The Meaning of Life
… Ok, so cut to the chase – this is what this whole philosophy thing is, right? Your resident philosophical expert is about to reveal the answer to the greatest question of them all… DRUMROLL. Now if I were a true philosopher I would say something cop-outish and pathetic like, ‘to examine the meaning of life, we must firstly examine what life is.’ But instead of procrastinating with tacky philosophical jargon, I will begin.
First of all, life is essentially pointless. On a universal scale, we have zero significance, making our lives completely meaningless. Better luck next time, folks! Mind you, this can be a positive sometimes; next time you’re feeling guilty/down/heartbroken/angry, just think about how much the primeval fungi on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy care. Just because your whole life is wrecked doesn’t mean that the universe is.
So, you may ask, if our life is so pointless why don’t we all just shoot ourselves? Fair enough, but I think that there is some kind of sub-point within the pointlessness (not to contradict myself or anything). That point is to progress as a human race, to continue to strive for a happy life for all of us, to obtain equality and fairness and to eliminate prejudice and to make our lives more enjoyable.
This is why science is so important and why politics and rules are so important – to help us progress into a happier, healthier society.
So then, you might ask, why don’t I spend my entire life dealing out ladles of soup to the poor and researching cures for AIDS and sending money to starving kids in Africa? Well you, yourself, would be a pretty unhappy person if you only helped others and the general progression of the human race.
So, in fact, there is another point to life, for each individual to strive to be happy within themself, to love and be loved. This is the drive within people which stops them from being destructively anarchistic because of the pointlessness of life – maybe they can’t make a contribution to the universe as a whole, or even to the greater good of mankind, but they can make a difference to the way they feel.
This is the great thing about philosophy – you can have a bit each way and choose the one that suits you. When all you want to do is curl up into foetal position and stay there, just remind yourself that life is pointless. When you are sick of being moralised to about the merits of helping others, remind yourself that life is about your personal happiness. And when you want reassurance that your hard work is worth it, remind yourself that life is about advancing as a race.
Following this flawless line of logic, your life should be problem-free from now on… But don’t hold that statement against me in court.
Reuters