Human beings are always searching and anticipating for who and what we are from the day being born until the time our bodies expire. For one to be infatuated and intrigued by the idea of “what is life” is a forever on going process. Life is nothing but a quest and an immaculate question that is constantly looking for the proper equation to answer all of the mysteries and ambiguities the universes has provided human beings with throughout time. Throughout history, human beings have always been told to think this way, love only these things, never do this activity, participating in this activity will curse one’s life forever, but doing this activity with these individuals will allow one to obtain a heavenly reward. However, there have always been groups of people that have thought outside the box and looked outside the norm searching for what is more and for what is real. These people were known as the philosophers, these men who search for realization, the truth in life, true authority, the human experience, and spectrums of love.
To begin with, when this course began the thought processes that have been contemplating through ones mind has been seesawing from the concept that God and only God is the only answer to all questions in life, and on the other end of the spectrum what if science and theories are correct. However, a further contemplation that has been examined further is that maybe all of these ideas and concepts are all correct. For one to grow up in an obstinate and hardcore Pentecostal home, not being able to question anything outside of the church has been rather difficult to grow up with. Now being older and understanding that there is more to life than just what a preacher tells the congregation to do has been rat...
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...al’s surface. The light has been revealed to me and I plan on following that light and allowing it to bring me direction and wisdom. Many people in life never do what their heart truly desires to do and instead end up being apart of the political and economical machine that controls society. As Ralph Waldo Emerson has stated, philosophy has allowed me to not go where the path may lead, but instead allow me to go where there is no path and leave a trail behind. Alan Watts has also stated and embarked on my soul that the only way to make any sense out of change in life is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. The real you is not a puppet which life pushes around; the real, deep down you is the whole universe. Philosophy has led me to believe these three powerful and profound quotes and by this I will live my life and pursue all of my hearts endeavors.
"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.
Many people one works with love to discuss the meaning of life, interspersed with life memories of events, physical, emotional, and spiritual in nature, deliberating at their age their need for ongoing life, when many perceived they would not travel so long.
The universe we inhabit is by all accounts an atypical one; a few people manage its foolishness by encompassing themselves with faith, while others disregard all its significance. Existentialism, nonetheless, ushers us down a remarkable course that darkens these perspectives toward one of a kind belief structure. Despite the fact that we can experience circumstances that are out of our control, we do have the ability to control how we manage said circumstances and regardless of whether we decide to create significance from them. The chase for our actual importance is primitive as are the answers that have maintained it throughout history. Certainly, life does not have an unmistakable settled intending to it; it is up to every person to find their own particular relative target and accomplish their own joy. This is absolutely what existentialism suggests, that it is not prone to know reality,
life everlasting . . . .” (217). Even if repressed, the human soul will eventually manage to
An old, wise man once asked a question to a young boy, who was disinterested in the essential facts of life,“What generates thoughts?” One could answer that it’s our experiences that formulate our thoughts, or that maybe they have always been buried deep within our soul. However, the question should remain rhetorical, for it holds more power without the answer because it establishes a principle, one that anyone could understand, that is if they tried. Chris McCandless understood it. He felt compelled to follow this principle until death, no matter the calamities. This rhetorical question actually prompted several other questions about life into the boy’s mind, similar to Chris when he thought about the essence of life. Then, new ideas from the several questions begin to assemble, forming a principle that will instill comfort in the soul and mind of an individual, who truly follows it. “Do thoughts originate from the soul or are they just consequence from an enveloping society infused with lower standards?” This question, along with the many others, asks about life itself, but, subsequently, will help the individual realize the purpose of life. With the answers, they will also determine how to live deliberately among those
It could even be said that those for whom life has never appeared problematic, have not really found - nor can they ever know - the meaning of life. For these people Life is just a matter of `living', and the question of its meaning simply does not arise.
