Why are questions about the meaning of life tormented. Why did it happen that the main question of life is relegated to the background? One of the tasks of life, but not the meaning
“The question “about the meaning of life” excites and torments in the depths of the soul of every person. A person can for a while, and even for a very long time, completely forget about it, plunge headlong or into the everyday interests of today, into material concerns about preserving life, about wealth, contentment and earthly successes, or into any superpersonal passions and "deeds" - into politics, the struggle of parties, etc. - but life is already arranged in such a way that even the most stupid, fat-blooded or spiritually sleeping person cannot completely and forever brush it aside. This question is not a "theoretical question", not the subject of an idle mental game; this question is a question of life itself, it is just as terrible - and, in fact, even more terrible than the question of a piece of bread to satisfy hunger in severe need. Verily, this is the question of bread to nourish us and water to quench our thirst.”
(c) S.L. Frank,
a major Russian philosopher, religious thinker and psychologist.
Nowadays, the main issue of human life is lost among the mass of secondary tasks, such as ensuring life: to be fed, shod, clothed, with a roof over your head; as well as the goals that the current way of life offers: to be successful, “useful to society”, etc.
Why did it happen that the main question of life is relegated to the background?
I propose to look at the surrounding reality from this point of view:
1. Current way of life social person similar to the principle of "life" of a thing, an object. Any thing is created for specific purposes: a tape recorder in order to listen to audio recordings; a refrigerator for storing food; a car in order to ride on it and transport the necessary things; etc. Things are made for people. Any governance mechanisms, be it politics, security, or anything else, are also created for people. A person is not a thing, I am deeply convinced that a person was not born in order to use things or manage some processes, such as, for example: politics, selling cell phones, creating new works of music or painting, etc.
2. Now let's look at how people live. I asked a question about the meaning of life to some people, heard conversations and beliefs about this issue from many people. A lot of people say that the meaning of their life is in a certain business, for example, they say: "Everyone has their own destiny, my destiny is to create music" - or to be a politician, a factory manager, or to do some other business that is not really are, in my opinion, the true meaning of life. I repeat, a person cannot be born for a certain “work of life”, then there would be a natural stigma on the forehead from the very birth “I am a musician” or “I am a salesman”. But this is not and cannot be. Truly, a person does not know his destiny, the meaning of life, but he does not try to know this question, to get an answer - that is the problem.
3. Social environment or way of life modern life, goals and objectives that are set before a person, somehow changed the values of life, up to the everyday level. But the most important thing, in my opinion, the most catastrophic consequence of such a way of life is that the main question of the life of every person is pushed very far away. The main principle is the accumulation of material wealth, power over other people and "amenities" as the maximum enjoyment of almost any, including immoral, and simply inhuman way. But all these values social life do not answer the main question of a person, and therefore a “social person” will not be truly happy until he understands this and finds an answer to the main question of life.
Further, modern philosophy and other sciences, scientists and thinkers do not give an answer to the most important question of life. However, there are a few people in the world who are called "Awakened Ones" or "Enlightened Ones", but simply sages, who say that there is an answer to this question. I personally know such a person, moreover, I believe him, but it does not matter.
What is important is that the "awakened ones", different philosophies and other sources speak with one voice - "Know thyself!". I consider this direction the most important for me, because. I don't find anything more important. How did I come to this? The search for an answer to the question of the meaning of my life has led me to the conclusion that I do not know who I really am. After all, we all talk about ourselves, we say: “I want”, “I do”, “I see”, etc., but I still cannot find the one whom I call “I”. All I can talk about is my body, feelings, sensations, thoughts, desires, and so on, but I can’t say anything about myself specifically. Based on logical reasoning, the question "Who am I?" more primary than the question of the meaning of life, because life exists for me only when I, in fact, live. After all, if I am gone, then the question of the meaning of life, apparently, cannot be, because. there will be no life. In fact, even when I'm fast asleep, I wake up and can't say "I lived."
Thus, I see the question "Who am I?" the most important, fundamental in human life as such.
So, why do I want to create this so-called "new environment"? – The fact is that going against society, conditionally speaking, does not make sense – why? This is unrealistic, and it’s useless, but I’m not going to convince a lot of people - let them decide what is more important for them and how they should live their lives. And since in the social environment there are other goals, objectives and values, in general: the activity of social life is not aimed at resolving such issues, then there is a need to create a society, a “new environment”, in which values will still be put in their places - the main question, then , he will be the main one! In other words, I want to create an environment of people where the question of self-knowledge and the meaning of life is in the first place.
Many, perhaps, can say that there are already a lot of such places, meaning various teachings or religions. I am not affiliated with any religion or any philosophy. And I don't want the "new environment" to be built on any religion or philosophy, I'm interested in a society that will be built on self-knowledge and objective truth. What attracts me most of all is what the “awakened ones” Ramana Maharshi and Sergei Rubtsov say - they speak very specifically, without husks - and they say that you don’t have to bow to anyone, you need to know yourself and then everything will fall into place. That is why I am betting precisely on the “path” that they talk about and write about, because. it seems to me the most realistic.
Alexander Vasiliev
Project "NEW ENVIRONMENT"
3 Mar 2012 | Sergei Belorusov
- One well-known psychologist said that if a person is interested in the meaning of life, it means that he is sick. Do you agree?
I am generally not very sure that a psychologist is a competent adviser regarding the meaning of life. Moreover, if the specialist helping you begins to behave as if a small oracle is built into him, unmistakably determining such a meaning, then it is best to bow out and move away from such communication.
The functions of the psychotherapist are less fateful. But. Good psychologist will pass with you part of the way to gaining by no means exhaustive, but the situational meaning of what was sent down to teach you, the state of circumstances in which you find yourself today.
And I’ll answer the question with the traditional saying of my teacher Father Adrian van Kaam - “Yes and no” ... :-) He, a priest and a psychologist, considered phenomena in a binocular perspective ... :-)
So why yes? Because they don’t think about the meaning of life in the routine, they don’t think when they are involved in something significant, they don’t think in the danger of a battle. Thought encounters the search for the meaning of life in pauses, arbitrary or forced. What forces us to pause in the daily flow of life? Most often, when something knocks us out of life: stress, fatigue, suffering. Yes, in a situation of illness, the likelihood of thinking what's what is higher than in our everyday life.
No - because in such a formulation of the question, the assertion that the search for the meaning of life is a symptom of pathology - mental or bodily - is hidden. Let's think about it. Concretizing your question: is the search for the meaning of life a pathology, and if it is not, then with what frequency is this kind of reflection natural and useful.
Human existence is largely determined by cyclicity. We inhale and exhale air, our heart muscle contracts and tightens. These rhythms are related as 1:1. The wake/sleep cycle is determined by a 3:1 ratio. The possibility of conception in women is a cycle of 5:1. Based on these approximate ratios, let us ask ourselves how often this very meaning should be sought, and how much time should be spent following the established one, as, for example, following the example of M. Prokhorov in his pre-election interview:
“- Do you think that a person has an immortal soul?
- I haven't decided this question yet. I live an active life, I think about it a lot, but I don’t have an answer to this question yet.”
