Every person, at least once in his life, has asked the question: “What is the meaning of life? Why do I live and what is my role in this universe? Indeed, the question of the meaning of life has worried humanity for many centuries and gives rise to a number of disputes and contradictions among mere mortals, ancient Greek philosophers and modern thinkers. Various opinions, ideas, assumptions are expressed, but it is impossible to give a definite answer to this question, because each individual has his own values, tries to set priorities correctly, choosing something more important for himself.
Cyrenaica
The Cyrenacians were supporters of one of the branches of the teachings of Socrates. This group was founded around 400 BC in North Africa and was led by Aristippus, one of Socrates' students. Their teaching contained the proposition that the experience and knowledge available to an individual are always subjective. Therefore, no one person will be able to see the world the way another sees it. They also believed that we do not know anything definite about the world, and the only knowledge available is sensory experience.
They taught that the only purpose of life is to experience pleasure in the present, instead of making plans for the future. Physical pleasures are paramount and a person should take all measures to maximize their quantity. Overall, this was a very selfish point of view, placing the pleasure of the individual above the well-being of the community, city or country.
The Cyrenaics ignored not only foreign philosophy, but also traditional social norms. Thus, Aristippus taught that there is nothing wrong with incest - in his opinion, only social convention led to the taboo of consanguineous marriages.
The meaning of life in psychology
Psychology is a science that studies the psychological parameters of a person and their changes under external influence. Its main goal is to achieve an understanding of the inner world of the individual in order to suggest the right motivation to the person. Psychology raises the basic questions of existence, allowing you to figure out what is most attractive.
- Improvement and self-realization.
Having found a job you like, you need to develop your skills and, if necessary, change the areas of their application in order to self-realize in your profession. In this age, this is the main goal of most people. Without moving up the career ladder, they see no meaning in life. That is why a huge number of advanced training courses and various trainings have appeared all over the world. Visits to exclusive clubs, first class flights and dinners in chic restaurants are bonuses that careerists value.
- Continuation of life.
Unlike workaholics, people focused on creating a large and strong family work only to support it. Having children and caring for them takes up almost all of their time. The joy and meaning of their existence lies in communicating with relatives, celebrating memorable dates and successes of family members.
- Achieving harmony.
Some people love to travel and become so creative in finding means to travel that they manage not to return home for years.
They maintain pages on the Internet, earn extra money during the seasonal harvest, and find the cheapest air tickets to travel to a new country.
Some people prefer risky sports and spend months perfecting the motor of a boat or motorcycle.
Each one is implemented in its own way. The goal of psychologists is to help find a person’s true aspiration and thus give impetus to the development of his personality.
Mohism
Mohism was developed by Chinese philosophers around the same time that the Cyrenaics appeared in the Hellenistic world. This teaching was created by Mo Di, who was one of the first in China to raise the question of the meaning of life. He outlined 10 principles that people should follow in everyday life, the central one of which was impartiality.
According to this teaching, the meaning of life will be achieved when each person pays equal attention to everyone else, without putting any person above others. This meant, of course, a renunciation of luxury, wealth and pleasure. The Mohists saw equality as the ideal of human relationships and believed that they would be rewarded for this with the same equality in the afterlife.
Cynics
The Cynics were another group close to Socrates. They found the meaning of life in living in obedience to the natural order of things rather than to ethics and traditions. Cynics believed that social conventions such as wealth or hypocrisy prevented people from achieving virtue.
They did not abandon public institutions entirely, but believed that each person develops his own personal ideas about good and evil and has the right to go against society by following his own guidelines. This is where the principle of “paresia” arose - the principle of telling the truth.
Another important principle of cynicism was self-sufficiency. Cynics believed that a person can maintain freedom only if he is ready at any moment to refuse communication with other people and the benefits of civilization.
