Is there a better way to start out a post about the meaning of life than with a little bit of humor? I don't think so.
On a more serious and personal note, I grew up in church from the time I was born. I've heard people try to define the meaning of life as anything from doing good deeds to simply believing in God. Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, suggests that the purpose of life is to love God since He made us simply to love us. Some believe that there is no purpose to life. I have entertained this option and decided that, if there is no purpose to life, I might as well go walk out onto a busy interstate and get killed by a car. Why not?
I would hope that many would agree with me when I say that is a depressing way to look at life. So I choose to have a purpose.
What other opinions are there on the meaning of life, though? I would imagine it is a question that has lasted throughout the history of human life. Also, how do you find the meaning of life, if there is one? What questions do you have to ask? Who do you have to ask? Plato said, "The unexamined life in not worth living." So perhaps to find the meaning of life, you must start with examining your own life, as well as life around you.
In search of other opinions on this subject, I watched a movie called Examined Life. This film features several philosophers from around the world. They speak on giving life meaning, as well as many other issues that may come up as you examine your life.
The film starts out with Cornel West. However, I will save what he had to say until last, mainly since he was one of my favorite philosophers in this film. Next was Avital Ronell. I will start by saying that, out of all the philosophers featured, I had the hardest time following her train of though. She spoke in terms of the abstract, with little concrete evidence; however, she did reference meaning in life the most. She said she is skeptical about meaning because she views meaning as a way of covering up the wounds of non-meaning. (As I said, she was the hardest to follow). The craving for meaning often leads to grasping for a belief in God, patriotism, or some other form of greater being than the individual self. She believes that if there is no meaning, you have to do more work to define your own ethics because you aren't following what someone else has decided is right or wrong. She continues by saying that if you have a good conscious, you're not responsible and that the responsible being is the one who feels they've never been responsible enough.
This all leads well into what Peter Singer spoke about. He defines ethics as how a person chooses to spend their lives (a more concrete way of seeing how someone spends their lives is to look at what they spend money on - as well as what they don't - which is a principle I've heard many other places before). He uses specific examples, which he is very fluent in describing.
He finishes by saying that we make our lives most meaningful when we contribute to important causes (such as sending money to organizations to help children). If we do this, we have made at least a small difference in life around us.
Kwame Anthony Appiah continues this thought by saying that we are in a virtual relationship with millions of people. His main approach to life is cosmopolitanism. He says that, in today's world, we will care about everyone . . . but only if they are like us. Cosmopolitans care about everyone, and it is perfectly okay for everyone to be different. That included behaving differently, having different beliefs, and having different morals.
I think Slavoj Zizek follows this up the best in his discussion of love. He says that love is not the idealization of another person. It is accepting their whole person with their stupidities. It is finding perfection in the imperfection. We should learn to love the world like this, with its imperfections. He thinks that meaning is a common ideology because meanings make catastrophes feel a little bit better. If there is a reason this happened, it has meaning, therefore there is a sort of silver lining around the catastrophe. This is an important ideology because nature is a big series of unimaginable catastrophes. Think about our biggest source of energy: oil. Oil is a reminder of the catastrophe that caused all those prehistoric creatures to die and be compressed over millions of years, thus creating our oil.
Speaking more on the terms of nature than of catastrophe, though, is Michael Hardt when he talks about human nature. He talks about the transformation of human nature being revolution. How do we change human nature, though, especially when so many just go through the day without paying much attention to what effect they have on the world?
Now, to talk about my favorite philosopher in this entire film: Cornel West. He asks the questions that really can get you thinking. What do you do once you start examining your life? What happens when you start interrogating yourself? What happens when you call into question assumptions that you've never questioned before? And begin to become a different kind of person?
Let me pause here to say that these are very relevant questions, at least in my life. Especially the last one: what do I do if and when I begin to become a different kind of person because I start examining my life? Will I perhaps like myself better? How will others react? Will I be supported in any kind of changes I make to how I spend my time or my energy?
Cornel West introduced a quote to me which helped me face those worries. William Butler Yeats said, "It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on the battlefield." West continued to say that courage is the main virtue for any human being in the end.
