Recently I was asked by a very good friend to define the meaning of life….I think that this is a trick question. The meaning of life I believe is different for each of us. But for the sake of definition for my friend I have decided to try to explain what I think the meaning of life is…take what you will and disregard the rest.
What's the significance of life? Who are we? Is human life just a dream, from which we never really awake, as some great thinkers claim? Are we submerged by our feelings, by our loves and hates, by our ideas of good, bad, beautiful, awful? Are we incapable of knowing beyond those ideas and feelings?Is the reality we know a reality imposed to us by nature? Is the reality and the meaning of life a creation of men, such as music, or love or colors (science tells us that there isn't such things as music, harmony or colors in the physic world. Just traveling molecules: There is not, external to us, hot or cold, but only different velocities of molecules; there aren’t sounds, callings, harmonies, but just variations in the pressure of the air; there aren’t colours, or light, just electro-magnetic waves. Are we - and all living beings - just survival machines, blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes, as Richard Dawkins states? Are we incapable of knowing beyond the frames imposed to us by nature? Is there any significance for life in a Universe of billions of stars that ignore us? Is there any significance for life in a Universe whose dimensions and nature overcome our understanding?Listen to the words of Pascal, in the seventeenth century: When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity that lies before and after it, when I consider the little space I fill and I see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I rest frightened, and astonished, for there is no reason why I should be here rather than there. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me?
I believe that reality of it is that we all need a Purpose Driven Life. I think that all people long for a purpose. One great question underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life? I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want to suffer. From the very core of our being we simply desire contentment. When we have that part of our life going down the right road, we are at our happiest and Happiness in Life is the true meaning of life.The meaning of life resides in joy and the feelings of harmony connected to happiness; without happiness, life loses meaning. Happiness is at the heart of our lives and our demand for a meaning. A life without love and friendship is a meaningless life. The meaning of life is, largely, given by love and friendship.
This is my take on the meaning of life….it is simplistic, maybe too simplistic for some, but I do believe that it all comes down to this. Lead the life that God has planned for you. There is a purpose to everyone’s life, people will come and people will go and this is all part of God’s plan for you. Be strong and have faith that God is there for you and he plants the friendships and loves that will carry you through life and he pulls the weeds that were not meant to be. Be happy, content, and fulfilled knowing that you are a priority to someone and the answer to my prayer for a good friend. Know that I will always be here for you good or bad and that if there is anything I can do to bring you happiness I will do it so that you too know the meaning of life.
What's the significance of life? Who are we? Is human life just a dream, from which we never really awake, as some great thinkers claim? Are we submerged by our feelings, by our loves and hates, by our ideas of good, bad, beautiful, awful? Are we incapable of knowing beyond those ideas and feelings?Is the reality we know a reality imposed to us by nature? Is the reality and the meaning of life a creation of men, such as music, or love or colors (science tells us that there isn't such things as music, harmony or colors in the physic world. Just traveling molecules: There is not, external to us, hot or cold, but only different velocities of molecules; there aren’t sounds, callings, harmonies, but just variations in the pressure of the air; there aren’t colours, or light, just electro-magnetic waves. Are we - and all living beings - just survival machines, blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes, as Richard Dawkins states? Are we incapable of knowing beyond the frames imposed to us by nature? Is there any significance for life in a Universe of billions of stars that ignore us? Is there any significance for life in a Universe whose dimensions and nature overcome our understanding?Listen to the words of Pascal, in the seventeenth century: When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity that lies before and after it, when I consider the little space I fill and I see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I rest frightened, and astonished, for there is no reason why I should be here rather than there. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me?
I believe that reality of it is that we all need a Purpose Driven Life. I think that all people long for a purpose. One great question underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life? I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want to suffer. From the very core of our being we simply desire contentment. When we have that part of our life going down the right road, we are at our happiest and Happiness in Life is the true meaning of life.The meaning of life resides in joy and the feelings of harmony connected to happiness; without happiness, life loses meaning. Happiness is at the heart of our lives and our demand for a meaning. A life without love and friendship is a meaningless life. The meaning of life is, largely, given by love and friendship.
This is my take on the meaning of life….it is simplistic, maybe too simplistic for some, but I do believe that it all comes down to this. Lead the life that God has planned for you. There is a purpose to everyone’s life, people will come and people will go and this is all part of God’s plan for you. Be strong and have faith that God is there for you and he plants the friendships and loves that will carry you through life and he pulls the weeds that were not meant to be. Be happy, content, and fulfilled knowing that you are a priority to someone and the answer to my prayer for a good friend. Know that I will always be here for you good or bad and that if there is anything I can do to bring you happiness I will do it so that you too know the meaning of life.
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