What Is the Essence of Life & Where Is It Found?
Apr 28, 2026
By following the call of creativity, I found the essence of life
I was nine years old and sitting in the backyard of my parents’ home under a tree, lost in contemplation.
For years, ever since the age of four, I had searched into the mysterious archives of existence to try and find the essence of life and under that tree, I decided with tremendous passion that I could wait no longer.
The Inner World of a Child Seeking Truth
I dived deep into my inner universe, falling into what seemed to be a beginningless and endless abyss of pure darkness. Letting go into this whirlpool, I allowed myself to be sucked into the source of the universe.
There was no time, no mind, no physicality, no self. And yet, there was a soundless sound, (Aum) which reverberated with all knowing, all being, all power and contained everything or was contained by everything.
Human Life as Vibration and Movement
Having been immersed for sometime in this soundless sound, my cognitive awareness began to come back and I pondered over whether the source was actually sound or movement, as this would then determine my life path.
I dived in again, to find out whether sound was made of vibration or was simply sound, and out of sound came vibration. It was vital for me to understand this difference, as I thought if the source of all is vibration, ie movement, then movement and dance would be my path.
However, if source was made of sound, then music would be my path. I reasoned that by following a path in life which mirrored its essence, I would easily and naturally find my way to be able to live in the essence each moment and allow this essence to be present in each of my experiences and actions.
The True Essence Revealed Through Dance
That day, I decided that sound is made of subtle vibration, and that therefore, vibration is the essence of life, and furthermore, if I went the way of dance, I would be able to rediscover and live this vibratory source. Dance then became my single pointed focus for the next eight years. I followed dance in the same way some people follow a lover to the ends of the earth.
And strange but true, it is dance, which led me to the feet of my spiritual master, Osho, in India, at the age of 17. I was looking for a dance master, and when I saw Osho the first time,
I recognized him as the ultimate Dance master. The way he moved, with such grace and awareness immediately threw me back in touch with the essence of life I had tasted at age nine. I knew in my bones that he was living in that space I so longed to embody, on a continual basis.
Osho says: “Dance to orgasm! Let the whole energy become dance and suddenly you will see that you don’t have any head; the stuck energy in the head is moving all around, creating beautiful patterns, gestures, movement. And when you dance there comes a moment when your body is no longer a rigid thing, it becomes flexible, flowing. When you dance there comes a moment when your boundary is no longer so clear; you melt and merge with the cosmos.” (Ancient Music in the Pines, Chapter 2)
Within two years of practising Osho’s amazing active and silent meditations, I found myself disappearing into the dance so totally that the dancer disappeared and only the dance remained. When that happened, I found myself to be the dancer of life. Source found its way to dance through me, annihilating my idea of being separate from the whole. It took me another 35 years to allow this phenomenon as an ever bubbling spring. Those years were full of all the ups and downs a life can have, and yet, I was always aware of the undercurrent of the essence, flowing as an underground river, which I could dip in and out of.
Read: Shift Your Reality with These 11 Osho Meditations
Finding Joy Through Creativity and Conscious Living
I am telling this story for myriad reasons, one of the most important being that in my experience creativity is the path to becoming a co-creator with ‘the creation principle’, (or as some people call it, God.) By immersing ourselves into our creative calling, whether that be dance, art, music, song, sculpting, writing, baking bread, creating a garden, raising a child, building a sacred space, or acting in a comedy, we are in resonance with source. When creativity is practised in conjunction with meditation, it is like taking a fast train to heaven. You are creating this world, as a place of benediction, where all beings can experience coming back home.
When we follow creativity, first and foremost, we need to trust our inner muse, who guides our steps in unpredictable ways. The muse is actually the voice of the soul, guiding us ever deeper towards source. In the inner sanctum of source, there is a beginningless and endless fountain of love, creating life moment by moment in an infinity loop. We are ‘in the loop’, when we wake up to our conscious participation in the creation dance.
On this planet, there are billions of potential creators, as we all have the divine spark within us, which would like to manifest in so many myriad ways. I drink a toast to all of you who have remembered your pact with Spirit, and have become conscious creators in the spiral dance of life.
FAQ
What is the very essence of life?
The very essence of life is living contact with our true nature and the felt experience of being alive beyond survival, fear, or habit. Life has two aspects, which includes the outer world of form, money, roles, family, success, and society; and the inner world of presence, wonder, creativity, and meaning.
When people today focus only on surviving, spending money, or avoiding sadness, they lose touch with the real essence of life, which is the ability to feel, express, and participate consciously in existence. The essence of life is something we discover through living, sharing, creating, and taking care of what is alive within us.
What is the essence of human life?
The essence of human life is our ability to realize and express consciousness. Unlike animals focused mainly on survival, human life carries the responsibility, and the gift, of awareness. We are meant to understand, tend, and develop our inner world while participating in the outer one.
Human life becomes meaningful when we are involved in the process of conscious living, when our mindset shifts from fear, anger, and constant effort toward curiosity, creativity, and presence. Whether through art, movement, service, prayer, or love, the essence of human life is realized when the person becomes a living bridge between nature and spirit, between the world and God.
What is the essence of life in one word?
The essence of life in one word is 'vibration.'
Life exists as movement, expression, and energy in form. Whether we speak of light, sound, breath, emotion, or creativity, life is vibration made visible. When this vibration flows freely, we experience peace, happiness, pleasure, and a sense of being fully alive.
When vibration is not in flow, due to fear, illness, rigid beliefs, or unconscious living, life feels heavy and disconnected. To live aligned with the essence of life is to allow vibration to move through us consciously.
What is the ultimate essence of life?
The ultimate essence of life is union and the realization that we are not separate from existence, nature, or God. This truth has been spoken in many words by many traditions by mystics, by Jesus Christ, and by those who have turned inward and touched reality directly.
The ultimate essence is realized through practice and lived experience. It is the moment when the mind softens and life recognizes itself through us. Even in death, this essence remains untouched, because it was never limited to the body.
The ultimate essence of life is love in motion, endlessly expressing itself through form, relationship, creativity, and consciousness, offering light and meaning to a world longing to remember what it truly is.
