It seems that I am not the only one in a thoughtful mood these days. Not the only one feeling a bit sad and down. Not the only one thinking about the big picture – thinking about what the point of everything is. At least Shalabieh and Ehab seem to be wandering in the same circles as me.
You usually ask the big questions in life – and to life – in periods where you are not feeling well. When you are sad, depressed and feeling down – when life makes absolutely no sense – these are the times you ask for it. Sense. The meaning of it all.
When you are on top of things – maybe even happy – then there is no reason to ask for meaning because you can feel that you are on the right path. Life makes sense – so there is no reason to ask questions.
But I am in a period right now where I ask myself these impossible questions. Because that is what they are - impossible. What is the meaning of it all? Why are we here? I guess man has asked himself these questions since the beginning of time.
The biological answer is probably the most simple. The meaning of life is to survive. Life is about eating, drinking, sleeping and procreating – making sure the species lives on. Life is survival – at least it is for most animals in the world – man has just developed the ability to reflect on this (rather depressing) fact.
The rabbits got the point
From a humanistic point of view I guess the meaning is to make a difference in the world and to help others. From a nihilistic point of view life has no meaning and the social constructivists believes that life has the meaning that we give it our selves. Whatever that is supposed to mean. The meaning of life is whatever you want it to be…
Then there is the divine point of view. Some times I really envy the people who are capable of putting all of their trust in God. You do not have to search for the meaning – God is the answer to all of your questions. God has put us on earth for a reason, so even if we do not always understand we can safely put our lives in his hands. We do not need to worry about the meaninglessness that we sometimes feel. I believe in God, but unfortunately not enough to completely ignore the questions that constantly comes to my mind and heart. But sometimes I wish I did – so I could let go of the frustration and the hopelessness. Faith is a very powerful thing – no wonder it is still so influential – even today.
Most people hurry far away if you open your mouth and start to talk about the meaning of life. “Don’t ask that question” they say. “You will never find an answer and you will go mad thinking about it for too long”. I guess they are right. But I will take the madness then – because I cannot ignore it. I cannot go through life without a sense of meaning. Without a purpose. I do not want to wake up in 20 years and realize that I wasted my life striving for things that are utterly insignificant.
I have always been a romantic. I have always been convinced that the meaning of life is love. To love and to be loved. But this conviction turns into a big problem when love fades. When your heart breaks – your whole life breaks. The one thing, which you put all your trust and hope in, is gone – and then life is all of a sudden meaningless.
On a less serious note there is also Monty Python to whom the meaning of life is nothing very special: “Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations”.
Another possible answer to the big question could also be a very short one. Maybe the meaning of life is simply 42?
Live happy. Always smile. Be kind to others. This is what life means to me.
As for what it means in general ?
Well my guess is this question can only be answered by God.
And then, you want the best meaning that empowers you to take action… that pushes you towards happiness…
don;t know what the meaning is… am like you i believe in God but not enough! for me faith just doesn’t answer all questions. I like the rabbits though theory – simple and easy
– we are here for such a short time, so maybe there is no reason, I mean we don’t all make great discoveries for the human kind… neither are we all a Chopin, Monet or Rousseau… Try to make the people I love happy, is not a bad reason!
Well, I thinking that before answering your question about the meaning of life, one should first establish that there is a meaning for life! Why are we sure that there is a meaning for life? Who told us that there is one? May be as Babs said, life is too short to have a meaning!
I do trouble myself with the question very once in a time, and everytime I do so, I never reach a logically satisfying answer. Call me a hardliner or heartless, or whatever, but if it does not make sense to me, if it is not the result of a sound deduction, then it is not a satisfying answer! God, faith, love, betterment of humanity… are all good answers, and should end the confusion by adobting one them, but they are deducted, they are affected, and affection is just not good enough (in this specific regard).
So, everytime I arrive at the same conclusion above, I decide to forget about the question, live life as it presents itself to me, and at some point I believe I will find out the answer. I do not know when, but when it comes, I will. This interesting side of this little “theory” of mine is it assumes everyone on this planet (or anywhere else) has a specific “existance reason” of their own. Thus no one can help me answer the question, and thus I do not ask it anymore!