It seems that the proportion of time intervals when to look for that meaning, and when to cool down to it, is unusually variable. It can be 6:1 - the sixth day of the week to the Lord or 10:1 based on the principle of tithing, or even less often - 50:1 - jubilee years .. :-). However, undoubtedly, we should return to this. Otherwise, we cease to be human . After all, animals do not care about the meaning of life .... :-) And for the angels - it is already defined. We are somewhere in between... :-)
To push thoughts about the meaning of life to the periphery of consciousness means to slide into the animal nature in oneself or start playing robot. There are also advantages here: - Without such thoughts, life is much more trouble-free. Once, at the age of 14, being in a reflective search, I asked a friend: “What is the meaning of life, Tolik?” “Just live,” he replied. By the way, in our dialogue, a good purpose of such questions was revealed - they significantly bring together those who talk about them. It is the meanings that cement the associations of people: from sports fan clubs to monastic orders. - Do you think, - I continue the communication that solidifies us, - that it is worth postponing this question until we become completely independent? - Yeah.
So, when we mature, the question of meaning begins to itch. After all, growing up means taking responsibility for yourself and your loved ones. And here you should discipline yourself and not ask it too often. The high amplitude of its actualization is the destiny of either depressive neurotics or saints. And the virtues of meekness, patience, obedience, and gratitude will enable us not to become obsessed with the constant obsessive return to his decision.
How can you not ask yourself this question too often if you need an answer right now? If you don’t have the strength to get out of bed, go to work, etc. just like that, not understanding why?
Well, let's distinguish: there is a question about the meaning of life and there is an answer. The question should arise only in a few situations and the answer to it has a function:
a) clarification
b) comfort
c) inspiration
With a properly structured life, it can be assumed that one answer to this question is generally enough, and having solved it for ourselves once, then we slide by the inertia of the right answer without losing energy along the icy hill of life ... The need for a new question with a new answer arises only if we caught on something in their path. And since everything, both in us and outside of us, is by no means smooth, this question will arise. And the correctness of the answer to it is determined by how long the inspiration from the answer to it lasts.
And further. The nature of us, the created ones, is wise. Not all of our actions are motivated by meaning. After all, there are actions that we decide on out of habit, out of pity, out of love, out of a desire for satisfaction, out of a sense of duty. The list of motivating causes is long and by no means and cannot always be reduced to the ultimate meaning of being.
- Where to look for the meaning of life and where it is definitely not worth looking for? How would you respond to a patient, an ordinary person?
Well, a simple person would hardly ask about the meaning of life…. :-)
So for starters I would give him homework- google everything that the ancient Greek philosophers wrote about it and bring me an abstract ... :-) In which everything that they put at the forefront: pleasure, knowledge, and so on, and why it is not suitable for the questioner.
Then I would offer my interpretation. And she's next. One of the pillars of civilization, Gautama Buddha, said "the first noble truth" - "Everything in the world is suffering." Exactly 25 centuries later, the outstanding psychologist Viktor Frankl substantiated "The meaning of suffering is to become different." Having superimposed these chased formulas on each other, we get: "The meaning of life is in becoming different." Looking closely, we find confirmation of this in nature. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly. An egg makes a chick. We become aware of ourselves shortly after leaving the mother's belly.
Every day we can become a little different. The main thing is to move in the right direction. For Christians, it's simple - each of us is created with a task and the resources necessary to complete it. Find these resources in yourself and designate the right vector of movement. The final goal is to come to the final point for this stage of life, at which you will coincide with the Creator's expectations about you and from you.
- And how to understand what kind of resources you have and what kind of task this is, if nothing is clear, but there is no strength for anything?
Let's say there are no forces to act. But do you have the strength to think? If those are not found, it is better to just sleep. If you think hunting, then let's go ...
First of all, let's find ourselves in time and place. Why are we not among the Mayan civilization? Why aren't there penguins in Antarctica? Why and how am I reflected in the mirror today? And why don't I like myself there?
What's stopping me from coloring my hair? green color? That it won't be me. Then what of mine is the real mine? What would I like it to be? It can be - well, let's say, setting myself the goal of making a million dollars, putting all my strength into it, I probably can. As a last resort, I will sell a kidney. How much, by the way, are they now? No, I'm not selling. I don't really need that lam. But if I wanted to, I would.
So - I can. What do I want? No, really, what do I need? Hardly an island in the Caribbean archipelago ... Yeah, here, I need a job, and not just stupidly work hard. but to get high. What could she be? Am I ready for it or are my qualifications low? What's on the shelf, there, dusty. Yeah, a book on what I'm interested in. That's my task for the next hour. After him, I will become smarter, which means I will become different.
What I want, albeit a little lazily, reflects my resources, something given to me. The fact that I approached this at this hour filled the day with meaning, I became a little different when I sluggishly woke up this morning. Tomorrow I will do something else. The main thing is that today was not in vain. For what - thanks Up ...
You say: “Here, I need a job, and not just stupidly work hard. but to get high. What could she be? What if there is no such option?
A healthy person does not happen, so that he does not want anything.
Happens to deathly tired. Then relax until you realize - yeah, that was a buzz, soooo come off in doing nothing. So, now I want ... And the desire is caught.
It happens with an anxious person - I can’t want anything, everything is filled with fear. Then you need to attract yourself to a specialist who knows how to remove the bridle of anxiety with a kind word, or with medicines.
It happens with a sated person - they say, he got drunk, ate, fell in love - nothing more is needed. Then, probably, questions about the meaning of life will not arise. While you lie down, digest ... Soon you want something, then whistle ...
Well, let's say it happens. You are healthy and with sluggish horror you realize that you don’t have “an itchy business of your whole life”. What to do?
Answer: But you, by the will of fate, are not on a desert island. Your existence is a mutual dance with those around you. Try to understand in words or movements what significant persons for you expect from you: bosses and subordinates, parents and children, spouses and friends. You just ask, or let me know that you don’t mind hearing their opinion about yourself, so you will get such a response - it will take a long time to rake. You yourself will not be glad that you started this sociological question about yourself, but you asked for it ... :-)
Now the meanings of your life will come to you from outside. Organize them and reject them one by one. Is there anything left that is acceptable to you?
Let's suppose the friend's advice turned out to be the least offensive. To direct yourself there as much as you can? Any meaning to life is better than none?
No. Only that meaning of life is correct at the current turn of your life, which comes from within you. Any adherence to what is proposed from the outside is an imitation, a bias towards the truth. The meaning of the meaning, that is, the interpretations of a friend, is only material that should be checked against the standards of one's own prudence. You can only subscribe to something for which you will answer without regretting your signature.
Sometimes the lack of meaning in life is the meaning itself. In any case, you, without prejudice, can identify with the early St. Petersburg punk “Automatic Satisfiers”: “But I don’t know why I live, well, boo-boo-buy with him.” Confessing your ignorance sometimes makes you wise. Or holy fool. And which of them is higher - it will become clear in Eternity.
We return. You should not direct yourself anywhere on the advice of anyone. Any imitation of the meaning of life is worse than recognition of its (temporary) absence.
How to live without the (yet) unfounded meaning of life? Isn't the meaning of life what gives us the strength to live day after day?
Today, while reading a book on the train to work, I came across the wise phrase of the historian V. Klyuchevsky: “Life is not about living, but about feeling that you are living.” I quoted this to the second patient who came in grief on the 9th day after the death of her husband. She obviously felt better.
