was the cause of his final serenity on
> approaching his execution. "If death were a
> misfortune," said Socrates in effect, "if it bore
> us to some bourne of further trouble, my
> daemon would have warned me. But it has
> said nothing. Therefore I think that death is
> either a welcome extinction of the Self, or
> initiation into higher realms of existence. In
> • 18 •
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> either case, I cheerfully face this last event of
> what we here call Life."
> In order to make adequate use of our in-
> tuitions, we must be able to recognize them as
> such. This takes a lot of practice. The intui-
> tional power grows in proportion as we use
> it.
> This need not mean, and should not mean,
> the abdication of reason. For we have to use
> our reason to test the validity of our intuitions,
> and to distinguish real guidance from emo-
> tional impulses and aberrations. The intuition
> is only one factor of the expression of the Self
> -but it is a factor far too valuable to be over-
> looked and neglected.
> Those persons who make use of intuition to
> aid them in the choice and execution of activ-
> ities and enterprises will certainly be spared
> Jnuch of the struggle that mortal life is heir
> to. They will be helped to avoid many pitfalls.
> And their achievement, because of this inner
> guidance, will tend to harmonize with the uni-
> versal scheme of things. In other words, they
> will have the force of destiny and of progress
> upon their side instead of against them.
> 
> ~ A. THEN you have done the best you can
> VV to steer your life into ways of harmony,
> • 19 •
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> yet tribulations still beset you, it is a great help
> to recognize the following important truths:
> The trial or misfortune you are laboring
> under has been attracted to you by some hid-
> den, inner law. It may or may not be a result
> of previous actions of your life here. But it
> certainly has an organic connection with your
> personality, and is just what you need at the
> present moment for present and future growth
> and development. Do not scorn it, therefore,
> or indulge in bitter and futile rebellion. Ac-
> cept it, transmute it unto creative values, and
> escape from it as quickly as intelligence, will
> power and wisely directed effort will enable.
> Above all things, do not indulge in the
> persecution complex, or think yourself a mar-
> tyr beyond all other souls. What you are en-
> during is the common lot of humanity:* Your
> experience may be unique-probably is
> unique. For such is the nature of experience.
> Experience fits the individual-and no two
> individuals are alike. But for the very reason
> that it is unique, it is helpful and efficacious
> for you. It might not be helpful to another
> person, nor any other person's experience be
> helpful to you.
> And through it all, under every circum-
> stance of life, let us remember that suffering
> is an essential to growth. For often we do not
> *Ed wa rd Martin , Edito r of Lite, o nce sa id: " Most people a re unh appy
> beca use they think e veryone else is happy."
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> of ourselves willingly enough struggle to exert
> our utmost powers. Therefore we have to be
> gently impelled by Destiny, by some change
> which threatens disaster to our fortunes.
> 
> H ow        could animals realize this, that the
> pain, the terror of life was to drive
> them higher up? How could cave men of an-
> cient Europe, basking in a semi-tropical cli-
> mate, realize that the icy breaths of descend-
> ing glaciers from the polar regions were to
> drive them into effort which would make of
> them a finer, a more intelligent race, worthy
> progenitors of modern Europeans? From cave
> men we have forged our way to the man of the
> twentieth century with his powerful intellect,
> ungoverned emotional nature and almost
> completely undiscovered powers of intuition.
> Struggle still is necessary, privation and suf~
> fering in order to train us to govern the emo-
> tions and to utilize that marvelous spirit of
> intuition which is ready to do the bidding of
> us all. Upward man has risen for eons past-
> through struggle, privation and sorrow. Up-
> ward he is still to rise, for progress must go
> on. And the end is perhaps above all sorrow.
> As for the individual, does his progress, as
> well as that of the race, go on forever? That
> • 21.
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> 
> is the teaching of the great spiritual heroes
> who have given their lives for man's fuller de-
> velopment and progress. Personally I am con-
> vinced that these few earth years are but a
> slight segment of existence; and it is my aim
> to so live here that life hereafter may not be
> handicapped. I believe that what gains I make
> here in character and development become an
> indestructible wealth-a wealth which "moths
> cannot corrupt, nor thieves break in and
> steal." I believe that my abilities will find full
> scope for expression over there; that life will
> be even more gloriously zestful and active
> than it is here; and that if we have learned
> well here the lessons of trials, frustrations and
> misfortunes, we shall not need such discipline
> hereafter.
> 
> We have not reached the point of
> truly successful living until we have
> found adequate expression for the Self
> within us . . . . The creative person has
> always the victorious attitude toward
> life. . . . For what matters all else in
> the world, if one's life is being poured
> fourth in terms of beauty, of achieve-
> ment, of service?             ·
> Discovering the Genius Within You
> By STANWOOD COBB
>
> — *The Meaning of Life (Used by permission of the curator)*