Life is defined in the dictionary as “the quality that makes living animals and plants different from dead organisms and inorganic matter. Its functions include the ability to take in food, adapt to the environment, grow, and reproduce.” But, what is it, really? What purpose in the grandest scheme of things does life serve? We have such a small effect on the universe, and it was just fine for billions of years before we came along. Philosophers around the world have been asking these questions for as long as humans could think logically. Some would say that the purpose of life is to please a God, while others would say that it is to be happy in the world. These many varying views and opinions about how we should live our lives forms multitudes of lifestyles, and more are popping up still today.
In my own personal opinion, the purpose of life is to live it. We would not be here if it weren’t for the laws of physics that formed the Van der Waals bonds between carbon and hydrogen atoms to create the first organic compounds in the primeval Earth. We would not be here if it weren’t for that mass extinction in the Mesozoic era that cleared the way for smaller, weaker creatures to propagate. We would not be here if something went horribly right. Because of these things, I believe that we should thoroughly enjoy our eighty-some odd years in existence to enjoy everything that we can. Whatever it is that you want to do, I believe that you should do it, even if it is risky or life threatening. Death will come in time to all of us, and the best way to go is to go while doing something that you find exhilarating.
On that note, I would like to mention that I already have a bucket list. Before I die, I want to go skydiving and base jumping and...
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...It is impossible to sum up the entire philosophy of one person into a single paper. So many things go into that one person. One thing that I have learned through High School that I will keep with me through the rest of my life is that everyone is unique. Everyone is extremely important, and everyone has their own ideas, thoughts, and dreams for the future. It just goes to show that a philosophy is not really a thing or a single idea, but it is more of a sum of the aforementioned ideas, thoughts and dreams of the individual. I would love to ramble on and on within the train of thought that is created by the word “philosophy”, but my fingers just wouldn’t be able to keep up with my head and I would be sitting here for days. Even as young as I am, I am proud that I have formed a rough life philosophy, and I cannot wait to see what it evolves into in the years to come.
Finding a meaning to life and to nature is something all people try to do, but is there really a correct answer? Maybe the purpose to life is actually finding the purpose to life, or it might just be to enjoy living and all the experiences that come with it. Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, brings this up in his novel. Throughout the book, the theme nature and its meaning is shown through the knowledge that the main character accumulates.
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."
Albert Camus is a widely renowned author and existentialist philosopher from the 1950s. He believed in a concept called “The Absurd” which he described as the notion that our universe is completely irrational, yet people continue to try and give order and meaning to it. For most normal human beings, this is an extremely difficult concept to accept, including the main character from the novel “The Stranger”, Meursault. Meursault does not express and ignores his emotions, even though it is evident in the book that he does experience them. However, once Meursault falls into a blind rage with the chaplain, the universe begins to make more sense to him. In order to come to an acceptance of the indifference of the universe, one must have an emotional breakthrough, which Camus shows through differences in sentence structure and elemental imagery between parts one and two.
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.
“The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives. To what extend do you agree with this statement?” To effectively answer that question, we must first differentiate between meaning and purpose in life and define knowledge. Firstly, knowledge is justified true belief (Organization, 2013). The meaning of life can be defined as the reason for the creation of one’s life, whereas the purpose of life can be defined as an individual’s mission during their life. One’s purpose and meaning in life may be mainly based on personal knowledge, the gained knowledge through experience and personal involvement (Organization, 2013). By examining the human sciences and religious knowledge systems, knowledge might
us to nurture life, to love life, and to live it. Let's do our best.
A belief in God is an important part of many people’s lives. How does God, as an important human construct make a difference when determining the meaning of life? The western religions believe their scriptures are the direct word of God. Hence they use them as the authoritative source for many facets of life. Eastern religions tend to treat their scriptures as interpretations by humans, yet still many of life’s mysteries are accepted at truth in their scriptures. So should these scriptures be a foundation for the meaning of life? Also, what if we assume there is some sort of God but there is no answer to which one is the right one. Does it matter to our purpose in life if there is a God which we cannot identify? These are important questions that this essay will postulate on. As God and religious scriptures are important to many people, they cannot be discounted but should be looked at with a objective eye.
