Category: Meaning of Life

What’s my purpose in living? Do I live in the true essence of life? Or does, I live just to live life? Life defined as an existence of a person to experience the world. The world where we, human beings, live, seeking ourselves and purposes. Eager to learn new experiences and knowing the true virtue. The philosopher that triggers my perception in life is Socrates because his word of wisdom is so deep but lots of learning. One of the lessons I learned by him is that, a knowledgeable person knows what’s right to wrong and know what is good to do.

So, what did Socrates really mean when he said “Knowledge is a virtue”? Knowledge is a skill to understand a situation. All of us has a knowledge but not all the knowledge we have is the same. It is mold through education and experiences where we learn on how to deal situations. While virtue defined as a behavior of a person with a high moral. All of us has a virtue, but not all of us practicing it. Having a virtue is also having knowledge to understand things, every person must know the difference of right and wrong. Values of a person must be suitable with morality because it is where a person know that his/her doing is accordance to what is good. According to Socrates, to know something is to do something which means that when a person does something, he/she knows what his doings. Each of one of us have its own body, we used it to show that we can stand, that we can do whatever we want and most especially we can act on our way. This only means if we know something then we can do that something. No one can stop us from doing that something because it is our choice to do it. It is our mind that push us to do that something, it craves for new experiences and knowing something is a new experience, it’s our curiosity that pushes us to do that even more. Thus, in doing something, we must first use our knowledge because through it, we know what would be good choice to choose and how to act appropriately. And by choosing the good, means we used our knowledge in virtuous. Socrates once says, “Ignorance is a vice”, which means that without using knowledge, we don’t know what we’re going to do, we don’t know what would be the consequences of our actions. Therefore, I conclude that in molding our knowledge, we must also know our purpose as a human being and seeking answers of why’s in life. In that way, we know in ourselves that our purpose in living is to do good for ourselves and for others. We know that our life is worth living because we live in its true essence.

Therefore, having a life is extremely a great blessing given from the Highest, and we must take care of it because it is the only way on how honor we are for such gift He gave. With our knowledge that every one of us have, must use it to righteousness because there is no use if we allow, ourselves to act without even thinking about what would be the consequences of it. We, human beings, must know ourselves for us to be able to live-in accordance with whom we are. And as we live as a human being, we must always remember that we only die once, we live every single day. So, let’s continue to live, our life is so precious that we will waste it.

First and the foremost reason is that we are conditioned like that by society. Since our childhood we are told that we need to have a purpose to live in. In our neighborhood, there is a man who always asks her granddaughter in front of everyone why you are alive and what’s the purpose of your existence and every time she replies the same. My purpose of life is to live for you. So, the idea of having is purpose is ingrained into our mind. The ‘propose of life’ might be a relative concept or personal but it does not come from inside it actually come from outside. It comes from our family, our friends, media, advertising, politicians, our role models, and social media. So, the purposes of life you think are yours but actually it is programmed into us by the society. Like machine we are programmed to do what our society put us in our minds. People consistently try to create false purposes. If we ask a 7-year-old child what is his or her purpose in life, he or she will say I want to be a doctor, pilot. All parent’s purpose is to rise good kids. If the same question is asked of a married woman who doesn’t go well with her husband, she will say that her purpose of life is to live for her children. If we ask a poor man what’s the purpose of her life. He will say to earn money. And we are told that if we don’t have purpose then our life is not worth living.

We have a purpose because we think that we are not as we are now. We need to do something more. We have purpose of life when we are lacking something in our life like if our psychological or physiological needs are not fulfilled or met. Marlow’s psychological theory of ‘hierarchy of needs’ is a motivation theory in psychology. It represents five stages of need that are arranged from lowest to high: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. First the physiological needs (as food, water shelter, warm and sleep) “monopolizes a man’s consciousness. When it is fulfilled then man’s purpose is to get to safety needs (to feel secure stable and unafraid) after getting it our mind moves to the next level of need ‘love and belonging needs’, and man’s purpose is to be to loved. And after getting to it moves to next level until a stage of self-actualization is reached. It further says that the average member of our society is most often partially satisfied and partially unsatisfied in all of his wants.

We always need a purpose to make our lives meaning full. Or keep ourselves busy. Human beings always crave for a purpose and those who don’t have purpose suffer psychologically. Or if we don’t have a sense of purpose or anything to occupy the mind externally then it makes us vulnerable or prone to boredom that results into anxiety and depression. We feel unconnected with life. We feel like we are wasting our life. People who think that they don’t have a purpose in life are more vulnerable to drugs and at the same time on the other hand those people with a purpose have positive impact. Having purpose is good for our psychological health. Purpose is necessarily associated with subjectivity and it put a positive impact on the mind. A person who has a purpose is less vulnerable to psychological problems. When we align ourselves to a purpose, we focus our attention and energies on something that is external then we spend less time in immersing in negative thoughts and feelings then it makes us less self-centered and we do not focus much on our worries and problems. We feel ourselves a part of something bigger. It also improves our self-esteem and increases our confidence when we deal with the challenges successfully.

