Sometimes life is beautiful. But sometimes it can seem like a drag. And, for all the
fantastic moments they throw our way, our lives are also punctuated by tragic events…
and guided by the inevitability of suffering, aging, and our own mortality, too. The problems
and pains that we all must endure from time to time can often lead us to wonder in our
low moments, what’s the point of it all? But, as it turns out, there are lots of responses
to that one, crucial enquiry. This is Unveiled,
and today we’re answering the extraordinary question: what’s the meaning of existence?
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In this video we’re exploring various philosophical and religious opinions
on whether or not there’s some kind of purpose to our existence.
We, of course, know that there are a number of physical, scientific theories, as well - such as
the Big Bang theory - that seek to explain the fact of our existence, and why we’re physically
here. There are countless videos covering these on our channel, so be sure to check them out too!
But, today, let’s start by looking at what some philosophers throughout the ages have said about
the meaning of existence. First up, the ideas of one of the most famous philosophers of all time,
Plato. For Plato, the ultimate goal of any life worth living is to obtain the highest
form of knowledge possible. This word, “Form”, is important. Plato believed in the existence of
universal Forms, which are ideas or concepts in their purest, most abstract state. These Forms do
not exist in the real world, but rather in a kind of spiritual realm - and accessing that realm is
to pursue the meaning of life. Plato’s Forms could be anything… from Beauty to Squareness,
to Blueness, and so on. A particularly important form, however, is that of Goodness… and for Plato
the purpose of all our lives is to try to obtain the highest possible understanding of the Good.
A different philosopher, Antisthenes, took a different approach though… one which emphasized
virtuous action as opposed to knowledge. This school is known as Cynicism, and to a cynic
the purpose of life is to distinguish between wholesome and unwholesome values.
Do so, and it’s believed that one can live a happy life in accordance with nature. To be a Cynic,
you must reject unvirtuous desires such as fame, possessions, power, and wealth - as these will
never bring you the peace that true happiness needs. Get rid of fame, possessions, power,
and wealth, and you free yourself from unhealthy mental baggage in favour of leading a pure life.
Cyrenaicism offers a vastly different approach, however. It’s a smaller school coming out of
Ancient Greece, but it advocates most of what cynicism denies. Cyrenaics believe that the most
sensible course of action for each individual in their individual life… is to constantly seek
short-term gratification. Including things like money, material goods, and physical experiences.
Even if doing so means sacrificing their long-term interests. In stark contradiction to followers of
Plato, too, Cyrenaics are skeptical of the value of knowledge. Instead, they exclusively trust
in their immediate perceptual awareness. Again, valuing short-term pleasure over long-term gain,
they see the meaning of life as being clearest when we trust our innate instincts about what
we want right now. They don’t delay, they don’t second-guess themselves, they just go for it!
To flip the debate again, the school of Epicureanism takes an often opposite approach,
despite also valuing the pursuit of pleasure. For its founder Epicurus, the ultimate goal
in life is to maximize long-term pleasure… and you do that by minimising pain and fear.
With most humans wanting to be free from pain and fear, this should perhaps be one of the more
straightforward worldviews out there? But, of course, inconsistencies arise by the fact that
different humans find different things pleasurable and painful. There doesn’t appear to be one right
answer here, but Epicurus generally believed that the pursuit of mental pleasures is more meaningful
than chasing physical ones, because physical is usually short-term gratification whereas
mental can often result in long-term wellness. Next, there’s nihilism, a famously pessimistic
philosophical movement (it would seem) which refuses to believe in any kind of objective
meaning to existence… and claims that all value systems are baseless. Nihilists view
other philosophies as just desperate attempts to find meaning in what’s really an unforgiving and
meaningless world. With that said, there are some nihilists with at least a little
optimism. Many, for example, refuse to let the meaninglessness of everything get them down…
and so they develop a more heroic mindset that strives to preserve their own happiness
(in spite of the lack of meaning). Others go one step further, to emphasize the positive
side of the lack of meaning itself… namely that if everything is meaningless, then that
takes the sting out of all the apparently negative aspects of life, too - such as fear, humiliation,
and guilt. Because if, in the end, nothing really matters… then all those things that we worry about
on a daily basis don’t matter either. There’s also Absurdism, which could be
considered a branch of Nihilism, put forward by amongst others the French writer Albert Camus.
The “absurd” part here is directly referring to the contradiction between an individual’s
innate desire to find a meaning to life, and the impossibility of doing that in an ultimately
meaningless universe. This leads to an unavoidable dissatisfaction with pretty much everything…
but one solution is again to simply accept the absurdity of life, and to live it regardless
without any identifiable reason for doing so. But the final philosophy we’ll examine today
is something of a meeting point for many philosophies.
Existentialism holds free will as the most important value in life. Existentialists therefore
believe in the uniqueness of all individuals and generally deny that it’s even possible
to prescribe a one-size-fits all rulebook (or meaning) for everyone. From cynicism to nihilism,
no one idea could ever solve all of life’s big questions. Instead, for existentialists,
it’s the individual’s responsibility to seek their own meaning… and this can be found in a variety of
places. The existential dread we sometimes feel is then not an indication that life is pointless,
but rather a motivation to seek our own truth... and to discover for ourselves why we’re here.
To finish, however, we know that most religions offer their own take on the meaning of life,
too. And there are some common themes. The major monotheistic religions, for example,
preach that a single God created the world, and that it’s our duty to submit to this God in order
to lead a good life. The specifics of what we should and shouldn’t do often differ from religion
to religion, though. In Christianity, for example, the purpose of life is to seek salvation through
the grace of God… with most denominations implying that all people are sinners by nature, but that
all can be forgiven for their sins by following Christian teachings. Islam also refers to life
as though it’s a kind of test, although it places more emphasis on service to God… with the purpose
of life being more to know and worship God. Generally speaking, eastern religions differ
in a number of ways, with one common theme being that the universe (and therefore our existence)
in eastern faiths has a cyclical nature. In Hinduism, for example, it’s believed that human
beings have an immortal soul that’s reincarnated after death. The purpose of our existence, then,
is to gain liberation from the concept of Karma… which is the idea that all our actions have future
consequences, even if those consequences don’t occur until a future reincarnation.
Worship of Gods, moral action, and enjoyment of life are worthy pursuits in Hinduism, too...
but the meaning of life is more about arriving at a higher level of existence,
beyond the cycles and structures that bind us. Buddhism also refers to higher levels of being,
but never really concerns itself with directly answering the question of existence.
Nor does it especially claim to understand how the world was created. Buddhism instead
emphasizes the impermanence of all aspects of our lives, and suggests that all human suffering
comes from our tendency to cling to things that can’t last. While there’s no explicit meaning or
purpose to life here, Buddhists do still follow a path; the path to enlightenment or nirvana,
a state of being in which suffering has been eliminated. Meanwhile Taoists also
seek a similar inner peace, by trying to follow the Tao, or the Way, which is the perceived
natural order of the universe. You follow the Tao by trusting your intuitive knowledge about
how to proceed through life towards wisdom. We’ve briefly covered a wide range of philosophies
and ideas today, and we can already see how links can be made across almost all of them.
Life is certainly complicated, then, and people have always (and will always) see it through
different lenses. Whether or not there’s truly any meaning to existence may not be a question
we can ever definitively answer… but which of these modes of thought most resonates with you?
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.