Quotes of the Day 55: Understanding Meaning

Aug '24 (edited) • Self Improvement & Motivation

Quote 1: “I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.” - Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

Quote 2: “You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life... Sometimes, all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of.” - Aigis, Persona 3

A Wrinkle in Time is a young adult science fiction novel written by Madeleine L’Engle and published on January 1st, 1962. The book starts with the stereotypical dark and stormy night when a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and takes Meg, her brother Charles Wallace and their friend Calvin O’Keefe. They start an adventure to stop a force which threatens their life and universe as a whole. They travel through space and time as they try to rescue the Murrys' father and fight The Black Thing which has invaded several worlds. The book was the winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. The book also started Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet series.

A Wrinkle In Time’s quote explains that we won’t don’t understand everything perfectly. Ms. Murry explains this to Meg after the mysterious visit by Mrs. Whatsit the night before. The importance of understanding the concept of things to not understand as a whole but learn that they exist whether you understand them or not. Ms. Murry may not know the journey Meg, Charles and Calvin are about to embark upon, but she knows that they will be safe. We can understand and be a part of something without fully understanding every niche of the topic so long as we understand the existence of the thing itself.

Persona 3 is a role playing video game released for the Playstation 2 on July 13th, 2006 as the fourth entry in the Persona series. The game was a major shift in the series' direction as the game was going to be the final one released by ATLAS due to the company almost going bankrupt. Luckily the additions made which include a calendar system and social link system to have a life simulator portion of the game led to its success. On top of that, the game allowed the series to continue with success like Persona 4, Persona 5, many more spinoffs and remakes of Persona 3 like Persona 3 FES (2007, included an epilogue), Persona 3 Portable (2009, included a female protagonist options), and Persona 3 Reload (2024, HD Version). The game follows protagonist Makoto Yuki who lives in Japan as a high school transfer student. However, his life turns around when the Dark Hour comes around between 11:59 pm and 12:00 am where shadows roam and people can summon Personas to fight the shadows in a mysterious tower called Tartarus. As the story progresses, more people get Apathy syndrome where they remain apathetic to the world and don’t respond to anything. As the protagonist, you balance school life and exploring Tartarus with the rest of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES) to end this crisis. The series as a whole also pulls heavily from Carl Jung’s Jungian Psychology where this game adapts the idea of archetypes into Arcana with the theme of death.

Aigis is a robot who wields the Persona Palladian and later on Athena who both originate from Greek mythology. Aigis’s quote takes place at the very end of the game as she explains to the protagonist that he doesn’t have to save the world in order to find meaning. She learned this herself as she was made in order to disperse of Shadows but learned the meaning of life and what it means to live over the course of her journey with SEES. Aigis made the meaning of her life the protection of her friends and took care of them until the very end. I don’t want to spoil how the game ends, but wow does this game and this quote take heart wrenching to a new level. Our life should be something great, but they don’t have to be otherworldly. Make your life your own and focus it on those around you and those you care about. Find meaning in your life and understand it well.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s penultimate summer quotes of the day post and that it helped you understand the meaning of life a little bit more than you did yesterday. Have a great day everyone!

Want more? Here are the past 3 quotes of the day posts:

Quotes Of The Day 5 4: Limits

Quotes Of The Day 53: Listen

Quotes Of The Day 52: Memories, Sad and Forcing

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