Let's listen. It is not the realization of meaning that gives us the strength to live day after day. Man, for the most part, is not the kind of creature to live solely by the realization of meaning. He is half sensual. And here is the feeling of life - infallibly true.
The morning warmth of the hearth. A frosty breath of leaving the house. Overcoming the path. Meeting of friends. The smile of a stranger. Late for the tram and an unexpected place in it with the opportunity to look into an interesting book. Good entrance to work, where you are welcome. Inspiration to do something that was not there before you, that you will bring into the world today. Mental smoke break with a fun relaxed discussion of what happened. Extraordinary effort in an exciting work. The feeling that the day was not in vain. Delicious dinner with your family admiring you. Words of gratitude Up for this day, by no means meaningless. An affectionate slip into sleep with the anticipation of a better tomorrow.
Isn't that the point of today? The simplest of the passing series of time allotted to us here. Let's think about tomorrow tomorrow... :-)
And in conclusion of your questions, let me ask you one: is there any sense in the search for the meaning of life? Or, how did this process of searching arouse your interest? And to answer it yourself - the unique charm of the search for the meaning of life lies in its escape. And I believe that the One who invites us to the path of search carefully hides it from us from time to time, prompting us to take a few steps forward and upward. So the process is more important here than the result. Just because there is no limit ahead...
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Many philosophers have asked perhaps the most exciting question, the question of the meaning of life. So what is the meaning of life? This question is also asked by Semyon Ludwigovich Frank in this text.
At the beginning of the text, the author asks questions, arguing about what is the meaning of life and whether it is necessary to seek it. He is sure that everyday worries distract people from thinking about it, although "this single question" about the meaning of life "excites and torments in the depths of every person's soul." The author claims that many people prefer to "shrug off" the question of the meaning of life: "It's easier for people to live this way." Why do they behave like this? People consider “earthly” concerns to be the main ones in life: “The desire for prosperity, for worldly well-being seems to them meaningful, very important matter, and the search for an answer to "abstract" questions is a waste of time.
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But can a person be truly happy living this? No, it cannot, because as a result of ignoring the search for the meaning of life, the human soul will gradually fade away.
One cannot but agree with the opinion of the philosopher, because in no case should this question be postponed until later: this can greatly affect the spiritual qualities of a person.
Each person determines for himself the purpose of his existence. To help people? Looking for answers to eternal questions? Live for yourself? People have the right to decide what to do with them. Throughout Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace" we observe the spiritual quest of Pierre Bezukhov. For the first time we meet young Pierre in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. He is sure that Napoleon is great, admires him. After marrying Helen Kuragina, who struck him with her beauty, Pierre is disappointed in love, realizing that he never loved this woman. The duel with Dolokhov brings only rejection of what happened, misunderstanding of the meaning of life. Having accidentally met an old freemason, he is fond of this movement and finds new ideals of life. Now the hero considers it his duty to do good, to help people in any way he can. Seeing that Russian Freemasonry is going the wrong way, Bezukhov leaves this circle and goes to Moscow. Further, the war opened to his eyes, as an action, completely unpredictable and cruel. He discovers truths that he did not notice before. In captivity, he meets a simple peasant Platon Karataev, who, with his philosophical reasoning, leads Pierre to other truths. Now Bezukhov understands that the main thing is to simply live, without any conventions and prejudices, to live in goodness, in harmony with oneself. At the end of his spiritual and civil quest, Pierre shares the ideas of the Decembrists. He becomes a member of a secret society in order to resist those who humiliate the freedom, honor and dignity of people. That was the meaning of the hero's life.
People very often see the meaning of life in becoming rich, successfully marrying, traveling around the world. Ivan Bunin in the story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" showed the fate of a man who served false values. The life of the protagonist is monotonous. The hero decides to go on a journey with his family for several years, in which death unexpectedly overtakes him. And if at the beginning the hero travels first class in luxurious cabins, then back, forgotten by everyone, he floats in a dirty hold, next to shellfish and shrimps. The life of this person has no value, because the gentleman from San Francisco lived without spiritual upheavals, doubts, ups and downs, lived with the sole purpose of satisfying personal interests and material needs. And such a life is worthless.
So, in order not to degrade morally, it is necessary to wonder about the meaning of life, without being distracted by everyday worries.
Updated: 2018-04-01
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“The misfortune of modern man is great:
he lacks the main thing - the meaning of life "
I.A. Ilyin
None of us likes meaningless work. For example, carry bricks there and then back. Dig "from here to lunch." If we are asked to do such work, we are inevitably disgusted. Disgust is followed by apathy, aggression, resentment, etc.
Life is work too. And then it becomes clear why a meaningless life (a life without meaning) pushes us to the fact that we are ready to give up everything that is most valuable, but to run away from this lack of meaning. But, fortunately, the meaning of life is.
And we will definitely find it. I would like you to read it carefully and to the end, despite the volume of this article. Reading is also work, but not meaningless, but which will pay off handsomely.
Why does a person need the meaning of life
Why does a person need to know the meaning of life, is it possible to somehow live without it?
No animal needs this understanding. It is the desire to understand the purpose of one's coming into this world that distinguishes man from animals. Man is the highest of living beings, it is not enough for him only to eat and multiply. By limiting his needs to only physiology, he cannot be truly happy. Having the meaning of life, we get a goal to which we can strive. The meaning of life is a measure of what is important and what is not, what is useful and what is harmful to achieve our main goal. It is a compass that shows us the direction of our life.
In such complex world in which we live, it is very difficult to do without a compass. Without it, we inevitably go astray, fall into a labyrinth, run into dead ends. This is what the outstanding philosopher of antiquity Seneca spoke about: “He who lives without a goal ahead always wanders” .
Day after day, month after month, year after year, we wander through dead ends with no way out. Ultimately, this chaotic journey leads us to despair. And now, stuck in another dead end, we feel that we no longer have the strength or desire to go further. We understand that we are doomed all our lives to fall from one dead end to another. And then the thought of suicide arises. Indeed, why live if you can not get out of this terrible labyrinth anywhere?
Therefore, it is so important to strive to resolve this question about the meaning of life.
How to assess how true a certain meaning of life is
We see a man doing something in the mechanism of his machine. Does it make sense in what it does or not? Strange question, you say. If he fixes the car and takes his family to the dacha (or a neighbor to the clinic), then, of course, there is. And if he spends the whole day digging into his broken-down car, instead of taking time for his family, helping his wife, reading good book, and does not go anywhere on it, then, of course, it makes no sense.
That's how it is in everything. The meaning of an activity is determined by its result.
The meaning of human life must also be evaluated through the outcome. The result for a person is the moment of death. There is nothing more certain than the moment of death. If we are entangled in the labyrinth of life and cannot unwind this tangle from the beginning in order to find the meaning of life, let's unwind it from another, obvious and precisely known end - death.
It was about this approach that M.Yu. wrote. Lermontov:
We drink from the cup of life
with closed eyes
golden wetting edges
with their own tears;
when before death from the eyes
string falls
and everything that deceived us,
with a string falls;
then we see that it is empty
was a golden bowl
that there was a drink in it - a dream,
and that she is not ours!