Purpose in our lives is just like a fuel to the engine. It gives a direction to life and courage and strength to move forward. Having a purpose give us a motivation to get up in the morning. And our mind is occupied and we have less negativity or thoughts. We focus to our target and work for it. Frankl, in his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ gives us example to elaborate how this purpose of life has positive impact on the mind and help us to keep going. He describes his horrible experience in the Nazi’s concentration camps. During his living in concentration camps, he observed that the inmates who had a purpose to see their love one or purpose or get back on the track of their life were most likely to be survived.

Sadhguru, a mystic, says that because it’s some sort of pettiness of our mind that we want to have a purpose. The need for purpose is come because we are trapped into psychological structure, not in life process. We are trapped in a society that gives us a sense of security and safety. When we have a purpose, we are trapped in it for forever. We lack an ability to identify that trap. The way to break this trap is no to have a purpose. He says that life is so intricate, if we spend ten thousand looking at it carefully, we still cannot understand it entirely what it is. If we pay little attention to it. It will keep us engage for million years or more. It will keep us busy and we don’t feel a need of having a purpose.

As we grow, our purpose grows with us. There are times in our life when our priorities and directions change. With our priorities our purpose is also shifted from one to another. First our purpose of life is to earn millions of dollars when we earn it or achieve our purpose. Then we started to thing again or what the purpose of my life I am. I am wasting my life. Then we make another and try to fulfill it and just lie it goes on shifting. Having purpose in life gives us some sort of power. We live under and illusion that we can control our lives. By having purpose we thinks that we can have control on our life and can run it as we want it. We forget one thing that we cannot have control on our birth and death how we can control our life.

I’m alive because I have life, I have life because I’m alive. A very simple statement but meaningful as we used to expound it. It is like I exist because I have an ikigai that gives me a reason for living even the moment that I’m feeling distressed and my life becomes miserable. The true meaning of life for me is to understand my true reality, my personal purpose, and reasons to live as a human being and a child of God. It’s good to understand and get to know myself more than I know. It is important for me to understand well what’s the purpose of my existence. My mind constantly wanders to the things around me to know the literal meaning of life and its true value. Finding my purpose in life is part of my existence. It is like finding happiness while I am living in this beautiful world. Happiness that I can find on a simple way in my day-to-day activities. I am always looking for a beautiful meaning even in small things. Even with the difficulties I have experienced, I prefer to seek the true meaning behind it, meaning that gives me a reason to live and something that I can use to be better, to be wiser and to be stronger to have meaningful and blessed life.

I was born in this world because God allows me to witnessed the beautiful creations in this world. I believe that I was born being a child of God and he sent me to my loving parents to be part of this beautiful world. God allowed me to come into my parents’ lives because I have a purpose in life. My purpose in life is to be a good daughter to my parents and to be a good mother to my son. To provide and sustain all the needs of my son and to guide him along the way to his future. To spread positivity to all people around me and to value all living and nonliving things as well as to spread love to one another. The most important is to keep myself striving to do good things, good deeds and be aware of what’s ethical to what’s not for a common good.

Following my own ikigai is the best thing for me because it can bring happiness, satisfaction, and a beautiful meaning lives to my whole life. Right now, one of my ikigai is to support, love, nurture, and raise my son in a good and meaningful ways. To become a teacher is my desired profession that will help learners to acquire knowledge and virtue. Teaching is my passion that will inspire learners. So, five years from now one of my ikigai is to teach the next generation of learners in elementary level. I need to exert an extra effort to fill my life with meaningful experiences and have sense of wonder for all the things around me so that in the future I will have such wonderful experiences that I can share with my future learners. This is the time when I see myself passionately pursuing my calling in life until I reach the end of my life on loan from God and surrender myself to the almighty God. This is my colorful and beautiful ikigai in this wonderful world.

The inanimate thing that gives meaning to my life and what makes me wake up every morning to do my tasks are my goals in life. The bliss of becoming a career woman who is financially and emotionally stable and could provide for herself has been my long-term goal. That gave meaning to my life and that what made me strive to be the better version of myself compared to yesterday. By aspiring to be a strong, independent woman, I define myself as someone who is not settling for less and knows what I want in several aspects of life. It gives my life meaning by being aspirant.

