The meaning of life : 9 alternative meaning of life that you have to know
“What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? why am bored? What should I do in life?’’ These have been debating issues for long. People asked these questions starting from the beginning. We also ask these questions out of intellectual side, theological side or out of emotional distress and confusion in life.
One could claim life has no purpose as nihilists say. Life is without objective meaning. People like Nietzsche killed God and erased it out of the picture, then life without the creator would be meaningless. Therefore, life is without purpose. Therefore, only goals that inspire one should be the meaning for some one’s life.
Humanists say you should ask what is the meaning of my life, not what is the meaning of life. In either case, we often ask both. Whatever the meaning, we want to do good, get big, get enlightened about the world. Go green, find God, do good, become famous, get fit, get rich…all these are own definitions of getting meaning in life that later become goals of life for most. The following are public claims of meaning of life.
- The meaning of life to become better.
- The meaning of life is service.
- it is experiencing life?
- It Is being influential the purpose of life
- The meaning of life is passing down gene…
- Making others happy…making you loved one’s smile
- Living life, the way I want?
- Evolving in to better
- There is no purpose to life
- To know himself, know the creator and worship the creator.
- There is no purpose to life. Only use your time to do what you love.
- It is what you decide on your own
- Live as you wish
- Achieve enlightenment
- The meaning of life is die satisfied
- Things have no intrinsic meaning. It’s only the meaning we give to it.
- Life is process and process does not have a purpose
In this post, I wanted to show you possible purposes of life that you can read and find yours’s from it.
The meaning of life is development
Fox eats rabbit, rabbit eats grass, grass consumes nutrient from soil, soil fertilize on organism…life comes and goes. But one thing is for sure, no matter what happens for each organism in the system, the system itself has to continue to exist. Without further development of each, the system would break and all vanish. Imagine what if every rabbit stops to reproduce? The fox would die of hunger, the grass would cover all the ground and soil dies with overuse and everything dies on the way. Shinto, known Japanese religion, believes (purpose of) life is to live, not to die… purify itself by rightful self-development.
Someone once said, ‘’the purpose of life is to grow.’’ Think of a kid that won’t grow for years, or won’t speak until 10 or what if your apple tree at back yard won’t give fruit or dried. We say that life is unfulfilled. He continues, the meaning of life could be defined from this perspective as to growth and develop.
The meaning of life is living with nature
After creating man, God ordered him to cultivate the earth. Immediate life for the first man was living with nature as a protector and nurturer of it. Naturalistic pantheism understands the meaning of life as to look after nature.
Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, also stated that the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue which agrees with Nature. Life is not living for the material possessions and even rejects desire for wealth and power. It is living harmoniously with nature that nature of man demands.
The meaning of life is being happy
Epicurus saw what is good as whatever brings greatest happiness. And his meaning of life is as greatest happiness principle. Aristotle also said “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
Is the purpose of life really to be happy? For example, the bible completely changed the purpose of life from living happy in the garden of eve to a complete suffering on earth. The new world made due to man’s disobedience was not a place for joy but for hard work and suffering.
In any case, happiness should be the central part of life. Being honorable that might not make you happy for a while could actually be your source of happiness in a long run. Be happy.
The meaning of life is the experience
If life does not equivalent experience, what else would it correspond to? The meaning of life is defined in terms of our experiences. A pragmatic knows that life is experienced empirically. Pragmatic philosophers say one should find practical understanding to life than what is abstract. Therefore, one should find the meaning through experience.
“We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influence and reshape the person we are, and the person we become. None of us are the same as we were yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.”
― B.J. Neblett
The meaning of life is we create our own purpose
“We create our own purpose in life. Now go create yours.” -Lex Luthor
Existentialism, also teaches that you create meaning yourself and God does not create one for yourself. They say purpose in life starts as one emerges in to existence. Søren Kierkegaard reflects that life is making your own meaning in this indifferent world. And one should live devoting and committing itself to something finite. Therefore, they create your own purpose in life. And you should look in to places that you can find your purpose and commit to it.
The meaning of life is God’s has purpose for you
Negating what we said on prior point, we can say God has a plan when he sent a soul to earth. And no one emerged to make its own purpose but with God’s purpose. Theists think that humans find their purpose with in God’s ultimate purpose for them. And without God’s existence they say life is irrational One can disagree and argue saying that the ultimate purpose of man was in the garden failed since humans leave the garden with sin. The bible notes that this world is a temporary tent, waiting for the real castle to come. And hustling in this tent world that would be destroyed with storm is not the ultimate goal but to live in the world under the principles of the heavens. Then one can fulfill its purpose by agreeing with the principles of the bible.
Christianity believes, the purpose of man is to seek salivation through grace of God. The Apostle Paul has spoken: “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
The meaning of life is doing greater good of the humanity
We are part of the whole. Creating meaning out of man’s urge to make sense of the world should also include to become useful for the progress of humanity. The disparity between poor and rich, the luxury and so much waste while the majority live off of a garbage can should be a concern for a man. If you want to live a fulfilled life, then you should have a problem that is away from a dress to wear to prom or a bigger house for new year. Living for others and creating to use others is the meaning. The Bahá’í Faith also claims that purpose of life is about service to humanity.
For this man needs duty. Duty is one of the most important pillars of life. Without duty life won’t exist. After God created the first man, he gave him a duty. A duty that could progress the life on earth for good. He said, name these animals. Take care of the earth and more and more unbelievably large out of mind tasks. How would one person could take care of the earth. How can he name millions of animals and entities on earth? But this heavy task is what Adam should accomplish to live on earth. Kant and other philosophers also think of this duty in terms of importance to state. How can you contribute to the greater good of the state, the country or maybe closer to home?
The meaning of life is of no fear
For some life is a natural prison made and kept by the powerful. Fear is the ultimate suffering in this age. These include fear of pain, fear of not getting money, fear of rejection, fear of being evicted out of house. Fear is all around up. Epicurus taught at his time that one should find pleasure and peacefulness and free oneself from fear. And he taught fear could be abolished through knowledge, and limiting worldly desires. These desires could be similar to the ones that most philosophers and religious books speak of: desires of sex and appetites.
For Zeno of Citium, meaning of life is freedom from suffering through logic and having clear judgement.
The meaning of life is love
The Mohist philosophers believed that the purpose of life was universal, impartial love. Mohism promoted a philosophy of impartial caring – a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship to him or her. The expression of this indiscriminate caring is what makes man a righteous being in Mohist thought. This advocacy of impartiality was a target of attack by the other Chinese philosophical schools, most notably the Confucians who believed that while love should be unconditional, it should not be indiscriminate. For example, children should hold a greater love for their parents than for random strangers.
Conclusion
What is the meaning of life ? Life could be given a bunch of meanings. The necessary thing is about understanding what you have and live for others with it. At the end of the day what matters most is what we do and it is not the definitions, the meanings. It is out actions. Life after all is accepting what god has made for us, making our path through it, serve others and nature with-it and be happy in it. With love, there is no fear. Then figure out what you will do, that makes you happy, and do that. And remember to serve others and to love life itself along the way.