I am one who believe that not all questions have answers. Maybe, this is one of these questions. Or maybe the meaning of life is intended to be vague, by God, so we continue our progression in life while searching for the truth out there.
In my opinion, it’s not about the meaning of life at large. Rather, it’s about a purpose that pushes you to action, propels you towards the best life you can live.
So you could say the meaning of life is to give life meaning.
And that’s what I’m looking for. The meaning I seek, is the one that gives ME a boost towards happiness… Thus, each one of us has a meaning of life that is unique to them…
In my opinion the meaning of life is “Joy”. The more joyful time you spend during your life time, the more sense life will make, and by contrast, the less joyful time you spend during your life the more life will not make sense.
Well…..most of your comments only leads to more questions…
@Ali, Ehab & Max: So you say happiness (or joy) is the key – the meaning of life is happiness – but then what is that? What makes a person happy? And can we truly build our lives around being happy…? Most of us are only happy for brief periods of time – happiness comes and goes. You cannot hold on to it. And maybe what used to make you happy will one day hurt and destroy you? And then you don’t find joy in anything anymore – is your life then worthless?
@Babs & Nabeel: No meaning you say… Maybe you guys are right – but I think we all search for it anyhow. Humans seek meaning – and giving in to meaninglessness would definitely push up the suicide numbers I believe. So I seek meaning too – even if there isn’t one I have to find one – otherwise what is the point of being here? And I am really scared of not having an answer – the pointlessness of it all is terrifying.
@Jaraad: What if that is too much to ask of a human being? What if we give up on the quest instead of continuing the search? And progression towards what? If there is no goal in sight – then how do we know which way to go?
Well, in one of lines of thought I came to the following conclusion: (I took it from a draft of one of my yet-to-be-published posts)
“Love is the path to the meaning of life, because only through knowing oneself and one can start to understand one’s place in life, and love is what gives you this type of knowledge.”
——
I am not saying that there is such a thing as “meaning of life”, but if there is, we must understand ourselves first. And in my personal view, love is the way we start to understand oneself.
@Devil – very interesting thought. I am a firm believer in love myself – in spite of heart breaks and hurt – so I would love to agree with you. That love is the path to take – and with that all other answers will come.
But I am however worried by that conclusion. Does that mean, that you are lost if you do not find love? Does it mean, that our own happiness and purpose in life is bounded to other people…that we cannot be happy on our own – happy in ourselves?
I think that there are certain aspects of ourselves that we can only discover through our interactions with other human beings. Some people say that human beings are social beings. I think that such a statement is mostly true.
“Does that mean, that you are lost if you do not find love?” – Probably yes. However, when I used the word ‘love’, I don’t mean it in the strict sense of romance. Even something like loving to blog counts, but also more importantly, friendship is part of love.
Life is a gift from God. The meaning of it I believe to be living a good life and using our free will wisely to serve God and the good of our neighbors. The reward is everlasting life, peace and happiness in paradise with God, so there is absolutely no better deal than that
To me, my “purpose” by definition means that I must have a greater intelligence than myself with a goal in life for me.
Then, to ask “what is my purpose in life” is useless, unless one asks the question to the greater intelligence.
Perhaps one does not believe in a greater intelligence, and it is possible that there isn’t one, but the fact that we have a drive built into us to discover our purpose by itself suggests, but does not by itself necessitate that there is a greater intelligence than ourselves who designed us to seek.
So if we have a drive to discover our purpose, and purpose by definition necessitates a greater intelligence, and the drive for purpose suggests that there is a greater intelligence who designed us to ask, does it not strongly suggest that the pathway for our quest, at least initially, lies in contacting the greater intelligence?
I believe, and it has been my experience, that if one asks the greater intelligence, the answer immediately comes, but it comes in a language and in a volume (not loudness but size) that our comparatively feeble minds cannot comprehend, and so our struggle to determine that single, one over-all our purpose cannot succeed, and many people are left with the feeling that they have no purpose, or that it is useless to ask the question.
I think it is better to ask more humble questions, ones that are more fitting to our feeble intelligence compared to His, for instance, “what is my purpose today?” or “what is my purpose right now?”, and if one asks for guidance, one will get it, and it will seem fairly comprehend-able, if we are willing to listen.