Another thing that gives meaning to my life are the ups and down that I’ve encountered in the past, the challenges that I’m currently facing, and the future trials that I am about to face. In short, attaining achievements. By experiencing hard work, I know that something good will eventually happen in the future. I live by the saying of ‘No pain, no gain’ and I do believe that nothing comes free. There are things that I need to work hard for first, even if it costs me the things I cherish most.

Currently, what I can say about my purpose in life is that it is highly-attainable and it should be taken seriously. Our creator gave us this amazing gift which is called life. For me, my purpose in life is to spread love, to obey the Lord, to survive life challenges by overcoming problems/trials, and to become the best version of myself by learning from my mistakes and by achieving my life goals. I believe that in order for me to get somewhere, I need to define first what’s my end goal. If my directions are unclear, it will be hard for me to reach my destination. My purpose also is to establish a good relationship not just with our creator, not just with my family, but also with the other people in my community. What I really love to do is to help the needy ones.

As each day we wake up, we have a single thing in our minds. May it be what would be our first action or should we get up as soon as we open our eyes, there will always be one thought that would drive us to do a certain action. But what if this thought isn’t what drives us on a daily basis but gives identity to who we are. Having a purpose doesn’t come at once, it isn’t a feeling but a call for a need of something. I’m molding myself to serve my purpose, and by doing so, I know that I’m doing my activities to the extent of my ability and capabilities.

The most amazing thing during the process of finding the purpose of my life is as I grow, I realize and learn so much things in life. Life is truly beautiful and meaningful. Indeed, a gift that we should all cherish.

Humanity is constantly searching for meaning and purpose within their own lives. A meaningful life typically has a clear and positive self-concept, goals that give purpose to life, commitment to relationships, provide the world with some ‘greater good’, and give a sense of hope for the future. Many things can impact an individual’s viewpoint of what gives meaning and purpose to their lives, whether through religion, culture or their own personal experiences. So, what gives your life meaning? What makes life worth living?

One of the ways individuals have tried to find meaning within their lives is through the interconnection between age, life experience and religious affiliations. Faith development theories provide this link for many people by comparing their age to where they are religiously. James Fowler has created stages of faith development based on conducting research by asking people questions relating to what gives their life meaning. Within the model, the seven stages range typically from infancy to mid-life and beyond, although the ages are only a suggestion and some people do not correlate to where their age states.

Stages one through to three, infancy and undifferentiated faith, intuitive-projective faith, and mythic-literal faith, respectively, cover infancy and childhood stages where individuals learn and develop their ideologies based on their differing influences and role models.

Specifically, infants within the first stage learn basics to life such as trust versus mistrust. Fowler writes, “the quality of mutuality and the strength of trust, autonomy, hope and courage (or their opposites) developed in this phase underlie (or threaten to undermine) all that comes later in faith development”.

Children aged three through to seven’s learning in Fowler’s Faith Development Theory is guided by the child’s imagination. This stage is learned through stories, images, emotions and actions imitated by the children from a significant parent. Fowler suggests, “parents and teachers should create an atmosphere in which the child can freely express, verbally and non-verbally, the images she or he is forming”.

Mythic-literal faith individuals begin to distinguish between real and make-believe, gathering ideologies from stories, beliefs and observations of society. They also learn about justice, with rewards and punishments given to those who adhere or not to moral values.

Stage four, synthetic conventional faith, is where most adults remain. At this stage, most people hold relationships and being accepted by others at extreme importance. Individuals in this phase are still developing their own identities and there is little independence from family and social groups.

The actions of leaving home, going to university, getting married, entering the workforce, or having a connection with people who have a different viewpoint on the world, can assist individuals to transition to individuative-reflective faith, stage five. With exposure to the world and the differing ideologies, people within stage develop individuality and independence to create their own values and beliefs. Some who reach this stage start to discard religious symbols, stories, practices, or the religion in its entirety, as naive.

Fowler states that stage six, conjunctive faith, is a “willingness to let reality speak its word, regardless of the impact of that word on the security or self-esteem of the knower. I speak here of an intimacy in knowing that celebrates, reverences and attends to the ‘wisdom’ evolved in things as they are, before seeking to modify, control or order them to fit prior categories”. The stage five religious ideologies that individual rejected are now accepted as ways to help encounter God and truth.

The final stage, universalising faith is reached by few people. Individuals such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa are examples of people who have reached this stage. This is as they all have individual perspectives on society yet all see the world as one universal family, selflessly serving others.

Similar to most adults, I can identify between stage four, synthetic-conventional faith and stage five, individuative-reflective faith. This is as I hold personal relationships as high importance yet with the end of my schooling, I am starting to become more independent, taking responsibility for my own lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes. Unlike some stage 5 individuals, I do not question or reject my religion or its virtues.

