I have never pondered on such a question of what it means to be a human being. What it means to be a human being is not just having a face, eyes, heart, or being able to drive a car, or to own a house. Being a human being is much more than that, deeper and more passionate. Being a human being is to have the ability to having rational thought and to think deeply. Being a human is finding a meaning or a purpose. In the book “A Man’s Search for Meaning”, Viktor Frankle said “life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” The meaning of life can be discovered in three ways. First, one can accomplish something. Second, one can experience something or encounter someone. Or thirdly, one can demonstrate a certain attitude toward suffering/turning a personal tragedy into a triumph. …show more content…
Some people spend their lives complaining that there 's “no meaning to life”. They live their life not caring about others around them, themselves, etc. However, once they accomplish something, such as saving someone’s life or becoming a mom, they may finally feel that their life has a meaning. Those that aim and success are more likely to miss it and not feel accomplished with what they did. These would be the women that are told they can’t have children. Or someone who wants to be a doctor but continues to fail the entrance exam. Viktor Frankl said “...I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run, success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about
Richard Taylor, an American philosopher and author of, “The Meaning of Life” believes you can live a meaningful life as long as you realize your will and are completely involved in it and enjoy it, then you are no longer needed and your life was a successful one. “This is surely the way to look at all of life- at one’s own life, and each day and moment it contains; of the life of a nation; of the species; of the life of the world; and of everything that breathes” (Taylor p 27). He proves this through the ancient myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was sentenced by the Gods to spend an eternity rolling a stone repeatedly to the top of a hill and once it reached the top, it would roll right back down once again. Taylor calls Sisyphus’ life as an “endless pointlessness.” Taylor relates human life to Sisyphus’ life. He believes that both of our lives can have meaning. Taylor asks us to look at Sisyphus’ story in a different way. For example, while the Gods sentenced him to rolling this stone up a hill for an eternity, what if they gave him a “strange and irrational impulse” to roll the stone repeatedly. Now, according to Richard Taylor, Sisyphus’ life would now have meaning and if we were to be as invested as Sisyphus in rolling the stone, then our lives have meaning as well.
What does it mean to be human? To most people it means being high on the food chain; or having the ability to make our own choices. People everywhere have a few things in common: We all must obey Natural laws, and we have preconceived ideas, stereotypes, and double standards. Being human is simply conveyed as human nature in “The Cold Equations”, by Tom Godwin, where the author shows the common ground that makes each and every one of us human.
Wolf argues that a person must feel something towards his or her project or activities and that the person must feel gravitated toward this project and it must excite them or they may be passionate about it. But, not all people feel the same way in what they do. It doesn’t necessarily mean that their lives are meaningless, just that they look at what they’re doing with a different perspective. The person might be (i) spontaneous in what they choose to do; the activity excites them but they like to do things at different times, (ii) unreflective or idle; they don’t really think about or are not self-reflective about their beliefs, (iii) episodic and has no long term commitments to their projects, or they may be (iv) detached in what they do and they may not love or feel passion towards anything they do. Each example is of a person who may not be passionate and not feel anything towards their projects but have at least some success in such activities. This person may do different kinds of work, help people, and admire art the same way normal people do just with less passion and excitement but with the same amount of success. It would not be fair to say this person’s life lacks meaning because they’re less
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through which we might tie all of the experiences of our life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness which sometimes consumes the activities of our existence. He states, however, that we will never find some great pure meaning behind everything, because there is none. What there is to be found, however, is the life itself. We seek to find meaning so that emptiness will not pervade our every thought, our every deed, with the coldness of reality as the unemotional eye chooses to see it. Without color, without joy, without future, reality untouched by hope is an icy thing to view; we have no desire to see it that way. We forget, however, that the higher meaning might be found in existence itself. The joy of life and the experience of living are what make up true meaning, as the swirl of atoms guided by chaotic chance in which we find our existence has no meaning outside itself.
The meaning of life is to find the meaning of life. Is it not? We all go through each day trying to figure out which road out the infinite amount of paths will lead us in a better direction where happiness is prominent and society is flawless. However, not every single human being is going to fit on that narrow, one-lane highway to success. Bad choices, accidents, fate, family matters, society, temptation, anger, rage, addiction, and loss of hope can all be deciding factors in opting to choose that wrong path to self-destruction. The adverse thing is, once you've traveled so far down the road, you get so discouraged that you feel like you can never turn back or make up for the "lost time."
When comparing a meaning of life text (“The Death of Ivan Ilych”) to examples of popular culture (Batman Begins and Batman Beyond), it can be determined that when one finds meaning in life, it is the climax of that individual’s life. Also, everyone finds his or her purpose in life at different times, or not at all. More importantly, there is a strive to find meaning in life, and it is up to the individual to find what his or hers is.
