The Meaning of Life vs. a Meaningful Life

Posted by
December 22, 2008

meaninglife

I don’t claim to know the meaning of life because I don’t know whether such a thing exists, and even if it does, I don’t know how one could discover it. Every type of opinion on the meaning of life is essentially a belief – an idea that you might live your life around but not necessarily have concrete evidence to prove that it is true.

What can I say? I am a scientist by nature. I believe in logic. I like rational arguments. I like having reasons for things.

And for those reasons, I find it hard to believe that we could ever find a true meaning of life: Why are we here? What is our purpose?

To believe that there is a true meaning of life implies that this meaning must be universal and applicable to everyone – yet how could we ever find such a thing?

Fate

Some people believe in fate or destiny – the idea that everything that is going to happen was meant to be.

I don’t like to believe in fate because it implies that I really don’t have free will. It implies that I am not really making decisions because it was already pre-determined that I was going to take those actions.

If you believe in fate, how could you ever blame someone? A criminal could argue that it was fate for him to commit a crime, and since all of this was pre-determined, it’s technically not his fault. Yes it would be fair to jail him since he is a danger to society, but if you believe in fate, how could you justify blame?

If you believe that everyone on this earth was born with a set purpose, does this not suggest at least some aspect of pre-determined events? Then again, I guess you could argue that we may all have a purpose but we don’t necessarily all complete our “life mission”.

If you were to vanish right now, would your life have mattered?

I am content knowing that I will never know what the true meaning of life is, if there even is one. What I do know is that if you choose to, you can lead a meaningful life.

It seems by nature that humans are social creatures. So to me, we have the most meaning by impacting the lives of others. And in that sense, it’s hard to lead a meaningful life if you live a solitary life.

If you were all alone on an island, with no contact with other humans, how could you ever impact someone’s life? To the rest of humanity, you essentially never existed.

Thus, you can’t lead a meaningful life if you live a solitary one. That being said, at least for humanity’s sake, leading a meaningful life is not necessarily better than leading a solitary one.

Positive Impact

It’s true that many of history’s tyrants have led meaningful lives, though their actions are not things I would personally encourage. And although it would be wrong to downplay the impact of their lives on humanity, it doesn’t mean they led lives we should aspire to.

Personally, I want to live a positively meaningful life. I want to impact people in a way that makes them happy and improves their lives. If I am ever remembered for something, I would want to be remembered for doing something positive.

I think deep down everyone wants their life to matter. Not necessarily that they existed for a reason, but that their existence mattered.

And if you choose to positively impact those around you, then your life definitely matters.

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  • RK

    Wow..what a deep and insightful post. I really enjoy your writings Joshua. Keep it up :)

  • Joshua

    Hi RK,

    Thanks a bunch! =)

  • Oleg

    I truly believe that every human is born with one mission in life..to have joy! Joy can be something different for each one of us, but we all aspire only to that final goal in everything we are doing.

    Keep exploring the life, Joshua, and I'm sure you will succeed in everything you are doing.

  • Susan

    No one would know the meaning of life until they actually reach it. To be fair, I am like you. I always want to find evidence, and use logic to prove if something does exist or is true.

    Unfortanately, nature is designed to be abstract, almost nothing in nature is absolute (even gravity is fluctuating in different locations on earth). As for love, can love can be scientifically proven? I believe the answer is no, because love is an instinct feeling.

    Also, I think everyone has a different meaning of life. Those meanings are always changing too. However, I always believe there is a bigger plan although I can't see, touch, or taste it. But I try to FEEL it.

    p.s. I really like your writings, Joshua.

  • Joshua

    Hey Oleg,

    For me personally, I definitely see joy and happiness as very important aspects for a fulfilling life.

    Maybe that's just my selfish human nature speaking, but I really don't see the point in doing something unless you see yourself gaining short term or long term happiness.

    That being said, it's my belief that we can be happy by making positive impacts – we just need to figure out what types of positive activities make us happy.

  • Joshua

    Hey Susan,

    You're right, we all view life and our purpose (if we believe we have one) differently, and no one can really say our views are right or wrong.

    For me, I just want to live. And by that, I mean I want to be able to experience as many different things as possible.

    Is that a purpose? A meaning of life?

    I don't know. Then again, does it even matter whether you believe you have a purpose? I mean, it's just a label.

    I think it's great if people have direction in their lives, and I think believing you have a purpose helps define that direction.

    That being said I don't think believing you have a purpose is necessary to lead a fulfilling life, it's just one of those things that might add something to your life if you choose to let it.

    Now I'm just rambling, hope I made some sense =)

  • Susan

    You are definetely right. You don't have to have a purpose in order to fulfill your life. However, if you do have a clear purpose or direction, you will move forward towards it; therefore, it motivates and helps you to reach your goal. Of course. When we say "purpose", it doesn't have to be so big or fixed. It's just simply something present and something matters to you.

    To be honest, two weeks before Christmas I was still struggling with my university application. Like many high school students, I didn't know which field to choose. Until recently, I have discovered one area I am interested in, but haven't thought about before. Interestingly enough, I was filled with energy and strength immediately after, because a brand new life begins when you find a purpose.

    Why not try to find a purpose if it's harmless?

  • Joshua

    Hi Susan,

    I think a lot of it depends on what you mean by purpose. You might look at a goal and purpose as the same thing, but I'm not sure if I would look at it that way myself.

    I mean, I definitely have long term goals and short term goals. One of my goals right now is to become a physician – but I don't believe that being a physician is necessarily my "purpose".

    Personally, when I think of the word purpose, I kind of associate it more with the idea of "what is my place on this earth?" or "what am I meant to do?".

    But for sure, you're definitely right that if you believe something is your purpose that you will probably work harder at it. I just don't know if I can think that way, or if I want to think that way.

    A lot of it is perspective and personal, and I don't think it's right or wrong to think one or the other.

  • Gj

    Ive though about the meaning of life for my entire life, and I have given up. I have come to believe that the meaning of your life is to be remembered forever by everyone!

    That is my one true goal.

    (and ofcourse being a doctor)

  • Joshua

    That's a great goal, though it's interesting to consider that both really kind and really harmful people are both remembered by everyone =P