What Is The Meaning Of Life?

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” - Pablo Picasso

What is the meaning of life?  This is probably one of the oldest questions that has pondered humankind over the centuries.  Why are we here?  Is there a purpose to our lives?  What are we supposed to be doing?

Do you ever wonder what the universe would be like if humans didn't exist?  Do we add value to this whole thing called life?

Every day we learn more and theorize about how we got to where we are.  Are we only here because meteorites found this planet which happened to meet all the right conditions to allow us to evolve to where we are now?  If life came here from space, what the hell is out there?

Do you believe in the creation story?

Since Galileo proposed that the Earth is not at the center of the universe and the Earth orbits the sun (one of billions of suns),  science and religious beliefs have been in conflict.

I have accepted that I will most likely be forgotten long after I am gone and that ultimately everyone will somehow be forgotten.  You could argue that there are some people who will always be remembered (George Washington as the first president of the United States).  But what if one day, the United States changes and becomes part of a larger country (Canada, United States, Mexico) and then centuries later joins a larger country (North America & South America).  Now you go 4,000 years later (assuming the sun still works), chances are George Washington will not be remembered.  Probably he has a better chance than me.

If you believe in something like heaven after you die, perhaps the meaning of life is just a test for you to live a good life to earn your way into heaven.  Perhaps it is related to Karma and encourages you to lead a good life.  But that still doesn't answer the question, what difference to the universe will it make if humans did or did not exist.

Do we only believe that we have souls because we have the mental capacity to think about these things?  If you do not believe in God, then who made everything?

When you look back at history, the world wasn't a very good place to live.  People constantly lived in fear from enemies and groups of people that feared others and wanted to get rid of you before you got rid of them.  People suffered and still do from things like war, disease, and hunger.  Those who have been born in countries without these things are lucky (like winning a lottery) and if they have a good family environment with love and financial backing they have a better chance to continue with a good lifestyle.  Why is it that these people have it better than others?  Is that really fair and how does it fit into the meaning of life?

Chances are there is no meaning of life.   I very well could be wasting my time pondering this question and not living my life to its potential.  I should be thankful that all those conceived before me were ultimately responsible for me to exist and if any of them did anything differently, I most likely would not be here.

What we do may not really make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.  However, for this life we might as well leave the world a little better than it was when we got here.  We should find our gifts and share them with others.

What that means for you depends on you.  No matter how you plan to do this, you should try to live a  life that is ethical and moral.  And most importantly, you should find happiness.

We should treat others as we want to be treated.  We should protect our environment so others have a chance to continue this thing we call life.

You have freewill.  What would you rather be doing?

Are You Really Just Mad At Yourself?

Sometimes we get angry at someone for pointing out something that we are doing wrong.

An example, a worker was leaving work for the day.  They were known to be very safety conscious and would actively ensure that fellow workers followed all the safety protocols and rules.

As this worker walked down the hallway to leave the building, their supervisor saw them and commented that they should not be wearing their sunglasses inside.  (This rule was actually in the rule book).  The worker removed their sunglasses and left for the day.  This person felt insulted that their supervisor would comment to them on what they thought was a trivial rule and how dare the supervisor embarrass them since they were an advocate for preaching safety.

Several days later, this anger consumed the individual as they told several people this story and how angry they were that this happened.

As I heard this story, my response was the following:  Chances are they know that they broke a rule and their true anger is at them self and not their supervisor.

This comes back to another posts called "Ownership, Versus Blame & The Victim".

We don't like it when people point out the obvious to us during the times when we know something was in our control and we did not do the proper thing.  In those situations, we know what we did was wrong and we don't like hearing it again and again.  Just like what happens in the clip below from "Office Space".

As an aside, the other funny part in this scene is how the main character is talking to two consultants who both have the name Bob, but when he talks to them, he refers to them as only one person.  Bob.

No one likes to be wrong.  Sometimes we like to blame others to falsely make ourselves feel better.  But the anger will only consume us.