ILLUSOR MEANINGS OF LIFE
The most primitive answers to the question about the meaning of life
Among the answers to the question about the meaning of life, there are three of the most primitive and stupid. Usually such answers are given by people who have not seriously thought about this issue. They are so primitive and devoid of logic that it makes no sense to dwell on them in detail. Let's take a quick look at these answers, the real purpose of which is to justify your laziness and not work on finding the meaning of life.
1. “Everyone lives like this without thinking, and I will live”
First, not everyone lives like this. Secondly, are you sure that these “everyone” are happy? And are you happy, living “like everyone else”, without thinking? Thirdly, what to look at everyone, everyone has their own life, and everyone builds it himself. And when something goes wrong, you will not have to blame “everyone”, but yourself ... Fourthly, sooner or later the majority of “everyone”, finding themselves in some serious crisis, will also think about the meaning of their existence.
So maybe you should not focus on "everyone"? Seneca also warned: “When the question arises about the meaning of life, people never reason, but always believe others, and meanwhile, it’s dangerous to adjoin those who go ahead in vain.” Maybe you should listen to these words?
2. “The meaning of life is to understand this very meaning” (The meaning of life is in life itself)
Although these phrases are beautiful, pretentious, and may work in a group of children or low-intellect people, they do not make any sense. If you think about it, it is clear that the very process of searching for meaning cannot be at the same time the meaning itself.
Any person understands that the meaning of sleep is not to sleep, but to restore body systems. We understand that the meaning of breathing is not to breathe, but to allow oxidative processes to occur in cells, without which life is impossible. We understand that the meaning of work is not just to work, but to benefit ourselves and the people in this work. So the talk that the meaning of life is to look for the meaning itself is childish excuses for those who do not want to think about it seriously. This is a convenient philosophy for those who do not want to admit that they do not have the meaning of life and do not want to look for it.
And postponing the comprehension of the meaning of life to the end of this life is like wanting to get a ticket to a luxury resort on your deathbed. What's the point of something you can't use anymore?
3. "There is no meaning in life" .
The logic here is: "I did not find the meaning, so it does not exist." The word "find" implies that a person has taken some action to find (meaning). However, in truth, how many of those who claim that there is no meaning actually searched for it? Wouldn't it be more honest to say: "I have not tried to find the meaning of life, but I believe that there is none."
Do you like this saying? It hardly looks reasonable, rather it just sounds childish. To a wild Papuan, a calculator, skis, and a cigarette lighter in a car may seem completely unnecessary, meaningless. He just doesn't know what this item is for! To understand the benefits of these items, you need to study them from all sides, try to understand how to use them correctly.
Someone will object: "I was really looking for meaning." Here the following question arises: were you looking for it there?
Self-realization as the meaning of life
Very often you can hear that the meaning of life is in self-realization. Self-realization is the realization of one's capabilities in order to achieve success. You can realize yourself in different areas of life: family, business, art, politics, etc.
This view is not new, as Aristotle believed. He said that the meaning of life is in a valiant life, success and achievements. And it is in this self-development that the majority even now sees the meaning of life.
Man, of course, must realize himself. But to make self-realization the main meaning of life is wrong.
Why? Let's think about it, given the inevitability of death. What difference does it make - a person realized himself and died, or did not realize himself, but also died. Death will equalize these two people. You will not take success in life to the next world!
We can say that the fruits of this very self-realization will remain on earth. But firstly, these fruits are not always of good quality, and secondly, even if they are best quality, then the sense of the very person who left them is zero. He cannot take advantage of the results of his successes. He is dead.
Imagine that you have managed to fulfill yourself - you are a famous politician, a great artist, a writer, a military leader or a journalist. And here you are... at your own funeral. Cemetery. Autumn, drizzling rain, leaves flying to the ground. Or maybe summer, the birds rejoice in the sun. Words of admiration for you sound over the open coffin: “How happy I am for the deceased!N very well managed this and that. All those abilities that were given to him, he embodied not only 100, but 150%! ”...
If you come to life for a second, will such speeches comfort you? ..
Memory as the meaning of life
Another answer to the question about the meaning of life: "To leave my mark, to be remembered." At the same time, it happens that it doesn’t even matter to a person whether he leaves a good memory or not a very good one about himself. The main thing is “to be remembered!” For the sake of this, many people strive in every possible way for fame, popularity, fame, to become a "famous person."
Of course, a good memory has some value for eternity - it is the grateful memory of our descendants about us, who left them gardens, houses, books. But how long will this memory last? Do you have grateful memory about your grandparents? And what about great-great-grandfathers?.. No one will be remembered forever.
In general, the external achievements of a person (the same realization) and the memory of others about these successes correlate like a sandwich and the smell of a sandwich. If the sandwich itself is useless, then all the more so - you can’t get enough of its smell.
What business will this memory have for us when we die? We will no longer be. So is it worth it then to devote your life to “leaving a mark”? No one will be able to use their fame when they leave this world. No one will be able to assess the degree of his fame in the grave.
Imagine yourself at your own funeral again. The one who is entrusted with the eulogy is thinking hard what good things to say about you. “We are burying a difficult person! That's how many people came here to see him off in last way. Few get that kind of attention. But this is only a faint reflection of the glory thatN had during his lifetime. Many envied him. They wrote about him in the newspapers. At the house whereN lived, a memorial plaque will be fixed ... ".
Dead man, wake up for a second! Listen! Would these words make you happy?
The meaning of life is the preservation of beauty and health
Although the ancient Greek philosopher Metrodorus argued that the meaning of life is in the strength of the body and in the firm hope that it can be relied upon, most people still understand that this cannot be the meaning.
It is difficult to find something more meaningless than living for the sake of maintaining one's own health and appearance. If a person takes care of his health (goes in for sports, physical education, undergoes preventive medical examinations in a timely manner), then this can only be welcomed. We are talking about something else, about the situation when maintaining health, beauty, longevity becomes the meaning of life. If a person, seeing the meaning only in this, gets involved in the struggle for the preservation and adornment of his body, he condemns himself to an inevitable defeat. Death will still win this battle. All this beauty, all this imaginary health, all these pumped-up muscles, all these experiments on rejuvenation, solariums, liposuction, silver threads, braces will not leave anything behind. The body will go underground and rot, as befits protein structures.
Now you are an old pop star who was young until her last breath. There are many talkative people in show business who will always find something to say in any situation, including at a funeral: “Oh, what a beauty has died! What a pity that she could not please us for another 800 years. It seemed that death had no power overN! How unexpectedly this death snatched her from our ranks at the age of 79! She showed everyone how to overcome old age!”
Wake up, dead body! Will you appreciate the way you lived?
Consumption, pleasure as the meaning of life
“The acquisition of things and their consumption cannot give meaning to our lives ... The accumulation of material things cannot fill
the emptiness of the lives of those who have no confidence and purpose"
(Merchant-millionaire Savva Morozov)
The philosophy of consumption did not appear today. Another famous ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC), who believed that the meaning of life is to avoid trouble and suffering, to enjoy life, to achieve peace and bliss. You can also call this philosophy the cult of pleasure.