When the fictional character Loonquawl was told that the answer to “Life, the Universe and Everything” was a very simple “forty-two,” he was, to put it mildly, upset, especially seeing as the computer, Deep Thought, had taken seven and a half million years to compute it. When asked if forty-two was definitely the answer, Deep Thought replies, “I checked it very thoroughly, and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is” (Adams 1997, 162). This situation in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy throws a humorous light on humanity’s tendency to just want answers without perhaps fully understanding the scope of the question. Everyone, at some point in their life, might consider “What is the answer to Life?” And if Life is what we experience as humans, then we can also pose, “What does it mean to be human?” Teenagers in existential crisis, ancient Greek philosophers and middle-aged grocery baggers can all identify with the desire for an answer to that question. People come up with various ways and means to find this elusive answer. Some might look to the human experience and try to use philosophy (and perhaps thus end up as grocery baggers). On the other hand, some may instead turn to the exact opposite of “human”: the divine. Many religions propose to have found the answer of what it means to be human through knowledge and experience of the divine. Christianity, in particular, has been grappling with this question ever since the birth and death of a man named Jesus, who was reported to be, in various ways, the very presence of divinity on Earth. Unfortunately, the majority of any “official grappling” in Christianity has ...
A state of being is just existing but bravery is the true meaning of living a life. Robert Frost is notorious for speaking on the different stages of life. In the poem “The Trial by Existence”, Robert Frost speaks of bravery, life, and the after-life. A life lesson taught throughout the entirety of the poem is doing what you desire and overcoming the fears that are implanted in the cycle of life.
The universe, and what it means to be alive is almost impossible to define; yet that does not stop humanity from trying. “Lonergan’s philosophy of the human person reveals that being human means having an unlimited number and variety of questions about life and the universe.” (Morgan, 1996). There is no limit on the number and variety of questions the human person will ask, "the most subversive people are those who ask questions” (Gaarder), as a result there are many varied and opinionated answers. This essay will explore three different theories on how one might find answers to life's ultimate questions. At one point or another, every human being has asked the question why: Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is the point? It is in our nature as human beings to reason, to think, to ask, it is what separates us from the rest of creation, and with this ability to reason, we are left with one question: Why? Throughout history many have tried to answer this question, some have come to the conclusion that meaning is found through God, and one’s faith. Others feel that life begins meaningless, and it is up to the individual to give life meaning; then there are those who believe that life has no meaning, and we are all essentially, just waiting to die, "The meaning of life is that it ends." (Kafka).
In the text “Joyas Voladoras” by Brian Doyle, he explains the meaning of life. Doyle infers that all hearts, minds, and souls are different. Doyle’s message is that people should be prepared that life will throw things at them that will make them somber or broken, but eventually everybody in our world will have to have to accept life and live life to the fullest.
Through out history, as man progressed from a primitive animal to a "human being" capable of thought and reason, mankind has had to throw questions about the meaning of our own existence to ourselves. Out of those trail of thoughts appeared religion, art, and philosophy, the fundamental process of questioning about existence. Who we are, how we came to be, where we are going, what the most ideal state is....... All these questions had to be asked and if not given a definite answer, then at least given some idea as to how to begin to search for, as humans probed deeper and deeper into the riddle that we were all born into.
What is the meaning of life? How does it affect the way I think? A reader might ask themselves this question at least once, if not multiple times, over the course of their life. This question is the beginning of exploration into philosophy. A reader might believe there is a God or that aliens exist and this too is a form of a philosophy. First a person must understand philosophy, then looking specifically into two forms such as Realism and Idealism, and finally different forms of educational philosophy.
Life is not merely something that we experience outwardly. It can be an awakening to imagination, emotion, and true virtue. As we experience feelings in the way Puddleglum lived, believing in something so profound and so realistic that no apathy or emptiness could ever dissuade him, we can learn to live a life worth continuing. Keeping our eyes on that which is not fleeting or passing away, we can learn to feel more and with purpose. As 1 John 2:17 declares, “And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains
With all aspects of relating the meaning of life to ones personal setting, one can find themselves still with more questions then answers. This is one aspect all discussed situations have in common. We may have found a true meaning, but it always becomes questionable as to if the right decisions were made and the right paths taken base on the outcomes that follow. Although one may never find themselves with a true understanding for the biggest ‘why’ question of them all, the pursuit is always life changing. Life has, for most, always been a choice of free will, to do with what you please. Some choose to embrace this fact and pursue meaning never once imagined, and some choose the more comfortable, yet unsatisfying one of someone already travelled.
Life is the ultimate value for each and every one of us. Probably the single most important thing we can do in life is to serve the purpose in which we were created. I still do not have a clear view of what my Philosophy of life is, but I do have a better understanding of the path I need to take to seek those answers and am well on my way of accomplishing this goal.