In our society today, many people are motivated by their futures and making something out of themselves. From the get-go, we are asked by many people in our lives ranging from family and friends to figures of authority such as teachers the very question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Purposiveness is deeply engraved in our world, and although it can act as a motivating agent, it is very detrimental in distracting one from living life in the moment as it is our moments that we live that make up our lives as a whole. We are not guaranteed a future; thus, we cannot be certain of it. However, because we have not confronted the absurd, we continue to work and live for our futures in order to pursue our goals revolving around money and success. “A man wants to earn money in order to be happy, and his whole effort and the best of a life are devoted to the earning of that money. Happiness is forgotten; the means are taken for the end” (76). We are so consumed with these goals, that what matters more, such as happiness is lost in what is not even certain. The only thing certain is that in the grand scheme of things, life truly has no meaning, and we will constantly be conflicted to believe in this or to find some type of meaning somewhere or reconcile. But, this is just escaping from the fact of the inevitable death that waits for us, which does not do us any good, so why
Many people wonder: what is the meaning of life? What is the human purpose on this earth? At least one time in our lifetime, we all look at ourselves and wonder if we are living our lives the way we were meant to live them. Sadly, there is not a definite answer to the principles of human life. Every human comes from different backgrounds and different experiences throughout their existence. Each person is different, each with different emotions and reactions to their surroundings. People strive to uncover the secrets to the meaning of life. In reality, humans are given the desire to live the way we want and have a critical thinking mind, unlike animals. In the essay Living like Weasels, Annie Dillard believes we should live more carefree and instinctual as weasels, but what we were given as humans is a gift that no other creature has – free will and choice to shape our own lives.
What does it mean to be human? Sure, one must have the usual physical features such as fingers, eyes, arms, hands, feet, etc., but what does it really mean? Must the human be able to speak? To take upon the actions of themselves? Whatever it means, it can be interpreted in any way from anyone. The physical attributes of any human can be compared to those of our evolutionary ancestors. However, it is possible to believe that there are many characteristics that make a human, but only six define the true, ideal human.
...ng my opinion using Frankl can argue “For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.” He warns us to not turn meaning into an illusion.
“Life is a balanced system of learning, adjusting, and evolving. Whether pleasure or pain; every situation in your life serves a purpose. It is up to us to recognize what that purpose could be.” - Dr. Steve Maraboli
Almost every human being is faced with the philosophy of their meaning of life; why they were placed in the setting they are in and what they feel the need to accomplish in their lifetime. Because this question is such a broad, vastly fully unanswerable one, it can be argued that characters in fiction often try and find meaning based on the setting, or environment they find themselves in. Characters might often find themselves on journeys to sudden epiphany, typically in their immediate or close setting in hopes to answer that big question about themselves. Having said that, the meaning of life is always perceived on the basis of opinion, on what the character finds true to themselves, or what we as readers find true to them. Some come to create and realize their own personal meaning, others are ultimately given a meaning with no real personal insight, while others choose to forget the meaning of a real life and find meaning in a secret life. Although it may not be a question needing an answer to many, it is still one that exists. Though there will never be one encompassing answer that relates to all of lifes situations, it is an answer completely reflecting the life journey we took to reach it.
Although, Meno failed to search intrinsically for meaning, Socrates pushed Meno to understand that only he can discover things for himself. We must turn away from external things that cloud our vision in order to open up our internal life. By looking at the world, and inside ourselves, we are able to find our own meaning of life at a specific moment. Frankl explains in Man’s Search for Meaning that we give suffering meaning by how we respond to it. I believe that man can live and die for his ideals and values! The question “what is the meaning of life?” may never be fully answered because everyone finds their own significance in life through internal reflection and
Humans may be one of the most complex species on this earth thus far. We are the only known species who contemplates their existence so deeply and writes novels worth of work on it. But what exactly does it mean to be a human and how is our humanness defined? For centuries philosophers have written countless works on what they believe makes a person truly humane and how we differentiate between those who are “bad” and those who are “good” humans. In a world that is so subjective and that has so many opinions, routes, and options this may be one of the hardest concepts to define.
The meaning of life, defined by Victor E. Frankl, is the will to find your meaning in life. It is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. He believes that if you are approached with the question of “what is the meaning of my life” or in this case, “life is meaningless,” then you should reverse the question to that person asking the question. For example: What are you bringing to me? What are you as an individual contributing to this life? This forces the person in question to take a look at themselves and to ultimately be responsible. Frankl says that if you are a responsible member of society than the meaning of life transcends from yourself rather from your own psyche. He also says that if we for some reason cannot find meaning within ourselves it has to be from some outside source. This is referred to as service. And an example of this is love. Victor Frankl describes three ways in which we can discover the meaning of life; Creating work-doing a deed, experiencing something-someone, and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.