This cult reigns in modern society. But even Epicurus stipulated that it is impossible to live only for the sake of obtaining pleasure, while not being consistent with ethics. We have now reached the reign of hedonism (in other words, life only for the sake of pleasure), in which no one even agrees with ethics. We are set up for this by advertisements, magazine articles, television talk shows, endless serials, reality shows. This permeates our entire daily life. Everywhere we hear, see, read calls to live for our own pleasure, to take everything from life, to catch a moment of good luck, to “break away” to the fullest ...
The cult of consumption is closely connected with the cult of pleasure. In order to have fun, we have to buy something, win something, order something. Then consume it, and all over again: see advertising, buy, use it for its intended purpose, enjoy. It begins to seem to us that the meaning of life is to use what is widely advertised, namely: certain goods, services, sensual pleasures (“sex”); experiences that give pleasure (travel); real estate; a variety of "fiction" (glossy magazines, cheap detective stories, ladies' novels, books based on TV series), etc.
Thus, we (not without the help of the media, but of our own free will) turn ourselves into meaningless half-humans, half-animals, whose task is only to eat, drink, sleep, walk, drink, satisfy the sexual instinct, dress up ... Man myself reduces himself to such a level, limiting the purpose of his life to the satisfaction of primitive needs.
Nevertheless, having tried all conceivable pleasures by a certain age, a person becomes fed up and feels that, despite the various pleasures, his life is empty and something important is missing in it. What? meaning. After all, there is no meaning in pleasure.
Pleasure cannot be the meaning of existence, if only because it passes and, therefore, ceases to be pleasure. Any need is satisfied only certain time, and then declares itself again and again, and with renewed vigor. In our pursuit of pleasure, we are like drug addicts: we get some pleasure, it soon passes, we need the next dose of pleasure - but it also passes ... But we need this pleasure, our whole life is built on this. Moreover, the more we get pleasure, the more we want again, because. Needs always grow in proportion to the degree to which they are satisfied.. All this is similar to the life of a drug addict, with the only difference being that the drug addict is chasing the drug, and we are chasing various other pleasures. It also resembles a donkey running after a carrot tied in front: we want to catch it, but we can’t catch up ... It is unlikely that any of us consciously want to be like such a donkey.
So, if you think seriously, it is obvious that pleasure cannot be the meaning of life. It is quite natural that a person who considers his goal in life to receive pleasure sooner or later comes to a serious spiritual crisis. For example, in the US, about 45% of people take antidepressants despite high level life.
We consume, we consume, we consume… and we live as if we will consume forever. However, death is ahead of us - and this is reliably known to everyone.
Now over your coffin they can say this: “What a rich lifeN lived! We, his relatives, have not seen him for months. Today he is in Paris, tomorrow in Bombay. One could only envy such a life. How many pleasures he had in his life! He was truly lucky, a darling of fate! HowN changed cars and, sorry, wives! His house was and remains a full bowl "...
Open one eye and take a look at the world you have left. Do you think you lived your life the way you should?
The meaning of life is the achievement of power
It's no secret that there are people who live to increase their power over others. This is how Nietzsche tried to explain the meaning of life. He said that the meaning of human life is in the pursuit of power. True, the very history of his life (madness, heavy death, poverty) began to refute this statement during his lifetime ...
Power-hungry people see the point in proving to themselves and others that they can rise above others, to achieve what others could not. Well, what is this meaning? That a person can have an office, appoint and dismiss, take bribes, make important decisions? Is this the point? In order to gain and retain power, they earn money, seek and maintain the necessary business connections, and do many other things, often overstepping their conscience...
In our opinion, in such a situation, power is also a kind of drug, from which a person receives unhealthy pleasure and without which he can no longer, and which requires a constant increase in the “dose” of power.
Is it reasonable to see the meaning of your life in the exercise of power over people? On the threshold of life and death, looking back, a person will understand that he has lived all his life in vain, that for which he lived, leaves him, and he is left with nothing. Hundreds of thousands had enormous, and sometimes even incredible power (think of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler). But at one point they lost it. So what?
Power has not made anyone immortal yet. After all, what happened to Lenin is far from immortality. Is it great joy to become after death a stuffed animal and an object of curiosity of the crowd, like a monkey in a zoo?
There are many armed guards at your funeral. Investigating glances. They fear a terrorist attack. Yes, you yourself did not die a natural death. Guests, dressed in black with a needle, look alike. The one who “ordered” you is also here, expressing condolences to the widow. In a well-trained voice, someone reads from a piece of paper: “... Life is always in sight, although it is constantly surrounded by guards. Many people envied him, he had many enemies. This is inevitable given the scale of leadership, the scale of power thatN... Such a person will be very difficult to replace, but we hope thatThe NN appointed to this post will continue what he startedN…”
If you heard this, would you understand that you did not live in vain?
The meaning of life is the multiplication of material wealth
The 19th century English philosopher John Mill saw the meaning of human life in achieving profit, benefit, and success. It must be said that Mill's philosophy was the target of ridicule by almost all of his contemporaries. Until the 20th century, Mill's ideas were exotic views that were not supported by almost anyone. And in the last century, the situation has changed. Many people believed that there was a meaning to this illusion. Why in illusion?
Now many people think that a person lives in order to earn money. It is in increasing wealth (and not in the pleasure of spending it, as we discussed above) that they see the meaning of their lives.
It is very strange. If everything that can be bought with money is not meaning - pleasure, memory, power, then how can money itself be meaning? After all, not a single penny, not billions of dollars can not be used after death.
A rich funeral will be little consolation. The dead body is not relieved by the softness of the upholstery of an expensive coffin. Dead eyes are indifferent to the shine of an expensive hearse.
And again the cemetery. Location next to the famous. The grave site has already been tiled. The cost of a coffin could have taught a poor young man at the university. A cloud of mutual hatred swirls over a group of relatives: not everyone is happy with the division of the inheritance. Even in admiring speeches hidden gloating slips through: “N was the chosen man. An alloy of luck, will and perseverance helped him achieve such success in business. I think if he had lived another 3 years, we would have seen his name in the list of the largest billionaires of Forbes magazine. We, who had known him for many years, could only watch with admiration how high our friend soared…”
If you break the silence of death for a moment, what would you say to that?
There will be something to remember in old age
Some say: “Yes, of course, when you are on your deathbed, everything loses its meaning. But at least there was something to remember! For example, many countries, fun parties, a good and satisfying life, etc.” Let's honestly analyze this version of the meaning of life - to live only in order to have something to remember before death.
For example, we had a well-fed, full of impressions, rich and cheerful life. And at the last line we can remember the whole past. Will it bring joy? No, it won't. It will not bring because this good has already passed, and time cannot be stopped. Joy can only be obtained in the present from what has been done really good for others. Because in this case, what you did lives on. The world remains to live, with the good that you have done for it. But to feel the joy of what you pleased yourself with - went to resorts, threw money, had power, satisfied your vanity and pride - will not work. It will not work because you are mortal, and soon there will be no memories of this. All this will die.
What joy for the hungry is that he once had the opportunity to overeat? No joy, but on the contrary, pain. After all, the contrast between the good “before” and the terribly bad and hungry “today” and no “tomorrow” at all is visible too well.
For example, an alcoholic cannot be glad that he drank a lot yesterday. He's just sick of it today. And he can't remember yesterday's vodka and thus get a hangover. He needs her now. And real, not in memories.
During this temporary life, we can have many things that we think are good. But we can take nothing with us from this life, except the soul.
