In search of a practical “higher meaning”

Rahul
Rahul
Jul 21, 2017 · 7 min read

What is the meaning of life?
This is a question I believe a lot of people, who think to live or who avoid living by thinking, have wasted a lot of time on. The number of confusing proverbs available on internet says it all. Here are a few …

The purpose of life is a life of purpose

Might be true, how can an intelligent play of words ever be false?

The meaning of your life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away.

Oh that makes sense, nobody likes to keep the gifts anyway.

Meaning of life is not about finding yourself… but it is about creating yourself.

Of course, because what is said before can always be falsified by using a more appropriate word to create a better truth.

The meaning of life is to discover the meaning of life!

Circular reasoning is always hard to argue against, might as well just accept it.

The purpose of life for some people might as well be to come up with the most elegant play of words about purpose of life, that sounds confusing and profound at the same time.

The reason I believe this question is so popular is because it leads to a perpetual chain of reasons. For some people who live to think, It works like an addiction. And so I am highly tempted to write about it with full knowledge of the fact that it is going to be an exercise in vain.


Evolutionary perspective

If you think from an evolutionary point of view, the answer is simple. The purpose of life is to create more life. All living beings live to reproduce so that the evolution can continue churning its wheel creating diversity and complexity.

Even though this answer is the simplest and most convincing of all, it is too mundane for human intellect. While this purpose fits really well for most of the life forms, It doesn’t really explain the existence of beings who can ask this question and kill time. Because even if they find the answer, they don’t stand a chance to reproduce more, in fact they might even be punished by females of their species for being useless for all practical purposes.


Philosophical perspective

Plato put forth the meaning of life in achieving highest form of knowledge. And the highest form of knowledge according to him is the idea of “Good”. According to Aristotle (one of the students of Pluto)

What is the highest good in all matters of action? To the name, there is almost complete agreement; for uneducated and educated alike call it happiness, and make happiness identical with the good life and successful living. They disagree, however, about the meaning of happiness.

Now that is confusing. It says that the purpose of life is happiness but the meaning of happiness is not clear. That is like answering a question with another question. but then what else can we expect from philosophers.


Religious perspective

When we talk about religious perspective of purpose of life, more or less we talk about purpose of human life (I don’t know if animals have their own religions.. so can’t comment)

Hinduism: I being a Hindu can comment on Hindu perspective of purpose of life better than other religion. Although Hinduism itself has a multitude of schools of thoughts, so nothing qualifies as the final word. According to one of the well accepted schools, the purpose of life is four fold: Dharma, Artha, Kaam, Moksha. None of these four words have an exact parallel in english. Loosely speaking, Dharma means duty. Duty with respect to God (if you believe in one), Parents, Fellow human beings and all life forms. Artha means pursuit of wealth, because being poor suck for sure. Kaam signifies pleasure. Last but the toughest, Moksha, means the enlightenment. The attainment of ultimate knowledge (Brahm Gyaan) to be liberated from the cycle of life and death and become one with the parmatma (the primary soul of the universe). While each of these four facets are complete by themselves, together they form the ultimate purpose of life.

Buddhism: I think Buddhists have the best word for the purpose of life… to attain Nirvana (It is pronounced without the ‘a’ at the end). Nirvana is a concept very hard to explain in any language. Although I believe it is close to the word “Moksha”. Nirvana is achieved by conquering one’s own desires and achieving ultimate understanding of samsara (the universe, the cycle of birth and death and the materialistic reality and the suffering).

I do not have a good understanding of the Abrahamic religions. Ill appreciate comments to add other religions perspective as well. But I believe all the religions point to the purpose of life as purification of heart and soul in some manner. Ridding oneself from wrong deeds and accumulating good deeds as one goes along living life.


Personal perspective

All that the sages and the philosophers have to say, more often than not, is not easy to understand by ordinary people like me. So I have my own ideas of the purpose of life (specifically my life)

An idea: Everyone is born unique and given how complicated a life form is, it is practically impossible that the exact you will ever exist again in this universe. Being so unique, everyone has at least one unique idea that will die forever if it is not put out into the universe. The purpose of life, probably is to put this one idea out and implement it. May be it is a delicious chicken curry, may be it is a song, a poem, it may be a piece of code, a design of furniture… it can be anything at all.

Scientific evolution: Nature, by the virtue of its mechanisms, points us to a purpose. Our duty as a part of nature is to evolve, To achieve scientific advancements and to break out of our home planet in order to explore the universe. Any small step taken by an individual in that direction is a fulfilling purpose in itself. Anyone can improve upon one’s area of interest and redefine the state of art and every such redefinition is a baby step in our evolution.

Love: We are all born with a set of people granted to us. And we gather more as we go along living life. If we are lucky, we find that one person for whom we feel a very special kind of love. All These people care for us. They feel happy with us and they feel sad in our sadness. They provide us with another purpose of life. The purpose of being there for them. Live with them, enjoy with them, take care of them, and be around them when they die.

Happiness: If you think about it, the perpetual chain of metaphysical reasons to find the purpose of life does not lead anyone anywhere. So why not understand its futility and rather concentrate on something practical. Why not concentrate on one’s own happiness. While it is hard to define happiness as a general idea, it is easy to define what it is not. Pleasure should not be misunderstood as happiness because pleasure is sensory and ephemeral. Anything, the effect of which does not last for a time of the order of one’s life (Life is generally measured in years) can be opted out. Happiness comes out of deep contentment with oneself. Being comfortable in one’s own skin. One needs to make sure to do the “Right thing” rather than the easy thing, in order to be content with oneself.

When we are in our full mental health we rarely ask this question. We asks this when life seems nebulous and defence mechanisms do not work any more, we ask this when our belief system shakes or breaks down and we need a purpose upon which we can built a new one. In these times, the purpose of life can be the most elusive idea. I have always been in the need of a simple answer that I can use in such times.

I believe we as humans are slave to our perceptions. And any purpose that we convince ourselves as a worthy one is as good as any other.

Metaphysics and Philosophy may be good topics to wonder about, Though there is a good possibility that there actually is no higher purpose of life than just to live happily.


Originally published at .

)

Rahul

Written by

Rahul

Technology, E-commerce, Science, Arts and Philosophy.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade