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Meaning of Life September 6, 2000 My eighteen years of life on this planet have been a bit confusing. I have learned of many aspects of life from which one can draw meaning, if indeed such meaning can be drawn. I have also learned that there can be no singular meaning of life to stand for us all, or even any one of us. What I have learned above all is that trying to put words to the meaning of life is a task of absolute absurdity. This is not to be confused with the idea that life has no meaning, for life certainly has meaning. However, there is no single meaning of life to be defined - life is different for us all. Therefore, rather than define life for an entire planet, I shall try to explain what life means as I perceive it, and why it means so. When I was a child I felt as though I owned the world. I lived my young life oblivious to the struggles and triumphs of society, simply happy for being in my place with my things. On one cool January evening, as I sat in my room playing with my favorite action figures, simply holding my contentment, my father interrupted my peace to take the family out for dinner. The meal was pleasant to my knowledge, but so ordinary in itself that the meal has long been forgotten, except dessert. I wanted ice cream, but I had no care for the waffle ice cream cones; I preferred my ice cream to be served in a bowl. As I extended for my spoon, it slipped between my fingers and tumbled to the floor. I was taught to never eat with a dirty utensil, but to leave it on the floor would be impolite, so I reached for it intending to place it on the table. As my fingers grasped the shiny object, my forehead nudged the bowl of ice cream that happened to be conveniently near the edge of the table. It was a healthy nudge, just enough to catapult a considerable glob of low-fat strawberry ice cream onto my head. On looking back at that moment, the meaning of life has gradually begun to show its face to me. Life is a complicated twist of suffering, laughing, and learning all merging to tell a great story - or great many stories. Based on this view, "it is not the end goal or outcome of life that gives life meaning but rather the quality of the story, the quality with which one lives out and develops his or her role." At the time, this event seemed rather insignificant and did not merit remembrance. However, its catastrophic effects on my attitude that evening may have helped to mold me into the person I have become. I learned that suffering through such an event, as childish as it was, is quite necessary in any life. Such pains are part of an interminable cycle and only generate balance in one's life (p. 62, 'Life as Suffering'). Despite my horrid time spent that evening, the laughter brought since the incident is a worthy tradeoff. Laughter is an all too necessary function of life, just as suffering and the wide range of other emotions. "Some thinkers would emphasize the importance of sophistication in humor, but others would say that laughter itself is what is important." Whatever the case may be, laughter is an important ingredient in life, and must not be taken for granted nor ignored. Despite such emotional ties to life, I have also learned that life is not only about emotions. Those emotions are generated from the chain reactions created endlessly in all manners of life. Life is not so much based on those emotions, rather, life is based on the learning and continuous progression of thought throughout our existence based on those emotions and other reactions. All emotions and new experiences are direct responses based on previous emotions and experiences, which are based on what we learn. To learn is to change, and to change is to learn - it is a reciprocal relationship, and both aspects are required elements of life. What does this mean? Does this mean that life is merely a story written from the suffering and laughing over a few revolutions around a star, while learning what can be learned before the experience is over? I try not to confuse life with such confusing meanings, for there are far too many reasons to contradict such meanings and even more opinions. Simply put, the sole purpose of life is to just go with the flow. Whatever happens should happen naturally, and it cannot happen by any other method. Even supernatural interference, if present, can be viewed as natural, for who or what am I to decide that the hand of God is not natural? Who am I to say that I am even living outside of my own mind? In conclusion, I have narrowed life to one simple purpose: to live. © III Enterprises & neotope.com |
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