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 according to scientists is “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death, also the way of life of a human being or animal.”("Life,”) In order for one to have life, one must have the nine characteristics to be considered a living thing. These nine characteristics are; all living things are made up of cells, living things are able to reproduce, living thing use energy, maintain homeostasis, respond and adapt to the environment, grow and develop, have a life span, evolve over time, and are interdependence. All of the nine characteristics have one thing in common, something that is needed for all living things to use, even if they do not know it. This beautiful thing that all living things should value is photosynthesis. Without photosynthesis there wouldn’t consist humans, animals, insects, and most importantly life!
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.
The abstract idea of life cannot be explained by such simple ideas as being animated, breathing, or speaking. Ordinary machines in this century can perform all of these basic functions. The quandary with defining death is not as abstract and elusive as that of life. The problem of defining life and death has plagued philosophers and the religious bodies for thousands of years for one reason; each philosophy or religion has tried to define the meaning of life and death from only their certain perspective. The seemingly appropriate approach to this problem would be to understand the ideas presented in various philosophies and religions and through this knowledge create a new definition for each idea of life and death. The movie Blade Runner has taken this exact approach in its attempt to finally define life and death in a logical and un-spiritual manner. By taking the position that death is a concrete idea that can be explained, Blade Runner accomplishes the task of interpreting the idea of life in terms death. Through this approach, the meaning of life is redefined to accommodate for the existence of the replicants. Also, as a result of this novel notion of life, it is apparent that humans and replicants never actually live, even though they are alive.
I truly believe that every single person in the world has a purpose in life. God created each and every one of us for a reason. Whether we know it or not our life is planned and we follow a path throughout our life. In this path, we have the option to make good decisions or bad decisions. In order to achieve salvation and enter a virtuous after life we had to do deeds that had a positive impact on other people. In order to do this though, one must have the self-discipline and devotion to God. There are many obstacles that can get in the way of achieving this goal and the main one is our desires. Desire is a strong feeling of something we want or wish to have. Our desire negatively impacts our life because it detaches our body both physically and emotionally from our mind which then influences us to make morally wrong decisions.
... to spend some time with my friends also as my friends will also be of my age at that time and they will understand me the best. One day I have to die, as death is a natural process but after dying my real legacy would be my values to my children and my grandchildren. I want that when I die, my children and society remember me as a good person who was always able to act upon her values. As children also learn from their parents so I want my children to get a treasure of good values from me, so that my values could help them to handle various situations in life. I want them to remember with a feeling of proud for me. I want to end my life in such a way that I complete all my purposes for which I have born on this earth as we all have got only one life, so it is really precious, that’s why I want to end my life meaningfully and worthwhile.
The theistic response to life’s meaning is when one believes their life’s meaning is to live according to God’s Plan. The type of people that usually have this response to the question of life’s meaning are religious people. From a religious standpoint, as a child you are taught that God created you and he has a specific plan for your life, so if you are raised in the church it is engrained in you from a young age that God decides your meaning of life. People that do not believe in God would completely reject this response. Without the belief in God or a higher power a person would believe that the meaning of life is not determined by an outside source or a higher power.
Most importantly, I hope to visit every continent. I have always had the dream of traveling all over the world and finding the place where I want to live for the rest of my life. I imagine myself studying abroad somewhere in Europe for a year in college. I think that studying abroad allows a person to have a meaningful experience since he or she will learn everyday while also living in a completely different place that give you more experience in the real world. Along with this, I want to do more than just traveling; I want to do everything that a person is able to do on each continent. I want to see the wonders of the world, climb Mt. Everest, etc. Traveling is the most important thing I want to accomplish, because aside from my absolute love of travel and adventure, I want to experience culture and worlds that I have never been exposed to before. By visiting each continent, I know I will be fulfilling my ultimate goal of finding a place where I want to spend the rest of my l...