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes, a French philosopher and sociologist, believed that the main thing in life is the principle of moderation, according to which one should not rush to extremes, make hasty decisions, it is necessary to think everything over rationally and find the right path. According to his philosophy, the old is easy to destroy, but before doing this, you need to think about the consequences. The natural scientist respected the traditions and customs of various peoples, this speaks of his high moral qualities. Descartes' life rule stated the desire to change, first of all, oneself, and not the world around him. After all, man is the highest mind, and only he can control his thoughts and rule over them.
Rene Descartes. Author Franz Hals
Albert Einstein
Einstein was one of the most outstanding representatives of humanity. In 1951, a young woman asked him in a letter what the meaning of life was. The answer was short: “To create satisfaction for yourself and for others.”
In a letter to his son Eduard, Einstein was more specific. He wrote to him that he believed in “a higher stage of consciousness as the highest ideal,” and that the human ability to create new things out of nothing was more than we might think. It is the act of creation that allows us to experience happiness. He also reminded that you need to create not out of a desire to be remembered, but out of love for the thing you create.
Darwinism
Charles Darwin had a complex relationship with religion and the religious meaning of life. Initially he adhered to Christian beliefs, but later his views noticeably wavered.
Some of his heirs began to practically deify evolution - after all, it was it that ensured the emergence of man. They see in this the highest meaning of evolution and believe that it inevitably had to lead to modern people. Some, on the contrary, emphasize that evolution is a combination of a chain of chance and the ability to survive. But both agree that the meaning of life is to pass on part of your DNA to future generations.
Religious views
The three main world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism - have almost identical views on the meaning of people's lives.
Christians suggest finding God and going to him, doing good and helping others. The saints renounced all joys, devoting their strength to serving God and accepting suffering for their beliefs.
Muslims entrust themselves to Allah and strictly follow the commandments of the Koran, the only true ones in their understanding. However, some radical followers of Islam actively preach intolerance towards other religions.
Buddhists strive to live with dignity in order to fall out of the wheel of Samsara, that is, not to be reborn again, but to get into the higher worlds. Religions preach a certain way of life so that in the future people can get rid of suffering, because this, in their opinion, is happiness.
In turn, atheists made an attempt to abandon God, rely only on themselves in all matters and find as many like-minded people as possible, united by a common goal. It could be global construction, the development of new lands or the introduction of innovative technologies.
Atheists despised indifference and passivity towards life. Everyone had to have a goal, share common ideals and strive to make them a reality.
Nihilism
Most often, the word “nihilism” is associated with the predecessors of the Russian revolutionaries of the early 20th century, but this term is much more complex. Nihilism—from the Latin hihil (“nothing”)—believes that such things as “value” or “meaning” do not exist in nature, and therefore human existence has no meaning.
Nietzsche believed that the spread of nihilistic beliefs would eventually lead to people ceasing to do anything at all. This, as we see, did not happen, but nihilism as indifference to what is happening still remains popular.
Jean-Paul Sartre
The representative of atheistic existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, viewed human existence as a meaningful, free activity. However, in the sphere of labor economic participation, a person does not belong to himself, he does not lead an authentic existence. Life itself, according to Sartre, is a consistent chain of self-denials in which freedom is realized, and it is precisely this that is the only basis for the value and non-value of human actions. Freedom places unconditional responsibility on society, as a result of which it is expressed in a critical attitude towards the world and people.
Jean-Paul Sartre. By Moshe Milner.
Tibetan philosophy
These teachings are common in Tibet and other parts of the Himalayas. Very similar to classical Buddhism, Tibetan philosophy believes that the meaning of life is the end of earthly suffering. The first step to this is understanding the world. By understanding the world, you can come to the knowledge necessary to end suffering.
Philosophy provides the opportunity to choose the “Path of Small Opportunities,” on which a person is primarily concerned with his own salvation from the world, or the “Path of Greater Opportunities,” on which a person helps others. The true meaning of life is found in practice. Tibetan philosophy is also memorable because it offers its followers precise instructions on behavior.