Social researcher, Hugh Mackay, describes humanity as having influences that drive individuals to create their own meaning to life. His research identifies ten desires that are believed to be common across society and if understood, can help us to understand what the meaning of life might be. Mackay suggests that the ‘Ten Desires’ that drive us include:

1. The desire to be taken seriously;
2. The desire for ‘my place’;
3. The desire for something to believe in;
4. The desire to connect;
5. The desire to be useful;
6. The desire to belong;
7. The desire for more;
8. The desire for control;
9. The desire for something to happen;
10. The desire for love.

Each person can have a connection with one or more of these desires. To me, the desire to connect and the desire to belong are most important. The desire to connect comes back to relationships, to have a connection with my family, friends, God and with myself. Personally, having these connections make life worth living, as without them life would be dull and lonely. The desire to belong reflects on the desire to connect. Relationships are not worth having if you feel as if you do not belong there. I feel as if you need positive relationships in your life with everyone, with God and with yourself, to have a meaningful life and to live out your purpose in the world.

The meaning and purpose of life can differ from person to person. James Fowler’s Faith Development Theory and the Ten Desires created by Hugh Mackay can assist people in determining what is important in their lives, hence prompting them to find what gives them meaning and purpose within the world.

Placing value on a person’s life is not measured by the way an individual has lived, but rather, by what the person has gained in his life. The ideas I have towards the meaning of life could be totally separate from the ideas of another. For me, there are many things that make my life worth living. Life offers many obstacles but from the love that I receive from my family and friends, I become strong enough to face them. Love that I can receive as that not only makes me stronger but also happier makes my life, a, life worth living. As Aristotle once quoted that “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim, and end of human existence.” I truly believe that we must find happiness in every little thing that comes our way. It’s these moments of happiness that would give more meaning to our life. After all, a life in which a person is filled with joyous moments is truly a worthy life. There are a lot of things that people seek in this world that could be questionable to others, however, happiness is the one thing that you cannot reasonably ask ‘why should we seek happiness.’ The meaning of happiness itself varies from person to person. For example, my grandfather loves to collect currencies from different countries in the world. It is these coins that give him happiness and in particular, certainly, add meaning to his life. A life with meaning is a life worth living.

In this course, we learned a lot about many religions. I belong to a very spiritual family whose parents and grandparents are at all times followers of the principles of their religion and could relate with a lot of ideologies from a number of different religions I have acquired from this course.

And to a large extent, I would agree with those who believe that religion is important to give purpose to life. A belief on the fruitfulness of after-life could give satisfaction in the final stages of a person’s life if one leads a life in the manner in which their philosophy has asked them to. Eighty-four percent of the world’s population does correlate with some religion or the other and most of them do so for a purpose in life. Could a sport ever become a religion? Well, it has now, with the ‘Iglesia Maradoniana’ which is the church of Maradona set on his own set of commandments. So if gaining happiness is what all want from life, and if sports is one such source then it absolutely does not seem wrong to keep it at the very top of what one must do to lead a life worth living.

So these two important things, sports(yoga or other physical activities included) and religion which as words may seem poles apart, however, maintain a very important balance in how I see life. On one hand, while sports give physical pleasure and joy, religion gives mental and inner satisfaction, both together could really shape a person in the right way both physically and mentally.

If we take a minute to think as to why everyone does what they do, as to why people live the way they live, it all comes down to simply one thing: happiness. Materialistic things are very important to the lives of many, but that itself is to provide happiness, without which even the materialistic thing would simply have no meaning. All wars were fought for power, which gives happiness; Every deal is made for wealth, which gives happiness. Basically, every life has been lived in pursuit of happiness. And the most important thing that I’ve learned from this course is that happiness can be found in a lot of other things that do not really contribute to wealth or power. As for wealth, we live in a civilization that piously denies that it is an end in itself, and treats it exactly this way in practice. One of the most powerful indictments of capitalism is that it compels us to invest most of our creative energies in matters which are in fact purely utilitarian. Buddhist monks do not seek worldly things but can still be happier than a large number of people in this world. This is only because of the mental peace and meditation which they believe could lead them towards the path of enlightenment.

There are always two sides to a coin. Atheists find this version of the meaning of life a little too laid-back for comfort.

A common belief is that if there is such a thing as eternal life, it must be here and now. It is the present moment that is an image of eternity, not an infinite succession of such moments. The idea of the afterlife may frighten a person with the burden of tasks that must be followed in order to have a good afterlife. Believers sometimes speak as though a key difference between themselves and non-believers is that for them, the meaning and purpose of life lie outside it. A common belief of an atheist is that a person lives in the present and not after his death. So why should their purpose be something that isn’t necessarily achieved in this life?

