Is the jar full?
The parable of the rocks, pebbles and sand, for me, describes the meaning of life. Being of an age now where I can reflect on my experiences ?
Once you may have heard this story of a teacher who presented a large empty jar to the class and filled it with large rocks until it could take no more.
Is the jar full? The teacher asked the class, to which came the reply “yes”
The teacher then took small pebbles and filled the jar in which the pebbles filled the jar even more.
“Is the jar full now?”, the teacher asked again.
Yes came the second reply from the entire audience
The teacher then took a bag of sand and emptied it into the jar and the sand filled the crevices between the rocks and pebbles making it even more heavier and at last full to the amazement of the class who all answered that indeed it now was full.
The teacher then said, "this is how your life works" - "the rocks are the most important things in life that, they are the things that you value like your health, your job, your relationship; whereas the pebbles relate to the things you may need to support you values or that you receive from your values, like money, awards, successes. The sand represents all the little things that make up the time that you spend outside of those main values and associated goals you might chase in life. They are time consuming things like going on your phone, watching television or playing PS5 games.
The teacher then emptied the jar and refilled it in reverse order but because of the sand, no rocks or pebbles could fit back in the jar.
The parable suggests that too much sand in your life wastes your real opportunities whereas if you don't have any values there will be no rocks of life can and this can make you more likely to suffer the consequences from doing too many meaningless activities. You wont be able to grasp opportunities, because the pebbles don’t have any relationship with the rocks - the sand is completely taking over your life to have no meaning at all.
Douglas Adams the great author of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy brought he trilogy to an end with discovering the meaning of life. In the final answer a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer known as "Deep Thought", it was specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7 and 1⁄2 million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be a comedic 42.
Deep Thought points out, that the answer seems meaningless because the beings who instructed it never knew what the question was.
Perhaps you used some of your sand in life to watch Strictly Come Dancing this week and saw four couples compete for a top television award. Their lives have been influenced by the competition and the winner Hamza Yassin, announced and shared his top tips for life and maybe you should consider these to add to your own meaning of life.
"Number one, surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when you enter room," the Strictly champion began. “Two, the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next so keep climbing," the star continued, "and three, slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be."
These tips are priceless when looking to reward your life’s meaning to build the rocks of your existence and take those opportunities that come your way. Maybe, not all will be your success and some may fall out of the jar but then you can add more rocks and pebbles to live and enjoy 42, 52, 62, 72 and more perhaps.
For my Sand, this Christmas, I am going to watch some films (which I love as a hobby) - films I have not seen and a couple I want to see again.
My Sand picks - only two, here I will have watched more than once.
- Lou -Netflix
- The Guilty - Netflix
- The Old Guard - Netflix
- Shane - Amazon prime
- Ambulance - Sky Cinema
- Nobody - Sky Cinema
- Prisoners -Netflix
- Emancipation - Disney Plus
- In the loop - Netflix
- Senior Year - Netflix
POEM
Take one of those grains of sand
Take two or more for sure
Waste your time, hand over hand and what do you make of it?
Oh, who realises the meaning of it?
Oh I don't know, where am I now?
I've been around this route so many times
That the meaning is running through my mind
What do I think of it?
The Rocks - that make you, who you are
But what more can you be than the things they say you've been?
I never ever realised, It's so easy to make you cry
But have you never wondered why?
I did I break a bit, but the pebbles made the difference
Oh, so I hope, the next one adds the glue of life for me
Have I forgot about it, "Oh I can forgive, but never can forget", [thanks mum]
In every single pair of eyes, my wave has been chosen like a surfers choice
There must be a hunger to succeed, I won’t let my soul die.
What more can you be than the things they say you've been
More, awaits as the waves bring fresh opportunities - take them and take the ride of your life.