This iceberg will be analyzing some of the more notable views on the meaning of life.
I normally get into the content real quickly but I think this video topic warrants some
information up front. I want to start this by saying I'm not basing this on my own political
or religious affiliation or idealogy and I will keep it as unbiased as possible, focusing
on factual information. It's also important to note that this is realistically impossible
to fully explain as even the definitions of the question are subjective. For instance,
the word meaning can be subjective. What is meaning to you? Fulfillment? Happiness? Safety?
Opprtunity? Success? Can your meaning of life change over time? And then you can look at
the definition of life. Is this your individual, personal life? Is this the lives of everyone
in your immediate environment? Or is this the life of people as a whole, humanity at
large. On top of this, we're still such simple minded creatures on the greater scale of reality
and may be unable to fully comprehend a true meaning of life. But before I have another
existential crisis, let's get on with the iceberg. These are ranked loosely by search
volume but I've rearranged some to be more fitting. Anyway let's get on with these grossly
oversimplified concepts. This entry, put simply is to follow your preferred
god's will. It is often stated that religion can be a source of much of the world's wars...
at least on the surface level. We really don't know what happened behind the scenes and who
was pulling the strings. But on the other side, theism has brought many great things
to the world so there can be a lot of good brought into the world. Each god's personal
beliefs, agenda, and goals can be different. So instead of including countless religions,
I'll include them all here. Cynics believe that an individual's purpose
is to live in agreement with Nature, rejecting others' views on what is important to self.
The predominant desire for many people is to strive for wealth, power, and sometimes
fame, and cynics choose to decline pursuit of these things in liueu of a simple life,
free from possessions and the responsibilities and consequences of them. Each person forms
their own thoughts on right and wrong as a self sufficient individual.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with Charles Darwin, the man that became known for his
contribution to the field of evolution. From the works, several other notable contributions
have been made such as the darwin awards and darwinism. This postulates that species meaning
is simply to reproduce and do whatever is necessary to pass generations forward. I think
this is a very straightforward meaning of life and is perhaps the reason for why we
are still here today. Liberals will typically believe government
is necessary to a degree, however they hold their own individual liberties to the highest
degree. So while they understand and respect the importance of government to serve and
protect from harm, they do recognize that government can corrupt. In these cases, one's
one safety, value, and protection must be placed in their own hands to proceed forward
in a life with meaning. This belief places high value on experiencing
hardships, analyzing the results and consequences, and utilizing the given information to formulate
the best possible outcome henceforth. However, the individual's outcome does not matter so
much as the outcome of humanity at large. Pragmatism believes that whatever brings the
most value to the most human beings over time is the best path to take.
Not surprisingly dervied from the philosophies of Plato who valued studies in mathematics
and learning in general. The meaning of this entry is a sole pursuit of knowledge. Platonism
posits that in life there exist something known as a pure form, which is something that
neither exists in space nor time. It is completely intangible and non physical however it is
knowable. It relies heavily on ideas or concepts instead of events. And Knowledge of these
pure forms is the meaning of life. Nihilists are almost synonymous with pessimsts.
In any situation in life, the nihilist will come up with any number of inherant flaws
that will prevent success of the intended goal. This same belief passes directly to
their meaning of life. There are an infinite number of reasons why we, as frail, unintelligent
human beings, would never find a meaning. Or there may not even be a meaning at all.
It's all random coincidences and we're just the result of them. Nevertheless the nihilist
views human beings as having a tendency to be dissatisfied and always seeking something
more, which could be argued as being true, we are insatiable creatures to a degree. So
if there's no meaning, just do as you wish throughout life.
Stoics believe that one should be free from desire for pleasure and wealth, and free from
the fear of pain or loss. To do this, they believe you must put your immediate emotions
aside and choose to live your life through reason and rationale. They believe that in
order for a wise person to become a sage, you must act rationally while not violating
the laws of nature. This interesting philosophy adopts a very
altruistic view by establishing others in the process of establishing yourself. In this
belief set, you're advised to cultivate a specific type of virtue known as Ren which
is the feeling you experience when taking care of your children or parents. Your main
purpose is to fulfill your duties to others while living an ordinary life.
While this may be one of the more self-centered of all the entries on this chart, I believe
nearly everyone acts in this manner from time to time. To be hedonistic means to seek immediate
pleasure and avoid suffering. This can be simple pleasures like eating, danceing or
listening to music all the way to more dispicable acts of mankind can all be hedonistic in value.
However the belief that this should be your determining factor and purpose in life can
potentially lead to a very unejoyable, gluttonous life.
Existentialists believe that it we are born with an inherant existential anxiety about
the uncertainty and sometimes meaninglessness of our lives. So to find a meaning, existialists
must decide on their own personal values and take the approropriate actions to fulfill
them and live according to the standards that you've set. So in a nutshell, determine your
passion or interests, make decisions, and work toward them in a positive, forward manner.
This belief set posits that human beings are the only ones that are responsible for the
fate or our species and our world at large. Therefore, since people are the sole caretaker
of our world at large, we should prioritize people, ourselves and everyone else. It's
like when you're advised to put on your own airplane safety mask before placing it on
your children. The caretaker must be able to provide for the lesser abled individual.
If the caretaker is not prioritized, they may not be around to take care of that lesser
abled person. Act in self interest and common good.
I think this warrants a spot on this chart as it really seems to have become a valid
thing these days. We'll see someone fawning over somebody, treating and seeing them as
royalty or almost godlike status. This can be seen in many relationships as well as fandom
of various entertainment and sports industries. Many people would be willing to lay down their
very life in order to please someone. This is a very dangerous road to go down but it
is still what many people consider their primary purpose of life.
To be solopsistic means that the only thing that can truly exist is within your own mind.
The first recordings of this belief included the following: 1) nothing exists. 2) Even
if something exists, nothing can be known about it. and 3) Even if something could be
known about it, knowledge about it can't be communicated to others. So the meaning of
life by this belief can only be known by your mind, and not in relation to other beings.
For instance, some psychologists believe newborn babies to solipsistic. When infants cry because
its parents aren't around, they believe that because the parent is not within sight, they
stopped existing. It's only later in life that children learning from observing others
to reject their natural solipsism. Instead of seeking immediate pleasure like
the gluttonous hedonist, epicureanism is about the meaning of life in pursuit of sustainable
pleasure which leads to a more long=term state of satisfaction, tranquility, and freedom
from fear. While you still seek materialistic pleasures, you are willing to work for them,
carpe diem, sieze the day. Free yourself from paind and go get what you want out of life.
To be deterministic means you follow a belief that all events happen as a result of previously
existing, and determined causes. And since everything in life is already pre determined,
your only option is to accept that everything is already set in stone. What's crazy to think
is if this is the case, then there is no free will. And despite every whacky and outlandish
idea you can think to do, it has already been decided that you would do that. All we can
do is accept that fate has us locked in its grasp.
Pantheism at its core is a belief that everything around us is comprised of an all-encompassing
god. Nature, people, the universe, everything is god. Therefore this belief posits that
we should live in balance with all that exists. Nothing is more important than living in harmony
with nature, not prioritizing one thing or another. There is also a branching belief
in the Aztec philosophy that had this same belief of balance and accord however it was
their belief that life was simply a transitional phase and we should keep our world and environment
just as we entered it so the following people entering this phase can experience it the
same way. I'm sure much of this belief is deriving from
other belief sets, but I think Albert Eistein has had enough life experience to have a valid
point that is surmised adequately on a specific purpose. In several letters that he sent his
son, Einstein wrote that mankind's greatest ability is to think and create something from
nothing. He states that upon this act, one can find true happiness. I think many artists
and creators can agree with this as well. Utilizing the gift we've been given to create
something that originated in your mind is a very significant concept to me. It's the
reason behind my online moniker, Maker. This fascinating belief focuses on finding
meaning in life through what they call Wu Wei. This basically asserts that you can use
this process of doing an action without forcing it. It will come off in a natural action without
real intention. As in if you're looking for it and trying purposely to attain it, it will
never appear. When you let go and finally achieve wu wei, you are able to find dao,
which translates to the way, or it could be perceived as a meaning of life. However the
dao cannot be understood with any explanation or form of communication. It can only be understood
through finding and experiencing it. An absurdist would examine the validity of
a question like the meaning of life. In their mind, there is no clear way we could possibly
fully formulate a question that could fully encompass the magnitude for its meaning. It's
just such a massive question to expect to understand the answer. The human mind itself
is a biological technology that's beyond our scope of understanding at this time. To expect
to understand the reason behind EVERYTHING. It's a lot.
A legalist believes that people are inerantly selfish and cannot be expected to behave morally
on behalf of humanity instead of oneself. Thus, a strong government system should be
set in place for people to enforce a morally righteous system. From here we can ascertain
that the lagalists strive to acquire skills that would make themselves valuable to the
system by learning practical skills instead of artistic and creative.
Kant's ethical belief states that one should act in such a way that if everyone were to
act in this manner, would our society benefit? Another method of determining the morality
of a behavior according to this belief is to how you interact with others. If you essentially
use someone, by interacting them as a means to an end, or if you are treating them disenguinously
to receive something beneficial to you, you are being immoral. Put Basically, do as you
would have others do to you. Commonly attributed to Rene Descartes I think
therefore I exist, this belief set asserts that the meaning of life different from person
to person. This depends on your own individual preferences and goals. The more someone achieves
their own desired goals, the more they have found meaning in their life. Subjectivists
believe that there are no such things in life that are objective worth valuing and placing
meaning upon in life. Also known as logical empiricism, is postulates
that the only thing that should really matter to us something that's verifiable fact. What
you experience and learn from your own life is the only thing you should base your direction,
meaning, or purpose. Without the given knowledge that each of us have learning in our journey,
life is meaningless. According to this belief, life has no meaning until you give it one.
Many people live their lives according to a belief that being a good person will yield
good results. Karma will return to me and bless me with a fortunatelife. However, this
philosophy believes that just being a good person is the true reward. This is the goal
as well as the reward when you can do this simply to be happy without any expectation
of some other benefit. The mohists believed in complete equality
for each and every individual, with their concept of inclusive love. Just like the previous
entry with being a good person to be a good person, this blief states that when you are
good to others, you are being good to yourself as we're all just different sides to the same
coin. With this compete equality, all peoples needs are as important as your own.
Quietism is similar to absurdism in that they reject the pursuit of knowledge of any meaning
of life. However it reflects on the confusing nature of the language used to ask this question
as far as a definition for the words meaning and life. It's far too vague of a question
using a vastly primitive method of communication with too many outcomes and variables to really
expect a valid answer. Thus quietists refuse to ask the question as it's a fruitless endeavor.
The name for this one is in reference to morgan freeman who gave a brilliant performance through
a number of movies but one in particular had a brilliant quote about the meaning of life
that has not been fully encapsulated within these other entries. He states in the film:
if you think about the very nature of life, I mean, from the very beginning, the development
of the first cell, divided into two cells, the sole purpose of life has been to, pass
on what was learned. There is no higher purpose. This could be a very valid meaning of life