And as much as one could agree with them, the reverse statements could itself be imposed onto them: “If there is no religion and no afterlife then what really is the point of this life? Is it simply to be happy in their own way and then die and finally disappear into space?” This question does have value when we talk about our purpose in this world.

The weekly assignments of this course which certainly kept me busy throughout the semester also taught me a lot. Especially one ideology that really inspired me was that of ‘ikigai’ which is a term to express well-being, purpose, and meaning of life, with connotations of joy about being alive in Japan. Everyone, according to Japanese, has an Ikigai. To discover it requires deep and long research. Such quest is considered very important since it is estimated that the discovery of our personal Ikigai brings joy and meaning to our lives.

One particular incident really brought about a change in the mannerism of leading my life happened very recently.

Giving context, my cousin who was an aspiring tennis player, already ranked seventeen in the country just the age of fifteen was leading her life absolutely perfectly in my opinion. Following her passion, winning, and most importantly being happy. All this changed one day when she was jumped over a barricader right outside a lift of a building to get into the lift which was clearly shut. This lead to an electric shock in her right hand and a badly wounded injury in the same hand which lead to its removal for the safety of her own life. Her dream of being a tennis player never happened and could never. I learned a lot from this incident. I stopped taking even the smallest things lightly; as a very disorganized person I brought about a massive change in my lifestyle by introducing timetables for my daily routines and completely cutting procrastination which I believed is the biggest evil. The fact that this unfortunate incident really brought about a change in my way of living and looking at life from a different perspective is something I am honestly proud of.

Apart from these the most notable change that I have brought about in my life is permanently becoming a vegetarian.

In the words of the sage Ashtakvarga: “Bondage is created when the mind needs something or it grieves for something, rejects or holds on to something or it is pleased or displeased about something. Liberation is when the mind is no longer attached to anything”.

The human body undergoes a transformation from a newborn to youth and to old. The soul moves from one body to another after death and the body undergoes changes every moment. We should rejoice our presence on this earth, the present moment, as time will not repeat itself.

People who are not attached to the moment move on and live in the present. People who remain attached to past live a life like a dead person who is unable to move as his senses (emotions) are stuck to the past, while; those who are consistently thinking about the future are wasting their energies in unpredictability. As a result, they suffer from a mental (or psychological) handicap where they are unable to enjoy the present.

We need to see ourselves as soul, not bounded to any variable – time, person or thing. Some of us live in self-created pains that turn into chronic mental suffering. It is very simple: if you are hurt by somebody at some time and if you are continuously thinking about it, it will only increase the pain and not resolve what has already happened.

All the human emotions of pain, loss or failure are only restricted to the body. People are born with certain karma attached to the body, that they need to perform to get rid of the karmic debts. All humans suffer in some form or another. Instead of thinking and rethinking about what, when, why, we should concentrate on the Higher Self – the God, who can clear all the debts and eliminate all the pains of life. A person who has learned the meaning of Self and the Supreme can see the world is changeable, the human body is changeable, and the only thing which remains with us is the soul.

In ‘Bhagavat Gita’ Lord says that you need to fulfill your worldly duties and become an enlightened soul during the process of fulfilling the responsibilities of the body. It says that there is no one who can remain without action even for a moment. Indeed, all beings are compelled to act by their qualities born of material nature.

It is necessary to let go of the past and live in the present. Maybe the soul is in the last phase of the cycle of births/deaths, and the sufferings are the last part of the story of the soul’s journey before liberation. The path of spirituality is designed in the manner that one can clear the debts of many births and easily become a free soul. Lord Krishna states: “If you abandon your social duties, it creates a discord in the minds of those who follow your footsteps. One should conduct the worldly duties without any motive of a personal reward, because when you are on the path of spirituality, your requirements cannot be fulfilled just by the materialistic way of thinking”.

People, who are in the present moment, are now on the path of God, surrender themselves completely to Him and are not distracted by anything, to allow the Lord to determine their fate.

In the essay titled ‘On the Vanity of Existence’, author and philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer examines the meaning of life in accordance with the past, present and future. He comes to the conclusion that in order for us to live a meaningful life and our best life, we have to spend our time focusing on the present rather than the past or the future because they do not exist. In order for this to be true, he established two premises. One being that our lives are chaotic and it’s hard to find peace and the other being that things that resonate with us from the past and or the future are infeasible, unlike things from the present. In this essay, I will first address these premises and how they connect to the arguments. Then I will shift to address a counter argument, the past plays a very important role in our lives and how we conduct ourselves, and how this argument is not a strong one. Then, I will shift to explain how this connects to the meaning of life and why it is important.