For example, we went to the bank. And we are given the opportunity to come to the bank vault and take any amount of money. We can hold as much money as we want in our hands, fill our pockets, fall into piles of this money, throw it, sprinkle it on ourselves, but ... we cannot go beyond the bank vault with it. These are the conditions. Tell me, that you held innumerable sums in your hands, but what will it give you when you leave the bank?
Separately, I would like to give an argument for people who want to commit suicide. To you, as to no one else, the futility of good memories should be obvious. And you have had good times in your life. But now, remembering them, you do not feel better.
ONE OF THE OBJECTIVES OF LIFE, BUT NOT THE MEANING
The meaning of life is life for the sake of loved ones
Very often it seems to us that life for the sake of loved ones is precisely the main meaning. Many people see the meaning of their lives in close person, in a child, spouse, less often - a parent. They often say this: “I live for him”, they live not their own, but his life.
Of course, to love your loved ones, to sacrifice something for them, to help you go through life - this is necessary, natural and right. Most people on earth want to live, getting joy from the family, raising children, taking care of parents and friends.
But can this be the main meaning of life?
No, to idolize loved ones, to see only meaning in them all life, all your affairs - this is a dead end path.
This can be understood with a simple metaphor. A person who sees the whole meaning of his life in a loved one is like a football (or other sports) fan. A fan is no longer just a fan, this is a person who lives for sports, lives for the successes and failures of the team he is a fan of. He says so: “my team”, “we lost”, “we have prospects” ... He identifies himself with the players on the field: he seems to be chasing a soccer ball himself, he rejoices in their victory as if it were his victory . Often they say this: “Your victory is my victory!” And on the contrary, he perceives the defeat of his favorites extremely painfully, as a personal failure. And if for some reason he is deprived of the opportunity to watch a match with the participation of “his” club, he feels as if he was deprived of oxygen, as if life itself passes him by ... From the outside, this fan looks ridiculous, his behavior and attitude to life seems inadequate and even just stupid. But don't we look similar when we see the meaning of our whole life in another person?
It’s easier to be a fan than to play sports yourself: it’s easier to watch a match on TV, sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer, or at the stadium surrounded by noisy friends, than to run around the field for the ball yourself. Here you cheer for “your own” - and it seems that you yourself have already played football ... There is an identification of a person with those for whom he cheers, and this suits a person: there is no need to train, waste time and effort, you can take a passive position and at the same time get a lot of strong emotions, almost the same as if he himself went in for sports. But no costs, inevitable for the athlete himself.
We do the same if the meaning of our life is another person. We identify ourselves with him, we live not our lives, but his. We rejoice not in our own, but exclusively in his joys, sometimes we even forget about the most important needs of our soul for the sake of the petty everyday needs of a loved one. And we do it for the same reason: because it's easier. It is easier to build someone else's life and correct other people's shortcomings than to take care of your soul and work on it. It is easier to take the position of a fan, to “cheer” for your loved one, without working on yourself, simply giving up on your spiritual life, on the development of your soul.
Nevertheless, any person is mortal, and if he has become the meaning of your life, then having lost him, you will almost inevitably lose the desire to live on. A most serious crisis will come, out of which you can only find a different meaning. You can, of course, "switch" to another person, and now live for him. Often people do this, because. they are accustomed to such a symbiotic relationship and simply do not know how to live differently. Thus, a person is constantly in an unhealthy psychological dependence from another, and he cannot be cured of it, because he does not understand that he is ill.
Transferring the meaning of our life to the life of another person, we lose ourselves, completely dissolve in another - the same mortal person as we are. We sacrifice for the sake of this person, who also will not necessarily someday be gone. Once at the last line, do not we ask ourselves: what did we live for? They spent their whole soul on the temporary, on something that death would swallow up without a trace, they created an idol for themselves from a loved one, in fact, they lived not their own, but his fate ... Is it worth devoting your life to this?
Some live not someone else's, but their own life with the hope that they can leave an inheritance to their loved ones, material values, status, etc. Only we know well that this is not always good. Unearned values can corrupt, descendants may remain ungrateful, something may happen to the descendants themselves and the thread will break. In this case, it turns out that living only for others, the person himself lived his life without meaning.
The meaning of life is work, creativity
“The most precious thing for a person is life. And it is necessary to live it in such a way that it would not be excruciatingly painful for the aimlessly lived years, so that, dying, I could say: all my life and all my strength were given to the most beautiful thing in the world - the struggle for the liberation of mankind.
(Nikolai Ostrovsky)
Another common answer to the question about the meaning of life is work, creativity, some kind of "business of life". Everyone knows the common formula for a "successful" life - to give birth to a child, build a house, plant a tree. As for the child, we briefly discussed this above. What about "house and tree"?
If we see the meaning of our existence in any occupation, even if it is useful for society, in creativity, in work, then we, being thinking people, sooner or later we will think about the question: “What will happen to all this when I die? And of what use will all this be to me when I lie dying?” After all, we all perfectly understand that neither a house nor a tree is eternal, they will not stand even for several hundred years ... And those activities to which we devoted all our time, all our strength - if they did not bring benefit to our soul, did they have do they make sense? We will not take any fruits of our labor with us to the grave - neither works of art, nor gardens of trees planted by us, nor our most ingenious scientific developments, nor favorite books, nor power, nor the largest bank accounts ...
Isn't that what Solomon was talking about, looking back at the sunset of his life at all his great achievements, which were the deeds of his life? “I, the Ecclesiastes, was king over Israel in Jerusalem… I undertook great deeds: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself, I made gardens and groves for myself, and planted in them all sorts of fruitful trees; he made himself reservoirs to irrigate from them groves that grow trees; I bought myself servants and maids, and I had households; I also had more herds and flocks than all those who were before me in Jerusalem; collected for himself silver and gold and jewels from kings and regions; he got singers and female singers and delights of the sons of men - various musical instruments. And I became great and richer than all who were before me in Jerusalem; and my wisdom has been with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not refuse them, did not forbid my heart any joy, because my heart rejoiced in all my labors, and this was my share of all my labors. And I looked back at all my works that my hands had done, and at the labor that I labored in doing them: and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of the spirit, and they are of no use under the sun!(Eccl. 1, 12; 2, 4-11).
The "works of life" are different. For one, the business of life is service to culture, another is service to the people, the third is service to science, and the fourth is service for the sake of a "bright future for descendants", as he understands it.
The author of the epigraph, Nikolai Ostrovsky, selflessly served the "cause of life", served the "red" literature, the cause of Lenin and dreamed of communism. courageous man, a hard-working and talented writer, a convinced ideological warrior, he lived "the struggle for the liberation of mankind", gave his life and all his strength to this struggle. Not many years have passed, and we do not see this liberated humanity. Again he was enslaved, the property of this free humanity, divided among themselves by the oligarchs. Selflessness and ideology, sung by Ostrovsky, is now a target for the ridicule of the masters of life. It turns out that he lived for the sake of a bright future, raised people with his creativity to a feat, and now these feats are used by those who do not care about Ostrovsky and the people. And this can happen with any "business of life." Even if it helps generations of other people (how many of us are able to do so much for humanity?), it still cannot help the person himself. After death, this will not be a consolation for him.
LIFE IS A TRAIN TO ANYWHERE?
