Meaning of Life
Forgive me for thinking that I am wise enough to comment on this topic. For I really think that I am. Many people are not however, and yet (literally) the Khan on the corner-store feels that he has his two cents to offer when it comes to the real meaning of life (and I am not saying that he does not have every right to offer his cents: he obviously has seen a part of life that you have not, vice versa). This is a topic that many don’t even think about; and when many do they don’t really reach a conclusive… Conclusion. And yet is not it amazing? We are living, breathing, creatures that are so unsure about the world around us. Some find solace, understanding, direction and meaning in religion. Many, actually. And for others religion holds no meaning at all (yes, I’m talking globally here) or little meaning.
We’re thrown into a system: the prevailing one being the capitalism system. If we’re lucky, we’re conditioned according to a westernized educational school curriculum. Slowly we learn, and then later in practical life we learn that most of what we studied really did not help us much in figuring out who we really are. Why is that? I have often wondered to myself. We pay so much to get a good education, and in the end that education simply gives us the tools and the skills required to do something within a given systematic framework. How to earn money for example. Or become a good writer, or a good musician, or a good compter programmer/engineer/doctor. Nothing really answers that inner, nagging question: What is life? Why are we here? What happens after we die? Why are people so stupid? Or are they really stupid, maybe it’s just me who thinks different.
There are people who don’t really think about this stuff. Many people I’ve met and talked to really don’t give a baboon’s behind. As long as they don’t think too much, keep up the grades, come up to society’s expectations their lives are good, or at least they live in a reality where they think that their lives are good. People who think too much spiral into depression, sometimes into a never ending abyss where nothing makes sense anymore, and where they start to think completely differently from the people around them, and even contrary to and against the conditioning system in which they were placed in when they were born in. This includes the religious conditioning system, the educational conditioning system, and the prevailing norms, attitudes and thinking of the society around them.
So what is the meaning of life? If you ask me, not one. Some people just want to be filthy, stinking rich. And nothing else matters. This would be the materialistic, consumerism-oriented paradigm of the capitalist societies of today. Some want to love and be loved, and just get by through life comfortably. Others want to please God and come up to his expectations. Yet others want power, many want authority, control and social status. Rare people are those who want to be spiritually fulfilled, but there are those as well. There are hedonists, nihilists, and then those rare people who just want a good fight ahead of them to keep them busy— The people who want a good struggle in life. These people usually aspire to a lot and end up achieving a lot in life. But then again, it depends on how you define achievement.
How do you define success. Is it personal happiness? The fulfilling of the human want to not end up lonely and to really be loved and to give love back? Or is it attaining the envy and jealousy of others? That rich lifestyle, money, a trophy wife, children attending the elite schools of the country? I guess for each person his or her own, and we are no ones to judge which perspective or ideal is the better one.
Hence there is no one meaning of life. There are many. On one hand humans are capable of amazing things, they can love, show compassion, build skyscrapers, reach the moon, come up with technologies that baffle and amaze. On the other they can be hateful, jealous, evil, scheming plotters who are selfish and do not really see beyond their own self. No one really falls in any one extreme. They can be brilliant, yet extremely stupid. Kind, and yet stoic and uncaring. To each his own.
The best advice I can give you is: Aim for something high, that you really really want: Without compromising too much financially and/or academically. And make sure you enjoy the ride. That’s absolutely crucial for even if you don’t fucking make it, at least you had a fucking good run.
Ahmed. Out.
i would really like to know the answer of “why some people are so stupid?” :/ and to the author, sometimes it isn’t really that easy to figure out what u really want.
p.s. do u really have awesome hair?
Yeah he does. genuinely. they look crazy and awesome.
umm.. naturally?
p.s. don’t mind i am akheer weli these days plus i have this hair growth issue like centuries :S
People don’t think much. They’d much rather eat up what’s put in front of them and cave into their instinct of opposing whatever it is that opposes their own “feeling” or “intuition” about something. And no it isn’t easy, MOSTLY it isn’t easy. For example Amna over here keeps telling me to SPECIALIZE. And I don’t because I get bored and I want to keep trying, doing and learning more and new things, from the Russian language to Evolutionary Psychology to Photoshop to Computer Languages like C++ and Python to the history of the United States Foreign Policy after World War II (reading a book on that these days), to Boxing, Swimming, etc. etc. And who knows, if you keep exploring enough you just might end up finding a cause or something that you really are passionate about and really can spend the rest of your life doing.
Ahmed
PS: Yes I really do have awesome hair:P/.
yea, i do agree to that. keep exploring and one day u will find about what u r passionate about. though ur passion here seems exploring totally different things, i mean C++ , evolutionary psychology , Russian language…:O :S
“Slowly we learn, and then later in practical life we learn that most of what we studied really did not help us much in figuring out who we really are.”
Yeah that is sooo true. How many times do they teach us in uni to go after our dreams? Stay true to our values? Have faith?
And when in real life we have to answer all these questions, we are thrown into a state of inner chaos and start questioning everything
Hey Talha, thanks for the feedback.
Yeah, you have to realize that you’re in a system which pretty much perpetuates its own interests, and wants you to do it as well. Whether you want to believe that and look at the world around you like that is completely up to you. Personally I’m not against delusions. You’ll realize it’s good to think and it’s lovely to self-reflect and introspect; but should you be afraid of coming off as too different or apart from the crowd then I suggest you stop thinking and just follow the herd. Haha.
And yes, we are thrown into this “chaos” that you speak of, many of us anyway, and I don’t see it as particularly bad because you grow from your own experience. If it makes you feel better I do know people that stuck to their values (not in EXTREMITY and in EVERY SCENARIO though), and didn’t do too badly in life (actually they kinda did really well). I wish I could say something ideal like “you need to find a balance between morality and what you want in life” or something along the lines of something ideal and pure, but unfortunately I can. What I can do is tell you not to worry too much and enjoy the ride;).
Ahmed.
na, I just think that most of us feel restless if we haven’t explored themselves fully and very few of us realize it’s the need to self-actualize that is creating the restlessness – finding pride, peace and happiness in what we do is and should be the real pursuit, and hence, it can’t be without us finding the right balance between morality and what we want.
Well that’s your take on it. And it’s good:).
Ahmed. Out.