Later that day I started looking through my books, surfing the 'net and generally asking all and sundry what they thought about the subject. For the sake of brevity, here are some of the responses:
"What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? What is most music, poetry, and art written about? What does all self-help books preach and what does every psychology book say we need? What question does philosophy ask but never answers? What is every spiritual practice based on? What do you want more than anything? When we get quiet, we all know the meaning of life. Love"
"Life is for the Living!"
"I want to live my life until I die."
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That's what it's all finally about, and that's what these clues (myths) help us to find within ourselves."
"What is the meaning of Life? I'm not sure, the server is down at the moment, can you call back?"
"42!"
Personally? The answer is found by dropping the question about the meaning of life and to start living life. Its like the difference between talking about Aikido or actually training. Being "There".
For me, being lucky enough to do something I love and being able to pass on even some aspects of that to other people before I finally become worm food is enough.
Life is a game. Play fair, enjoy it and remember there are no rules - Dunken Francis 2009 ;o)
odd, I got asked this the other day too.
ReplyDeleteMy answer. There is no meaning to life. Life is completely open ended with many possibilities and it's up to us to make choices about what paths we want to walk down. In the end, any meaning life has is the meaning that you give it.
I'd have to agree with the blog and Keith. Life is meaningless until you make meaning.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting (and I'll write my own blog on this soon) is how we create meaning through competition, such as sports, games, anything. These competitions give us a sense of gratification and meaning. Notice how Aikido differs in this aspect, there is no competition, there is only self development and understanding of all that is around you.
One of the reasons I like Aikido.
This is a wonderful question and I believe the meaning of life is whatever you say it is but collectively we are here to evolve. Spiritual evolution is the true meaning of life and our aim is to some day merge into the Creator and become one with Him/Her/It/Energy.
ReplyDeleteEvery painful and pleasurable experience helps us on this journey and we should try to enjoy it as much as possible and love what we do and do what we love.
Most importantly we should spread love to everyone and aim to leave people better of once they have had contact with us.
Hello there, it's nice to be here in your site I learned a lot of different stuff here about aikido. Techniques, strategies, logical thinking and keeps me active and healthy. Learning to defend oneself is very much vital as taking your daily dose of vitamin. You’ll never know when you will be at the mercy of a thug, so it’s better to be prepared than to be sorry.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the article. It is well written, clear and concise.I do enjoy you blog.
ReplyDeleteThe only meaning to life is what you/we decide to make of it. Keep it simple
ReplyDeleteHello, I have been thinking about this a lot lately, this is a problem in my life because there is no real answer. We all grow up get an education get a job work and work to were 55. We live to love family members then one day they're gone. We live, we die no point.
ReplyDeleteI can understand how you feel. I think everyone deep down, longs for a sense of meaning to our existence. For a hope that there is more to this life than just living and dying. For me I've found that meaning in God. If we strive to know him and acknowledge his love and plan for our life, then our time on earth has greater significance.
ReplyDeleteThe meaning of life is to be fulfilled. If that's following a religion then so be it. Its different for everyone. Some have no meaning because they don't have fulfilled lives. My perspective is this, fulfillment + love + harmony with the world around me = my meaning to life.
ReplyDelete