Defining the Meaning of Life: A Preface
What truly matters to you? How do you make sense of your own existence? Not in a, “What’s the point of all of this?” existential crisis sort of way, but rather, “How do I find meaning in this universe I’ve been thrown into?”
To even exist, just sitting here now, breathing, is so rare it’s incomprehensible. Our minds simply cannot fathom the 1 in 400 trillion chance of being born. There’s a made-up word from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, suerza, that means a feeling of quiet amazement that you exist at all.
It’s incredible. What’s even more incredible is our ability to experience this world completely uniquely and our freedom to interpret it how we choose, as individuals. To decide how we will navigate this world — what values, goals, and personal philosophies we will employ.
You carry on with your everyday activities — you go to school or work, go to restaurants, hang out with friends, exercise, etc. But how do you find meaning within the mundanity of everyday life? Maybe your response will include going home to see your spouse or family.
Not a bad answer and not that loved ones don’t matter — for a very large part of the meaning of life in my own opinion is human connection — but try not to focus on specific people, just for the sake of this question. Thinking more broadly in this way allows us to forget the influences particular people have on us and consider solely what matters to us as individuals.
How would you find meaning in life? What would be valuable to you? The idea is to prompt thinking about things we experience uniquely as individuals, like nature or music, as opposed to the practical, ordinary activities like going home from work on Friday after a long week.
Tragedy does strike sometimes, which may leave us without those we thought we’d spend the rest of our time with. I ask you only to imagine an awful reality like this so as to encourage thinking of a more general and independent answer to the meaning of life according to you.
The beauty of the human condition is that we are free to determine as individuals what does and does not matter to us. We are free to establish the values and goals we want for ourselves. We are free to discover our own definition of meaning. Humanity has spent so long thinking about the meaning of life because it’s one of the biggest wonders of the world.
People have tried to draw out some general answers, and sometimes they do point to some universal truths. But the only answer that matters here is yours. The answer can only be discovered by turning inward, reflecting on our own lives and experiences.
In the end, what this will do is allow you to develop a framework for meaning that can endure all forms of change we inevitably face in life, including the loss of loved ones. Answering the question, “What is the meaning of life?” will allow you to make sense of the chaos in life, and thus to make the most of your unique, original experience on this earth.
Learning about the experiences of others and their versions of a meaningful life enhances the beauty of the uniqueness of the human experience. Though we all certainly live different lives, through choices and circumstances that we sometimes control and sometimes do not, there is an endless amount of insight to be gained from hearing each other’s stories. Opening our minds to the perspectives of others expands our own and provides us with a more well-rounded, resilient framework for approaching the ever-changing nature of life.
For this project, I’m exploring people’s unique definitions of what a meaningful life is. I first ask interviewees to tell me about their upbringing and the circumstances that led them to where they are now — their story.
I then ask interviewees to share a story that illustrates what the meaning of life is to them. At the end of each interview, I share a bit of commentary touching on both the significance of the definition of the meaning of life for the interviewees and how we can take the philosophies we’ve learned about and apply them to our own lives.
I hope that while reading these stories, you’ll open your minds to the experiences and perspectives of others and what they take to be a meaningful life. And afterwards, I hope you’ll feel invited to take some time to think about what truly matters to you.