So, with all this in mind, I suppose it is time for me to decide for myself what my purpose in life really is. I'm beginning to piece together perhaps all the different aspects of what my own purpose is, thanks to the help of philosophers I've never met. They give me more ideas to bounce around in my head in my process of graduating college and heading out into the world. This outta be fun.
What other opinions are there on the meaning of life, though? I would imagine it is a question that has lasted throughout the history of human life. Also, how do you find the meaning of life, if there is one? What questions do you have to ask? Who do you have to ask? Plato said, "The unexamined life in not worth living." So perhaps to find the meaning of life, you must start with examining your own life, as well as life around you.
In search of other opinions on this subject, I watched a movie called Examined Life. This film features several philosophers from around the world. They speak on giving life meaning, as well as many other issues that may come up as you examine your life.
The film starts out with Cornel West. However, I will save what he had to say until last, mainly since he was one of my favorite philosophers in this film. Next was Avital Ronell. I will start by saying that, out of all the philosophers featured, I had the hardest time following her train of though. She spoke in terms of the abstract, with little concrete evidence; however, she did reference meaning in life the most. She said she is skeptical about meaning because she views meaning as a way of covering up the wounds of non-meaning. (As I said, she was the hardest to follow). The craving for meaning often leads to grasping for a belief in God, patriotism, or some other form of greater being than the individual self. She believes that if there is no meaning, you have to do more work to define your own ethics because you aren't following what someone else has decided is right or wrong. She continues by saying that if you have a good conscious, you're not responsible and that the responsible being is the one who feels they've never been responsible enough.
This all leads well into what Peter Singer spoke about. He defines ethics as how a person chooses to spend their lives (a more concrete way of seeing how someone spends their lives is to look at what they spend money on - as well as what they don't - which is a principle I've heard many other places before). He uses specific examples, which he is very fluent in describing.
Kwame Anthony Appiah continues this thought by saying that we are in a virtual relationship with millions of people. His main approach to life is cosmopolitanism. He says that, in today's world, we will care about everyone . . . but only if they are like us. Cosmopolitans care about everyone, and it is perfectly okay for everyone to be different. That included behaving differently, having different beliefs, and having different morals.
I think Slavoj Zizek follows this up the best in his discussion of love. He says that love is not the idealization of another person. It is accepting their whole person with their stupidities. It is finding perfection in the imperfection. We should learn to love the world like this, with its imperfections. He thinks that meaning is a common ideology because meanings make catastrophes feel a little bit better. If there is a reason this happened, it has meaning, therefore there is a sort of silver lining around the catastrophe. This is an important ideology because nature is a big series of unimaginable catastrophes. Think about our biggest source of energy: oil. Oil is a reminder of the catastrophe that caused all those prehistoric creatures to die and be compressed over millions of years, thus creating our oil.
Speaking more on the terms of nature than of catastrophe, though, is Michael Hardt when he talks about human nature. He talks about the transformation of human nature being revolution. How do we change human nature, though, especially when so many just go through the day without paying much attention to what effect they have on the world?
Now, to talk about my favorite philosopher in this entire film: Cornel West. He asks the questions that really can get you thinking. What do you do once you start examining your life? What happens when you start interrogating yourself? What happens when you call into question assumptions that you've never questioned before? And begin to become a different kind of person?
Let me pause here to say that these are very relevant questions, at least in my life. Especially the last one: what do I do if and when I begin to become a different kind of person because I start examining my life? Will I perhaps like myself better? How will others react? Will I be supported in any kind of changes I make to how I spend my time or my energy?
Cornel West introduced a quote to me which helped me face those worries. William Butler Yeats said, "It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on the battlefield." West continued to say that courage is the main virtue for any human being in the end.
So, with all this in mind, I suppose it is time for me to decide for myself what my purpose in life really is. I'm beginning to piece together perhaps all the different aspects of what my own purpose is, thanks to the help of philosophers I've never met. They give me more ideas to bounce around in my head in my process of graduating college and heading out into the world. This outta be fun.
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