Here is an excerpt from Yulia Ivanova's wonderful book "Dense Doors". In this book, a young man, a darling of fate, Ganya, who lives in the godless times of the USSR, has a good education, successful parents, perspectives, thinks about the meaning of life: “Ganya was surprised to find that modern humanity does not really think about this. Naturally, no one wants global catastrophes, nuclear or ecological, but in general we go and go ... Some still believe in progress, although with the development of civilization the probability of flying down a nuclear, ecological or other derailment increases greatly. Others would be happy to turn the locomotive back and make all sorts of bright plans about this, but the majority just goes in an unknown direction, knowing only one thing - sooner or later they will throw you out of the train. Forever and ever. And he will rush himself further, the train of suicide bombers. A death sentence weighs on everyone, hundreds of generations have already succeeded each other, and neither escape nor hide. The judgment is final and not subject to appeal. And passengers try to behave as if they have to go forever. They get comfortable in the compartment, change the rugs, curtains, get to know each other, give birth to children - so that the offspring will occupy your compartment when they throw you out. A kind of illusion of immortality! Children, in turn, will be replaced by grandchildren, grandchildren by great-grandchildren... Poor humanity! The train of life that became the train of death. The dead who have already descended are hundreds of times more than the living. Yes, and they, living, are sentenced. Here are the steps of the guide - they came for someone. Is it not for you? Feast in Time of Plague. They eat, drink, have fun, play cards, chess, collect match labels, stuff suitcases, although they demand “without things” to leave. And others are making touching plans for the reconstruction of the compartment, their car or even the entire train. Or the carriage goes to war against carriage, compartment against compartment, shelf against shelf, in the name of the happiness of future passengers. Millions of lives are derailed ahead of schedule, and the train rushes on. And these same crazy passengers are merrily slaughtering a goat on the suitcases of beautiful-hearted dreamers.
This is such a gloomy picture that opened up to young Ghana after long reflections on the meaning of life. It turned out that every life goal turns into the greatest injustice and nonsense. Make up your mind and disappear.
Waste your life to do good to future passengers and make room for them? Handsomely! But they are also mortal, these future passengers. All mankind consists of mortals, which means that your life is dedicated to death. And if one of the people reaches immortality, is immortality right on the bones of millions?
Okay, let's take the consumer society. The most ideal option - I give according to my abilities, I receive according to my needs. There may be, of course, the most terrible needs, and abilities, too ... To live in order to live. Eat, drink, have fun, give birth, go to the theater or go to the races... Leave behind a mountain of empty bottles, worn-out shoes, dirty glasses, sheets burnt by a cigarette...
Well, if you put aside the extremes ... Get on the train, sit in your seat, behave decently, do whatever you want, just don’t interfere with other passengers, give the lower shelves to the ladies and old people, don’t smoke in the car. Before you leave for good, hand over your bedding to the conductor and turn off the lights.
Everything ends in zero anyway. The meaning of life is not found. The train is going nowhere...
As you understand, as soon as we begin to look at the meaning of life from the point of view of its finiteness, our illusions begin to rapidly disappear. We begin to understand that what seemed to us the meaning at some stages of life cannot become the meaning of the existence of all life.
But doesn't it make sense? No, he is. And known for a long time thanks to Bishop Augustine. It was Blessed Augustine who made the greatest revolution in philosophy, explained, proved and substantiated the existence of the meaning that we are looking for in life.
To quote the International Philosophical Journal: “Thanks to the philosophical views of Blessed. Augustine, Christian religious teachings make it possible to make logical and complete constructions for finding the meaning of human existence. In Christian philosophy, the question of faith in God is the main condition for the existence of the meaning of life. At the same time, in materialistic philosophy, where human life is finite and there is nothing beyond its threshold, the very existence of a condition for solving this issue becomes impossible, and unsolvable problems arise in full growth”
Let's try to find the meaning of life in another plane. Try to understand what will be written below. We do not aim to impose our point of view on you, but only give information that can answer so many of your questions.
THE MEANING OF LIFE: WHERE IT IS
“He who knows his own meaning sees his purpose.
The purpose of man is to be a vessel and instrument of the Divine.
(Ignatius Brianchaninov )
Was the meaning of life known before us?
If you look for the meaning of life among the above, then it is impossible to find it. And it is not surprising that, trying to find it there, a person despairs and comes to the conclusion that there is no point. In fact, he's just not looking there...
Metaphorically, the search for meaning can be depicted as follows. A person who seeks meaning and does not find it is like lost traveler, caught in a ravine and looking for the right path. He wanders among the dense, thorny, tall bushes growing in the ravine, and there he tries to find a way out to the road from which he has strayed, to the path that will lead him to his goal.
But in this way it is impossible to find the right path. You must first get out of the ravine, climb the mountain - and from there, from above, you can see the right path. Likewise, we, who are looking for the meaning of life, first need to change our point of view, because we cannot see anything from the pit of a hedonistic worldview. Without the application of certain efforts, we will never get out of this hole, and certainly we will never find the right path to comprehend life.
So, to understand the true, deep meaning of life is possible only by working hard, only by acquiring some necessary knowledge. And this knowledge, which is most surprising, is available to each of us. We simply do not pay attention to these wells of knowledge, we pass them by, not noticing or contemptuously dismissing them. But the question of the meaning of life has been raised by mankind at all times. All people of previous generations faced exactly the same problems that we face. There has always been betrayal, envy, emptiness of the soul, despair, deceit, betrayal, troubles, disasters and illnesses. And people were able to rethink and deal with it. And we can use the colossal experience that previous generations have accumulated. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel - it has actually been invented a long time ago. We just have to learn how to ride it. Still, we can’t think of anything better and more ingenious.
Why do we, when it comes to scientific developments, advances in medicine, useful inventions that make our life easier, a variety of practical knowledge in one or another professional field etc. - we widely use the experience and discoveries of our ancestors, and in matters as important as the meaning of life, the existence and immortality of the soul - we consider ourselves smarter than all previous generations, and proudly (often with contempt) reject their knowledge, their experience, and more often we reject everything in advance, without even studying and without trying to understand? Is it reasonable?
Doesn’t the following seem more reasonable: to study the experience and achievements of ancestors, or at least get acquainted with them, reflect, and only then draw a conclusion for yourself whether the previous generations were right or not, whether their experience can be useful to us, whether it is worth shall we learn their wisdom? Why do we reject their knowledge without even trying to penetrate? Is it because it's the easiest?
Indeed, in order to say that our ancestors thought primitively, and we are much smarter and more progressive than them, a great mind is not needed. It is very easy to say unfoundedly. And to study the wisdom of previous generations without difficulty will not work. You must first get acquainted with their experience, their knowledge, let their philosophy of life pass through you, try to live in accordance with it for at least a few days, and then evaluate what this approach to life brings in fact- joy or longing, hope or despair, peace of mind or confusion, light or darkness. And even then a person will be able to judge with full right whether the meaning that his ancestors saw in their lives was true.
Life is like a school
And what, in fact, did our ancestors see the meaning of life? After all, this question has been raised by mankind for centuries.
