what is the meaning of life
can you answer that? i cannot. i tried it for like a million times to answer this one single question and was never satisfied with the answer.
some say that we should not raise this question at all, as it is futile to ask such questions that have no answers and that life itself is as futile as the question. it is strange that even after 4,000 years of civilization, man is yet to completely comprehend life. everyone has their own definition of this ever changing ocean of perceptions — life. those who have attempted to define it have merely taken one single perspective, and hence life becomes an unfathomable subject.
let’s give it a try still. there are basically two ways to look at life — biological and philosophical.
biological way differentiates living beings from the non-living ones, i.e. living beings are born, they grow, and they die; non-living beings do not grow or develop, they don’t die — never — and so they don’t have a life.
now, the philosophical way is the toughest part. it was okay if the human species had not developed a philosophical intellect like other animals who do not wonder as to why they exist or the purpose of life. such a state would have saved us a lot of time to be more productive and less contemplating. but that humans can think philosophically is a reason why we get to ask such questions that have no answers.
life may just be a random story of existence. energy and nature simply developed one day and created life, and now they don’t give a damn. ever observed how indifferent this universe is to our desires, feelings and emotions? still people believe in god. god, like life, is another area full of questions. basically, humans have named nature and energy as god, something larger than life. and so every religion talks about the same superpower that cannot be seen but is present. you may call it — nature and energy — out of which life emerged.
another question that usually haunt all of us mortals is — “what am i doing with my life?” also — “whether what i am doing is the only thing that i can do or do i have better alternatives?” it’s always chaos up there in our heads.
life is like a timeline that is going to end one day. basically, ‘time’ and ‘life’ are one and the same thing. although time is eternal and life is transient. but on a subjective plain, even time is transient. we do not have all the time in the world. no! we’re merely mortals destined to die and sometimes it’s tough to truly take cognizance of this fact. it’s only when our hair turn grey and our bones go weaker that we somehow get an idea about this uncertainty of life and certainty of death. while we are young and happy, we believe that we would remain so for eternity as if we are immortals. how utterly foolish are we!
once you fully understand that you have a very ‘limited time’, it becomes easier. then, it is all about how you spend this ‘limited time’, i.e. ‘life’ — that’s what it’s all about — nothing else. your choices become important then. what you choose would define you and your life, because what you choose would occupy your ‘limited time’ — your life.
but that’s again only one way to look at life. there are numerous other as well. actually, everyone has a unique way to look at life that changes with time and that’s the beauty of life.
