Ultimately, what is the meaning of life?
A question that has been haunting me for the past month more or less so. I see people going on about their businesses, sometimes very happy looking, others not so happy-looking.. If you think about it.. When someone would say the meaning of life is to find a life-long partner, with whom you can share the life's chills and thrills, to laugh and cry and feel completely safe and to reproduce, another person could say it is to enjoy your own life to the max, which, in some cases, could mean being "wild and free" without a care in the world, just sing and dance, while walking in the street (e.g.) without being frowned upon, just feeling super and doing just the things you want and not be submissive the least bit.
The two alternative views above are seemingly confronting, but ideally I think they could go hand in hand. But only ideally.
The abovementioned alternatives are kinda two sides of individualism: in the first view it is to go along with the general views of the society about how to lead one’s life and to commit oneself to another person and wanting to carry on the bloodline to feel good about it. To be old and to know you raised the kids, whose kids are playing in your backyard. Grandpa. The other view is to dedicate more pleasure in life directly to oneself instead of sharing and spreading it around. Is it equally acceptable to do this, to enjoy life in, some might say, selfish way? Isn’t the meaning of life at least partially to have a good time? What else is important? What if all the people had good time all the time.. would they be walking down the streets with a super-wide smile in their face?
So again, what is the meaning of life? Why do we wake up everyday to do the things we do? What makes it worth it? Should we even not think about it - just live it through? Maybe the meaning of life is to be discovered individually as everyone is different from each other? Should we not waste any time pondering this crap? :) But I’m curious about all this.
Share your thoughts.
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I'll share with you 2 descriptions of mine.
VastaaPoistaLong one: http://klopix.gorodok.net/data/heap/ss.html#sense_of_life
And much shorter one: http://klopix.gorodok.net/data/heap/reflexion.html#may_06_2010
- Ivan
I also like Rick Warren's performance on meaning of life. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/rick_warren_on_a_life_of_purpose.html
VastaaPoista- Ivan
EDIT: My purpose is not to be biased in any direction even though one might infer it from the text
VastaaPoistaIvan: thanks!
VastaaPoistaOhh, you're so welcome, buddy. You tend to raise questions I deal with all the time in my life.
VastaaPoistaOut meeting in Shanghai wasn't an accident :)
- Ivan
Human beings are not subject to any given end(purpose/mission), we serve our own purposes and are free to live any life we choose. An external purpose would debase us to mere instruments for whatever presses the purpose upon us.
VastaaPoistaDon't get me wrong. Precisely because we are free(self-serving) and accountable for our own deeds, we are capable of virtue and love, which I think are what being a human being is about.
Put it in a nutshell: you don't need any meaning if you serve your own purpose.
In fact, if you begin to wonder what's the point of all of this, it's a pretty good indication that you are serving an external purpose instead of an internal one, you are living somebody else's life instead of your own.
Alard: Thanks for the comment, it is duly noted :). It is true - I thought of it myself - that if one starts to think about the meaning of life, that person, in layman's terms, "thinks too much".
VastaaPoistaHow would virtue and love be manifested in daily activities Alard?
-Junnu
Oh and.. Ivan and Alard, is it ok if I share parts of your comments/views in Facialbook? They are so good :)
VastaaPoistaOf course, use 'em as much as you want.
VastaaPoista- Ivan
Use my words as you please:)
VastaaPoistaVirtue is the intrinsic good. "if you need a reason to be good, you haven't yet understood what is good (Immanuel Kant)".
I agree with the Ancient Greeks: we are gods trapped in mortality. In spite of being pressed by physical needs and suffering from various physical limitations, we share with gods the capacity of virtue. "What would Jesus do?" is a good motto, even for non-Christians.
In platonic sense (since I'm talking Greek), love is the recognition and appreciation of the "divinity"(virtues) manifested by a person. But love can mean more than that.
I may be off the point :P anyway I find ancient mottoes intriguing.