A Modern Meaning Of Life

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.