Why are here? What is the meaning of our lives? Are they futile? Such questions have been pondered upon ever since people were capable of intelligent thinking. Many schools of philosophical thought have tried to answer them, each in their own ways. Most of these philosophy sects have tried to explain, from their perspective, what the point of existence is. The Atzecs said that the ultimate meaning in life was to live a perfectly balanced life between nature and humans, and to allow ‘energy’ to flow from generation to generation. On the other hand, the Tibetans have said that the goal of existence is to end all suffering. In Station Eleven, by Emily Rand, characters struggle to find a common ground on why they are living. While for some, living is simply survival, for others, such as Kirsten, living needs to be more. In the post-apocalyptic wasteland presented in Station Eleven, and in general, I think that the very point of life is to find that common ground between you and others.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, ''Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” In this quote Jefferson perfectly sums up life. Life and time should not be wasted by inactivity but instead should be spent with/on productivity. The purpose of life is to live and to be industrious. By constantly being active a person can accomplish many tasks and possibly goals. Being industrious and productive leads to performing well in life. Life has a time limit and therefore one should not waste it by being idle or unproductive.
Have you ever wondered why life was created and what your purpose is? Well, you probably have, you just don’t remember it. We ask ourselves a variety of questions every day. It might be a simple or hard question you are facing throughout the day, but the answer is the main thing you need to remember. The meaning of life is more than just a simple question like the others we ask ourselves. If you have read the book Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass then you would know not everyone has the same answer to that question. Everyone has different thoughts and answers, but Daniel Fink’s answer is the best solution to the problem. His answer is unique and very creative. He embraces his life and lives it to the fullest. Daniel Fink’s
Judaism and Hinduism have many things in common. Both ancient religions believe in a higher power and both began as being specific to a certain region before later expanding in the late 19th century, with Judaism originating in Egypt and Hinduism taking its roots in India. With that being said, there are also several differences between the two religions. Hindus believe that we are reborn from a previous life until we achieve “oneness”, which is the unity of all beings with the Divine. Jews, on the other hand, believe that we are created in God’s image with the capacity to either be good or evil. Both religions have a rich background and beautiful cultures. It would be impossible to understand the contrast between Judaism and Hinduism without
“It’s clear to me that to die now and escape my troubles was a better thing for me” (Apology 41d). Socrates was a very wise man who gave deep and intellectual ideas regarding a human’s purpose in life and afterlife. He was arguing with the Men of Athens (the jury) because he was accused for disturbing the peace. Socrates was a mentor to Plato (who writes Phaedo, Symposium, Apology, and Republic about Socrates’ philosophical views) and was essential to the development of philosophy in classical Greece. Plato writes these books about Socrates’ life to dive deep into his thoughts, truth, and worldview. He is from Athens and helped to develop Athenian art and philosophy during the golden age of Athens around 400 BC. Socrates believes that once, the soul separates from the body, it can obtain true wisdom and understanding of love in the afterlife. Socrates’ worldview was of deep thinking and consisted of rational in his views of gaining true wisdom in afterlife, humility on his journey in obtaining wisdom, peaceful thought patterns, and his wise views to view love for the true beauty of the soul through obtaining a deeper connection.
knowledge we acquire has purpose and meaning in our lives however, sometimes faith does not
Throughout the world, each individual no matter how youthful or mature has developed an ideology in life. It is easy to be influenced by many intriguing ideologies. Every individual has a different outlook on the purpose of life, and trying to seek what life can bring can be difficult if you are alone or being targeted. Everyone has a burning desire to fulfill a life goal, but when we allow ourselves to be controlled by society, it becomes a difficult and stressful task to complete. Having an open mind to a wide range of diverse ideologies allows finding a purpose to be captivating.
In Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, there are scenes that trick the audience into thinking that it will give them the movie’s view on the meaning of life. The film, however, never actually gives the audience a real, serious answer to the questions that relate to life’s meaning; by doing this, the people who created the film probably wanted the audience to make up their own views and answers to life’s meanings and purposes (a loosely defined meaning of existentialism). In existentialism, existentialists reject proposed systems that have a definitive answer to the questions involving the meaning and purpose of life; they freely choose standards of values on the human condition, which asks questions, like “Why am I here,” “What does it mean to be human,” or “How should I live my life?” According to Mitchell’s Roots of Wisdom, the idea of existentialism “emphasizes the uniqueness and freedom of the human person as an individual (what makes each life a unique, personal experience) as opposed to the essence of a human being (what makes all of us alive).” To reiterate, this movie seems to be leaning toward the audience’s personal views on life and its meaning and purpose. Each individual should decide for him/herself the meaning of life. The ending of the movie seemed very anticlimactic. The presenter explains the meaning of life so casually and with no serious regard or consideration: “Well, it’s nothing special. Try to 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
This part of the essay will summarize the main points of naturalism, creationism and existentialism suggested by Baggini. Both pros and cons of the above positions will be discussed and the preferred position will be indicated at the last part.
Be selfish. Most humans cringe at this advice, why would anyone encourage selfishness? Ayn Rand’s philosophy declares in order to achieve our greatest potential, we, as humans, must be selfish. Differentiating from the world’s perception of selfishness, Rand says that the true dictionary definition is simply “concern for oneself” and is an essential to life. Rand expresses her philosophy through the creation of her ideal character, Equality 7-2521, with her same moral values who struggles finding himself as an individual in a collectivist society within the science fiction novel Anthem. He rebels society’s rules in order to achieve his greatest desire: knowledge. Although his choices go against all morals he has been
The ultimate goal of human life for Plato is to know and understand the truth or the “eidos” of the “good”. The only way for us to see this truth is through our minds. The truth is not accessible in the physical world but in the intellectual realm. For us to be happy or for use to know the truth is only when we are beyond our physical sense it is a totally different level. So according to Plato, “knowledge” and “virtue” are corollary meaning that as long as one exists the other will follow. He says that as long as you are aware of the truth and you know what the good is, it automatically means you will do the good. We all have the capacity to see the truth and the “eidos” of the good but it needs to be developed. Once it is developed that means it is logical that you will automatically do what
What is the value of life? To me the value of life is cherishing every moment that comes to me. To make sure with every experience to take it to heart and learn some kind of lesson out of it. life is like a mountain, at certain points throughout the climb it is going to be really tough mentally and emotionally. Other times it’s going to be so easy fun and smoothe until… one hits that bump in the road again. We may think to ourselves the only option is to give up, to stop the climb and lose all complete motivation to continue. That’s when the friends and family are there to help us, to pick us up, and to help motivate us to continue the climb.
“Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the good has been aptly described as that which everything aims. But it is clear that there is some difference between ends: some ends are activities, while others are products which are additional to the activities. In cases where there are ends additional to the actions, the products are by their nature better than activities.” (Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, as translated by Crisp, 2000, p. #3)
For hundreds of years philosophers have assigned knowledge the supreme role and have called knowledge the ultimate purpose and meaning of human life. Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher said “theoretical wisdom, that is, knowledge of the first principles and of what follows from them, is by nature our purpose and is the ultimate thing for the sake of which we have come to be. This is the highest form of knowledge since it is knowledge with grounding of the highest things. Through this kind of knowledge one not only knows what follows from the first principles, but also possesses truth about the first principles.”
However, when we give meaning to our life I believe we have to understand that whatever we choose to based our life on, should also be something that will make us happy even when it 's no longer there. For example, if you based your life 's meaning on being the best mother to your kids and providing them with happiness and security. One must also understand that they might not always be around. So, what 's your meaning of life now? Therefore, When we give meaning to our life, I believe we also have to be realistic and focus on our meaning for living and set concrete goals. If we set our meaning of life to becoming the biggest super model in the world yet you 're not working towards it or you just set an unrealistic goal. Then eventually that 's going to alter your life 's meaning and cause you to live in Denial, and unhappy. Our life 's meaning comes from within us it 's something we have to think hard