What is the meaning of life?
Is that a legitimate question? Does it even make sense? I don’t think so, but I think if you re-word it to “what is YOUR meaning of life?”, it becomes a valid question. My break down is:
What gets me out of bed in the morning?
Who is important to me? Why?
What do I want to feel throughout the day?
How can I achieve that?
With whom do I want achieve that?
Where do I want to be in 5 years? 10? 30?
Who’s lives have I made better? worse?
What can I do to rectify my mistakes? How have I learned from them?
Ultimately, I think my life can be summed up in one sentence:
To make the world a better place for me and those I care about.
All the rest is just fluff to me. That sentence represents the answer to all the questions.
Anyone have a different perspective?
My perspective is that the question is more important than the answer.
For instance, the contemplation of the question itself lead you to your specific refinement of it so that it became more meaningful for you. Whatever the answer happens to be for whatever person, it is the state of vulnerability provoked in asking the question that actually expands our awareness to the point where we might formulate an answer.
But, if you pinned me down and asked me to be general about the whole matter and give a concrete answer…
Q: What is the meaning of life?
A: Life
I agree. But I find the question too big and unfathomable, in my younger days I tried to answer it. Now I only ask, what’s the meaning of today?
God and living with him for eternity in Heaven
Who is important to me? Why?
- Being kind to people, admitting what I don’t know. Achieving success in climbing. Probably very ego driven, validates the effort I have put into this pursuit and elevates my worth.
What do I want to feel throughout the day?
- Accomplished and liked, generally when I start a day productively it carries through and I attain both of these, usually if I shirk off work and procrastinate, I feel neither.
How can I achieve that?
- Set goals for each day that I hold myself accountable for.
With whom do I want achieve that?
- Myself. I’ve always found comfort in my alone time and while I enjoy others and the beauty of sharing good moments with them I’m content with moving through life more or less individually. This avoiding of lasting relationships also allows me to grow with less inhibitions (or so I would like to think) as I do not define myself according to how I have to come to think other people have defined me.
Where do I want to be in 5 years? 10? 30?
- I don’t have a clue.
Who’s lives have I made better? worse?
- My family’s lives I have made better, people I treat with disrespect or judgment I have made worse.
What can I do to rectify my mistakes? How have I learned from them?
- Work constantly to change harmful behaviors and if given the opportunity apologize directly for my actions. It seems that the more I negatively judge other people, the more I resent them for not adhering to my own personal standards and expectations, the worse I feel and the worse I will treat myself and people close to me. Hopefully, through deliberate, daily efforts to rectify these aspects of myself I can grow past them and better the lives of myself and others.
And finally, ruminate less and smile more. Life doesn’t have to be lived always in your head…
Death!