Buddha
The founder of religious and philosophical teachings, Buddha, devoted a lot of time to thinking about the purpose and meaning of life. Indian systems are characterized by belief in karma, samsara and moksha. Bad and good deeds committed by people throughout their lives, which have either positive or negative consequences and affect rebirth, are karma. Samsara is an endless sequence of birth and death. A person’s desires are always inexhaustible; to this dissatisfaction should be added the suffering and pain experienced throughout life’s journey. Moksha is liberation from samsara, the opportunity to break out of its circle. Hence the purpose and meaning of life, namely the awareness of the state of dissatisfaction and the beginning of getting rid of all desires.
Buddha
Epicureans
Epicurean philosophy is often oversimplified. According to Epicurus, everything consists of tiny particles, including the human body, which is made up of particles of the soul. Without soul particles, the body is dead, and without the body, the soul is unable to perceive the outside world. Thus, after death, neither the soul nor the body can continue to exist. After death there is no punishment, no reward - nothing. This means that a person needs to focus on earthly affairs.
Particles of the soul are capable of experiencing both pleasure and pain. Therefore, you need to avoid pain and enjoy. What we can't control (unexpected death) we just have to accept.
This doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Even if robbing a bank brings some pleasant experiences, a true epicure remembers that feelings of guilt and anxiety can lead to greater discomfort later. Epicureans are also committed to friendship, the most pleasant, safe and reliable feeling that can be available to a person.
Aztec philosophy
The highest meaning of life for the Aztecs was to live in harmony with nature. Such a life allows one to continue energy and form new generations. This energy was called "teotl" and was not a deity, but something like the Jedi Force. Teotl fills the world, all our knowledge and extends beyond knowledge.
In teotl there are polar opposites that fight each other and thereby maintain balance in the universe. Neither life nor death is bad - they are just part of a cycle. The Aztecs believed that it was best to stay in the middle, not striving for wealth and using what you already had wisely. This was a guarantee that the children would receive the world in the same condition as their fathers.
Confucius
The ancient thinker and philosopher of China, Confucius, tried to understand the hidden nature of man. He was convinced that material well-being should fade into the background, and the meaning of human life lies in achieving the Tao, and an ethically complete society will arise only in the case of self-sacrifice. Confucius believed that it was necessary to take care of relatives and elders, to respect and love everyone around. Then a society whose attribute is knowledge will be united and capable of rapid and effective development. Moral values and education are an integral part of the formation of the inner world and views of every person.
Confucius
Stephen Fry and the humanists
Stephen Fry, one of the brightest representatives of modern humanism, poses the question of the meaning of life so that it concerns everyone, regardless of gender, beliefs, race or age. In humanism there is no specific meaning of life. Each person finds his own meaning in life. Instead of looking for it outside, a person should find it within himself by thinking about what makes him happy.
Because the meaning of life will truly be different for each of us. Some people want to create a masterpiece, others want to create a charity foundation. Or plant a garden, adopt a child, pick up an animal from the street... There is no single correct answer to the question about the meaning of life - everyone develops this answer on their own. And it seems that it is this theory that allows the greatest number of people to be happy.
Description of the meaning of life in domestic and foreign literature
At the beginning of the 19th century, the works of George Byron (pictured right), Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov raised the issue of premature “old age of the soul” to which the main characters of their famous novels were subject.
A little later, nihilists appeared who denied the heritage of their ancestors and their achievements. Ivan Turgenev perfectly described the nihilist youth in his book “Fathers and Sons,” showing how superficial boredom and lack of interest in life are.
A person is happy, developing throughout his life's journey. A child learns about the world, a young man craves immediate action, and only in maturity comes comprehension of the actions taken and the chances that were taken or missed.
Leo Tolstoy believed that “you have to struggle, get confused, struggle, make mistakes, start and give up, and start again, and give up again, and always struggle and lose. And calmness is spiritual meanness.”
This is exactly the way of life that the French writer Honore de Balzac led. According to contemporaries, he was furious in the manifestation of love and hatred and was distinguished by his enormous capacity for work. His goal was to become famous, and he achieved it brilliantly, putting his own thoughts about the meaning of life into the mouths of the heroes of his novels.