In this case, one burden of proof that Schopenhauer provides us with is that finding happiness is our daily life struggle is hard given the daily chaos we experience. He explains: “In such a world, where no stability of any kind, no enduring state is possible, where everything is involved in restless change and confusion and keeps itself on its tightrope only by continually striding forward – in such a world, happiness is not so much as to be thought of”. We live in a world filled with chaos, and we get so winded up in it, that it’s hard for us to find happiness. This world’s ‘involved restless change’, where nothing is constant and things are always changing. And this is a world that is ‘continually striding forward’ and never stops to wait on anyone or anything. In a world like this, getting caught up in things that do not help us move forward will cause us to fall behind. Many people experienced this as Schopenhauer explains that this is a naturally occurring thing that humans have to deal with and if they do not, they will consequently fall behind into a state of unhappiness. So, furthermore, if we take the time to focus on things other than the present, we will get wounded up in these things even though they are not things that can necessarily help or benefit us. This ties into the second premise that Schopenhauer addresses which relates to implacability.

The other premise that Schopenhauer addresses is that the past and present are both impalpable, unlike the present. As he elaborates on this idea, he states: “That which has been no longer is; it as little exists as does that which has never been…Thus the most insignificant president has over the most significant past the advantage of actuality, which means that the former bears to the latter the relation of something to nothing”. This quote is saying past events and people no longer exist because they are not present as something we can see or understand like an event occurring now or a person we see. Essentially what Schopenhauer is trying to say is that in comparison to the future, there is nothing that connects us with the past. As mentioned earlier, given that life is always moving forward the best thing for us is to focus on the now to keep us moving forward because we cannot find happiness in something that is not constantly with us.

Given what we’ve established, the world is constantly moving forward and the daily struggle we experience in our attempt to find happiness, the best way to obtain happiness is to focus our time and energy in the present. As Schopenhauer explains: “Our existence has no foundation on which to rest except the transient present. Thus, its form is essentially unceasing motion, without any possibility of that repose which we continually strive after”. What Schopenhauer is saying is that our lives are in daily motion and there is no time in which we reach a state of tranquility. This is why it becomes difficult, as mentioned above, to find happiness. The only way for us to get close to this sense of happiness is if we are constantly moving forward and focusing on our now. There is no other ‘foundation on which to rest’, meaning there is nothing else we should do but put our time in except the ‘transient present’. The best way to keep moving forward is to focus on the short period of time that is now in order to keep moving forward and find some degree of happiness.

Some may argue that past events are not only relevant in our lives, but play a crucial role in our lives and affect the way we conduct our daily lives. However, this would only be true if these events and people were consistently relevant in our lives. People and things that we tend to pay attention to and give credit to will eventually fade. These things will eventually become irrelevant and you cannot be as sure about these people as you can about the present moment, that is, you can be certain of what is in the now.

Furthermore, we are constantly in the present and can be certain of what is occurring because we are living in its occurrence. Take for example a celebrity such as Michael Jackson. We hold so much praise with him, as we should, and his death gathered a lot of attention, but overtime even attention faded off. This is because our ability to resonate with him went away. He was no longer in the present moment, and therefore our connection with him began to fade. Schopenhauer elaborate on this idea in his essay, explaining: “You could, to be sure, base on considerations of this kind a theory that the greatest wisdom consists in enjoying the present and making this enjoyment the goal of life, because the present is all that is real and everything else merely imaginary”. While the past has existed and the future will exist eventually, neither exists as the present moment. We move with the present and can be sure that the people we are in it will exist. All other things, as Schopenhauer explains, can be considered to be ‘merely imaginary’. There is no guarantee that things are and do exist, but you can be sure that the present does exist. Furthermore, you cannot connect with things that do not exist, and in order to find happiness you have to live with and enjoy the present and making this your goal. Schopenhauer argues that the only way to find meaning in life is to focus on the here and now. We can never be sure of the past and what is to come, but we have the present. Anything that is not in the present is not tangible, and we cannot be sure it exists. In our daily lives, we experience struggles, and given these two things, we cannot gain happiness without these two ideas.

So, overall, we need to focus on the present and make it our daily goal to live within it and accept the chaos that comes with our daily lives. This is how we will be able to accept who we are, the circumstances and situations that we are in. This connects to the meaning of life because, as Schopenhauer explains, there is no meaning to life except what we have in the present. Nothing other than what is now holds meaning in our lives. In order for us to truly have meaning in life, we have to strive towards focusing on and living the best life we can in the present and not let our focus be altered towards other things. So, in order to find happiness and live a meaningful life, as argued in this paper, we have to accept the present for what it is, remove the connection that we hold with the past and the present, and strive towards being the people we need to be in poverty now.