The answer has always been in self-development, in educating a person of himself, his eternal soul, and in bringing it closer to God. This is how Christians, Buddhists and Muslims thought. Everyone recognized the existence of the immortality of the soul. And then the conclusion seemed quite logical: if the soul is immortal, and the body is mortal, then it is unreasonable (and even simply stupid) to devote your short life to serving the body, its pleasures. Because the body dies, it means that it is pointless to put all your strength into satisfying its needs. (Which, in fact, is confirmed in our day by desperate materialists who have come to the brink of suicide.)
So, the meaning of life, our ancestors believed, should be sought in the good not for the body, but for the soul. After all, she is immortal, and she can enjoy the acquired good forever. And who wouldn't want eternal pleasure?
However, in order for the soul to be able to enjoy not only here, on earth, it is necessary to educate, educate, elevate it, otherwise it will not be able to contain the boundless joy that is prepared for it.
That's why life is possible, in particular, imagine as a school. This simple metaphor helps to get closer to understanding life. Life is a school where a person comes to train his soul. it the main objective school visits. Yes, the school has a lot of other things besides the lessons: breaks, communication with classmates, football after school, extracurricular activities- visits to theaters, hiking, holidays ... However, all this is secondary. Yes, perhaps it would be more pleasant if we came to school only to run, chat, take a walk in the school yard ... But then we would not learn anything, we would not receive a certificate, we would not be able to receive further education, nor work.
So we come to school to learn. But in and of itself, studying for the sake of studying is also meaningless. We study to gain knowledge, skills and get a certificate, and then go to work and live. If we assume that after graduation there will be NOTHING else, then attending school, of course, makes no sense. And no one argues with this. But in reality, life goes on after school, and school is just one of its stages. And on how responsibly we treated our education at school, the “quality” of our subsequent life largely depends. A person who leaves school, believing that he does not need the knowledge taught in it at all, will remain illiterate and uneducated, and this will interfere with him throughout his future life.
Just as stupidly, to the detriment of himself, a person acts who, having come to school, immediately rejects all the knowledge accumulated before him, without even getting acquainted with them; claims that he does not believe them, that all the discoveries made before him are nonsense. The comicality and absurdity of such a self-confident rejection of all accumulated knowledge is obvious to everyone.
But not everyone, unfortunately, is aware of the even greater absurdity of a similar rejection in a situation where we are talking about understanding the deep foundations of life. But our earthly life is also a school - school for the soul. It was given to us in order to educate our soul, to teach it to truly love, to teach it to see the good in the world around us, to create it.
On the path of self-development and self-education, we will inevitably encounter difficulties, just as schooling cannot always be easy. Each of us is well aware that any more or less responsible business is connected with different kind difficulties, and it would be strange to expect such a serious matter as the education and education of the soul to be easy. But these problems, trials are also needed for something - they themselves are a very important factor in the development of the soul. And if we do not teach our soul to love, to strive for light and goodness, while we are still living on earth, then it will not be able to receive endless pleasure in eternity, simply because it incapable will receive kindness and love.
Elder Paisius Svyatogorets said wonderfully: “This century is not to live happily ever after, but to pass exams and move on to another life. Therefore, the following goal should stand before us: prepare so that when God calls us, go away with a clear conscience, soar to Christ and be with Him always.
Life as preparation for birth into a new reality
One more metaphor can be given in this context. During pregnancy, the unborn baby's body grows from a single cell to a fully formed human being. And the main task prenatal period - in that the development of the child goes correctly and to the end, so that by the time of birth the child takes the correct position and can be born in new life.
Nine months in the womb is also in a sense whole life. The child is born there, develops, he feels good there in his own way - food arrives on time, the temperature is constant, he is reliably protected from exposure external factors… Nevertheless, at a certain time the child has to be born; no matter how good it seems to him in his mother’s stomach, in a new life such joys await him, such events that are simply incomparable with the seeming convenience of intrauterine existence. And in order to get into this life, the baby goes through serious stress (which is childbirth), experiences unprecedented pain ... But the joy of meeting with his mother and with the new world is stronger than this pain, and life in the world is a million times more interesting, more pleasant more diverse than existence in the womb.
Our life on earth is similar - it can be likened to the period of intrauterine existence. The purpose of this life is the development of the soul, the preparation of the soul for birth into a new, incomparably more beautiful life in eternity. And just as in the case of a newborn baby, the “quality” of the new life in which we find ourselves directly depends on how correctly we developed in the “past” life. And those sorrows that we meet on life path, can be likened to the stress experienced by an infant during childbirth: they are temporary, although sometimes they seem endless; they are inevitable, and everyone goes through them; they are nothing compared to the joy and enjoyment of a new life.
Or another example: the task of a caterpillar is to develop to such an extent that later it becomes a beautiful butterfly. To do this, you must comply with certain laws. The caterpillar cannot imagine that it will fly and how it will be. This is a birth into a new life. And this life is fundamentally different from the life of a mundane caterpillar.
Life as a business project
Another metaphor that explains the meaning of life is the following:
Imagine that a kind person gave you an interest-free loan so that you could carry out your own business project and, with his help, be able to earn money for future life. The term of the loan is equal to the term of your earthly life. The better you invest this money, the richer and more comfortable your life will be at the end of the project.
One will invest a loan in the business, and the other will start eating up this money, having drunken parties, parties, but just not working on multiplying this amount. In order not to think and not work, he will find a bunch of reasons and excuses - “no one loves me”, “I am weak”, “why make money for a future life, if you don’t know what will happen there, it’s better to live now, and it will be seen there” and .t.p. Naturally, friends immediately appear who want to spend this loan with a person (it’s not for them to answer later). They convince him that there is no need to repay the debt, that the One who gave the loan does not exist (or that the fate of the debtor is indifferent to Him). They convince that if there is a loan, then it should be spent on a good and fun real life and not for the future. If a person agrees with them, then the party begins. As a result, a person comes to bankruptcy. The term to repay the loan is approaching, but it is wasted, and nothing has been earned.
Now, God gives us this credit. Credit itself is our talents, mental and physical abilities, spiritual qualities, health, favorable circumstances, external assistance.
Look, don't we look like gamers who spend money on a momentary passion? Haven't we played? Do not our "games" cause us suffering and fear? And who are those “friends” who are so actively pushing us to skip this loan? And these are our enemies - demons. They themselves disposed of their talents, their angelic qualities in the worst possible way. And they want the same for us. The most desirable alignment for them is if a person does not just skip this loan with them, and then suffer for it, but if a person simply gives them this loan. We know many examples when, by manipulating weak people, bandits deprived them of housing, money, inheritance, left them homeless. The same thing happens with those who live their lives in vain.
Should this horror continue? Isn't it time to think about what we have earned and how much time we have left for the implementation of our project.
Often suicidal people scold God for not getting what they want, that it is difficult to live, that there is no understanding, etc.
But don't you think that God cannot be blamed for the fact that we simply do not know how to earn, to properly invest what He has given, that we do not know the laws by which we must live in order to prosper?
Agree that it is rather stupid to continue to skip what is given, and even blame the creditor. Maybe it's better to think about how to fix the situation? And our Lender will always help us with this. He does not act like a Jewish usurer, sucking all the juice out of the debtor, but credits from Love to us.
( Pobedish.ru 177 votes : 3.79 out of 5)
Psychologist Mikhail Khasminsky, Olga Pokalyukhina |