People nowadays often say, sometimes in a sad way, other times more aggressively and cynically,
that life just has no meaning.
Two reasons are often given for this.
The first has to do with religion.
Once upon a time, so the story goes, life had a clear meaning given to us by God;
it was about worshiping him,
but as religious belief has declined, not only has God supposedly died,
but along with him, the meaning he once guaranteed.
Modern science is the second course at the current crisis of meaning. Scientists tell us that
life
which emerged from a random interplay of chemicals and gases
does have a meaning but it's of a rather bleak, relentless, and narrow sort.
For humans as for all other living things like amoeba
the meaning of life is survival and the propagation of one's genetic material
It sounds very true and at the same time distinctly futile and melancholy.
Here we want to argue as follows: to wonder about the meaning of life
is an extremely important activity, life does have substantial meaning
And there are in fact a range of practical steps we can take
to ensure we end up leading lives of maximal meaningfulness.
We should stop by saying that there is no meaning in life
outside of that which we can find by ourselves as a species
there isn't any kind of objective meaning written in the stars
in a holy book or in sequences of DNA. What seems to prompt people to complain
that life lacks meaning
are particular varieties of unhappiness. Let's consider some central examples
you're in a relationship but the intensity you experienced at the start
is long gone
you don't seem to talk about anything important anymore or share vulnerable
feelings and ideas.
It feels, as you put it, meaningless or else you're single and though you have
many friends
every time you see them the conversation seems shallow and trivial
or you're at University studying for a degree. You signed up for the course
in part because you often feel confused about who you are and what you want
you thought that reading books and going to lectures would shine a light on things,
but the topics of Darwin disconnected from your confusion.
You complained that it feels meaningless.
Or you're working in a large profitable company
and earning a decent sum every week, but the work doesn't seem in the grandeur scheme
important by which you mean two things: that you don't seem to be making any
great difference to anyone's life
and also that there's no profound part of you that you're able to bring to or
incorporate in your work;
it might as well be done by robots. From these strands
we can start to extrapolate a theory of meaning.
Meaning is to be found in three activities in particular
Communication; Understanding and Service
Let's look at communication first. We are, by nature
isolated creatures and it appears that some of our most meaningful moments
are to do with instances of connection, with the lover for example
when we reveal our intimate physical and psychological selves
when we form friendships with substantial truths about our respective
lives can be shared
all on a journey to a new country when we strike up a conversation with a
stranger
and feel a thrilling sense of victory over linguistic and cultural barriers
then there's the meaning that emerges via understanding
this is about the pleasure that can be felt whenever we correct confusion and
puzzlement about ourselves or the world
we might be scientific researchers or economists
poets or patients in psychotherapy. The pleasure of our activities
stems from a common ability to map and make sense of what was once
painfully unfamiliar and strange
Thirdly, there is service, one of the most meaningful things we can do
is to serve other people, to try to improve their lives
either by alleviating sources of suffering
or else by generating new sources of pleasure
that includes medical professionals but also people who bake cakes, write songs
or dance for a living
we're often told to think of ourselves as inherently selfish
but some of the most meaningful moments come when we can transcend our egos
and put ourselves at the service of others or the planet
one should add that in order for service to feel meaningful
it has to be in sync with our own native sincere interests
it's a case of knowing enough about ourselves to find a particular path to service.
Armed with such ideas, we can move towards defining nothing less
than the meaning of life. The meaning of life is to pursue human flourishing
through communication, understanding and service.
We may not have meaningful lives yet but it's central to affirm
that the concept of a meaningful life is eminently plausible
and that it comprises elements that can be clearly named
and gradually fought for.