Work Cited

1. Schopenhauer, Arthur. ​The Vanity of Existence​. Gray Cadence Publishing House, 2011.

Introduction

What is the meaning of life? Why do people ask why? Is there life after death? These are all questions that do not have one particular answer and may vary from different life experiences. The main purpose of this report is to explain and explore the different answers to these questions and develop a secular and non catholic perspective of the question, is there life after death? This report will include the documentation of four interviews from people of different ages, explaining their views of the meaning of life and ultimately enlightening the readers understanding and confidence of these broad questions and allow them to be educated to a greater extent.

What is the meaning of life?

There are many perspectives on the meaning of life. No answer is more correct then the other. Research says, a catholic faith believes that the meaning of life is love, this is shown when the Pope states, ‘God’s tenderness leads us to understand that love is the meaning of life”. This means from a religious catholic perspective the meaning of life is to love and to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. A non religious perspective of the meaning of life is that it is believed, life is not to serve any purpose but to maintain positive connections with one another. Both are relevant with all religions and all serve a deep message. The following documentations of four interviews will show different people’s perspectives of the meaning of life.

A 45 year old female’s view of the meaning of life is our existence in this world. The meaning of life is to follow Jesus and to be a good role model of Jesus. Also, for us to live and enjoy life’s simple pleasures, learn new skills and love and care for all human beings. A 12 year old female’s view of the meaning of life is to always do what makes you feel happy and to enjoy life, whilst living it to the fullest also to be a good steward of God and show dominion through life.

A 45 year old male’s view of the meaning of life is to be the best person that you can possibly be, to be loving, caring and giving at all times A 30 year old female’s view is to have health, love and family, appreciate the small things in life, not dwelling on problems, never have hatred, to just enjoy the simple things like a nice sunny day and a smile.

All these responses give us a clear understanding that no matter what life is all about enjoying it, living it to the fullest, maintaining close connections with family and friends, follow in Jesus’ footsteps and be a good person.

Why do people ask ‘why’?

Why do people ask why? There is no main reason why people ask why nor is there a clear answer but studies have shown and figured out a rough idea as to why people ask why. Studies have shown that when the human encounters a phenomena that appears to be incompatible with someone’s previous knowledge or we feel uncertain about something we are then driven to seek new insights about the topic in which case people ask why. Furthermore, enlightening our understanding about a topic and allowing us to be reassured with the answer. Asking why is the tool allowing us to learn more about the world around us. People ask why again and again until they are satisfied and educated about the way or reason something occurs or is. Everyone asks why, people ask why so they can learn about the world and get educated. It is in the innate human nature to be curious and always want to know why something is the way it is. There are many reasons and beliefs as to why people ask why as shown above and it is important that we do so to learn more about a particular person or even the world around us.

The ‘big question’

Across time and cultures, people have been conditioned to view death as an endpoint to the experience of life. However, religious beliefs and science have challenged assumptions about the finality of death. Many people believe and have a different view of the meaning of life and varies due to different beliefs that religions have.

The secular faith all share similar insights about the topic but also may vary. There is no single belief system tying everything together. The only similarity is that all secular people lack a belief in any Gods. They see death as a natural part of life and there are usually no religious or spiritual beliefs around the passing of life. Because the majority of the secular faith do not believe in a soul they do not see this in playing a big role in the afterlife. At the end of one’s life, secular people believe that you cease to exist.

Many different religious beliefs have different views and ideas of life after death Buddhism in particular has an abstract view on this. Buddhism believes in a life cycle called samsara. Samsara is a complicated cycle in which when you pass your energy passes on to a different form of life. Buddhists believe in Karma. Through good actions, such as ethical conduct, and by developing concentration and wisdom, Buddhists hope to either gain enlightenment or to ensure a better future for themselves in the believed reincarnation or new life. Good actions in the previous life will reward and result in a better afterlife whereas bad actions in your life such as sinning, will result in a worse afterlife.

The Catholic teachings of life after death are very similar to most of the christian faiths. The Catholic faith believes that life after death is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Catholics believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a vast part of God’s divine plan for us. The Catholic church teaches that humanity will face two judgments: an individual judgment and a final judgment. Each individual will be judged on how they have lived their life. The soul will then go to Heaven, Hell or Purgatory depending on whether their actions have been judged as being in accordance with God’s teachings or not. Matthew 25:32 “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.” This quote from the bible mentions that the people will be separated from the good and bad and put the good in heaven and the bad in hell.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many beliefs and perspectives of these questions in which many different religious faiths and non religious faiths believe in. It is important that humans get a comprehensive idea of different perspectives of the questions to further improve their knowledge and acquire a common knowledge of both themselves and others and what they believe in. This information report unlocked the understanding of people and allowed them to gain knowledge for these questions.

