Ever
since I was able to understand and remember conversations, read the news and
generally soak up what the world was saying, there has been one question that
has always stood out to me. What is the meaning of life? I used to
have a little ritual that I would do when meeting new people, I would always
ask one question:
If you
had to sum up the meaning of life in one word, what would it be?
Needless
to say, the answers to my question did not carry as much weight as I had
hoped. Most people do not readily come prepared to answer such an off the
cuff question and it normally puts them on the back foot. However, the
most common word spoken back to me was survival.
The
meaning of life – survival?
In my
opinion, roll back the clock to when the first fire starting sparks were
created by man, and sure, I would agree that survival was the meaning of
life. Look around you now and you will see that every other living thing
has evolved to be able to survive and keep its species going.
End of
discussion? No, I do not believe that the meaning of life stops there.
After man burned his fingers and singed all of his body hair on the fire, we
kept evolving and developed one of our most important traits…..Free will.
Free will breaks all of nature’s rules. Free will gave man the
opportunity to say, I do not want children. As soon as we had the
potential to make that decision as an individual then I believe that the
meaning of life changed for us as a species. Just like we had evolved, so
must our meaning of life.
So what
now? We have so many different organisations trying to eliminate each
other, countries invading other countries and most notably people deciding to
take their own life, that the philosophy of ensuring the survival of our
species has been disregarded by many. So what do we live for? I
believe, and this is just my belief, that we as individuals live to
“experience”. The constant need to grasp something beyond our reach has
pushed us further and further and has changed the way we are hard wired.
Look around and everyone is experiencing different elements, some feel bad and
are never experienced again, others feel great and are made an essential part
of daily life!
As you
can see, this post is by no means religious. I have just wrote it from my point
of view, knowing what I know and speculating nothing. The meaning of life
is a huge topic spanning many different beliefs, I have not attempted to wade
in and change anyone’s perspective. I do hope however, that this may have
just perked up your mind somewhat and has set something thinking.
The modern meaning of life – I believe it to be to
experience all what we can to satisfy our curiosity as individuals and as part
of a collective. If we do not experience anything then the mind will
become dull, clouded and nothing will flourish but negativity! An excited
mind is a primed mind and it is that state that will keep mankind growing from
strength to strength.