The approach we employ in seeking to discover and understand the meaning of life is of utmost importance, as it greatly defines our eventual outcome. The philosopher has his own personal opinion about life, which he may innocuously presume to be absolute. Conversely, religious folks have their own biased interpretation of what life really means, and they have taken it upon themselves as their sworn duty to convince as many individuals as possible to imbibe their perspective.

One thing is certain: real truth is solid and clear enough to induce conviction from the sternest of antagonists. Therefore, trying hard to win everyone over to your side bears less testament to the efficacy and trueness of your perspective. If it is truly true, then let the fact do the fight! Today, scientific discoveries, theories and laws have so much wide appreciation and application all over the world; not just because of the society’s trust in scientific methods, but because of the obvious realities and explanations to life that these theories and laws project. They quell all doubts from critics and nay-sayers, because they are so true, and they do a good job at making it glaring!

So, regarding the true meaning of life, could there perhaps be a holistic approach which covers all possible opinions, and which is plain enough to be convincing and void of bias? Perhaps, a scientific perspective offers this.

What then, is the meaning of life, from a scientific perspective?

Science does not deal with mere speculations or baseless beliefs. Rather, it considers facts, figures, unbiased explanations and proven realities, and from there draws objective conclusions. Therefore, looking at things scientifically implies defining it in terms of origin, scope, form, process and eventual outcome or end.

To the Scientist, Life is a Cycle:

The first law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed in an isolated system. It is safe to add, therefore, that the energy is only being converted from one form to another, and from one point to another, within this cycle. In light of this, development and wealth is only as a result of the accumulation of certain kinds of ‘energy’ in a specific location. Conversely, poverty among people is simply as a result of the inability of enriching energy to flow into that region.

The fact that such energy isn’t in a location at a specific time doesn’t mean that it cannot be there, neither does it mean that it has been lost totally. Rather, it only means that it is unable to be appropriately converted to flow towards that location.

Therefore, to the scientist, life is a cycle. It starts with birth, and ends with death; and the time between both points in the cycle is called a lifetime. It can be laden with exploits, discoveries and life-enriching endeavors, or evil and negative perpetrations.

To the Scientist, Life is a Game of Thrones:

Scientists see things in terms of molecules, atoms and theories. The age old ‘scientific method’ involves Observation, Hypothesis, Inference and Theory. However, if all elements were in a state of rest, how would life progress?

Observation can only be done when the equilibrium of any system is altered. The tiniest distortion in this state of rest makes for a worthy observation and documentation; and it is worthy to note that distortions only come when molecules are in conflict.

Elements continuously seek to overpower one another, and to exert domineering influence over all other factors and elements. It is this truth – though crude – that lies at the heart of all life endeavors today. Daily, people go to work at jobs so that they can earn more income and possibly more influence and recognition, so as to be able to have more control over their lives and finances. This quest for power and control over one’s life outcome is what drives basically everything we do.

This same struggle occurs in human sexual reproduction. During mating, tens of millions of male sperms exit the male reproductive organ into the female’s, heading for the fertile egg. Then the struggle kicks in, and amid the struggle and chaos, only the fittest get to the promised land. Of the millions of sperms released, only one gets the Golden job! That’s how great the intensity of the struggle is!

Imagine if you applied for a job and later discovered that there were 49,999,999 other applicants applying for the same position, each as qualified and serious-minded as yourself! That’s how it is, everyone seeking to outsmart and outwit the other to gain advantage.

At the heart of the matter, we discover that those who go for advanced degrees in Universities; those who go on mountain expeditions; those who explore the Moon and Planet Mars; and those who engage in some form of meaningful and purposeful activity, do it because they seek to gain a certain measure of power and control in life, which will otherwise not be granted them by default.

Thus, everyone doing something does it to exert more over life; and, everyone doing it at the same time amounts to a power struggle. Molecules at war with each other, struggling for superiority.

Therefore, to the scientist, life is simply a system characterized by a power struggle between all the elements, for the period that the system continues to exist. When the system ends, the struggle ends.

And, speaking about ending…

Life is an Equation:

One of the most important laws in science, Newton’s third law, states that ‘to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’

Life is an equation. Liken it to a chemical reaction: every reaction is characterized by three distinct things, namely; The Reactants, The Reacting Medium and/or Catalyst, and The Result or End point.

Every reaction has a has a beginning and an ending. Under normal circumstances, there can be no open-ended equations or reactions. Life starts with birth – a reaction which involves male and female gametes coming together to form an embryo, which undergoes metamorphosis to become a human. After birth comes growth: the human must undergo multiple reactions daily, weekly, monthly and yearly, defying odds to ensure survival. Growth stalls after a while, and then comes death, the ultimate end of the reaction. By this time, all the energy in the cycle has been converted and transferred, the power struggle has drawn to a close, and the reaction has officially reached its climax.