Every person, at least once in his life, has asked the question: “What is the meaning of life? Why do I live and what is my role in this universe? Indeed, the question of the meaning of life has worried humanity for many centuries and gives rise to a number of disputes and contradictions among mere mortals, ancient Greek philosophers and modern thinkers. Various opinions, ideas, assumptions are expressed, but it is impossible to give a definite answer to this question, because each individual has his own values, tries to set priorities correctly, choosing something more important for himself.
Socrates
The Athenian philosopher Socrates saw his purpose in encouraging people to search for truth. He saw the meaning of life precisely in the purification, treatment and development of his soul, because accumulated wealth cannot replace virtuous deeds. Even in the face of death, the ancient Greek thinker did not renounce his views and adhered to them until the very end.
Jacques-Louis David. "The Death of Socrates"
Completing any task requires motivation
Before we begin solving any problem, we must ask ourselves the question: why do we need this, why do we want to achieve one or the other?
That is, we must motivate both setting a goal and our desire to achieve it.
This is especially true for long-term tasks.
One of the most important motivators is interest in the business. We must always try to understand more deeply what we are doing, seek advice from knowledgeable people, and study the relevant literature.
All this will contribute to the development of sustainable motivation for our actions. Work will become easier and more interesting, and even turn into an activity for us that we will value above all else.
You shouldn’t forget about this when you take on self-improvement. You need to understand in advance what you will achieve as a result, for example, of physical training or learning languages.
Only after this start self-improvement. When executing a plan, think about the consequences of its implementation. This also contributes to the development of appropriate motivation.
Satisfaction with life depends on our attitude towards it. We either notice only the negative around us, and therefore are always dissatisfied with something, or, on the contrary, we notice first of all the positive, and thanks to this we find in life a lot of interesting, joyful, bringing pleasure and joy.
If it seems to you that you only meet unpleasant people in your life, uninteresting work, unlikable people, etc., then it depends on you.
In every person, in every event, in any work, if you want, you can always find something interesting, and, conversely, if you want, only negative.
You can rejoice at a good sunny day, which has come after a long cloudy period, after rains and downpours, and you can swear that the heat is bothering you and the sun is hitting your eyes.
You can be happy with the work you have completed or be horrified in advance that after this work another one awaits you.
In conclusion, we emphasize: in everything you do, try to motivate accordingly. Only then will you achieve that your work will interest you or even delight you and you will do it with pleasure.
Aristotle
The encyclopedist scientist and philosopher Aristotle saw the meaning of life in achieving happiness, that is, in realizing the essence of man. And happiness itself consists of mental benefits, such as a desire for knowledge, mastering various skills and abilities, the opportunity to love and be loved and to have family and friends nearby. However, in the pursuit of one’s happiness, one cannot ignore the interests of others, which is why, according to Aristotle, for a decent life, justice is also necessary.
Bust of Aristotle. Roman copy of a Greek bronze original (after 330 BC). Original author: Lysippos
Plato also revealed the essence of the question that interests us. The philosopher believed that the meaning of life lies in self-improvement. It is necessary to develop yourself physically, mentally, spiritually and mentally. The ability to control your feelings and emotions, strengthen your body, and comprehend science - these are the main aspects of improvement. The thoughts of the great ancient Greek philosopher turned out to be the most important achievement of antiquity.
How to balance your own self and create a self-development plan
When we have clarified and clarified our life goals, they must be compared with our real capabilities.
To do this, you first need to balance your “I” in writing.
Then, in accordance with the facts obtained, adjust your goals and develop a development plan.
So, pick up a pencil and paper and write down your strengths and weaknesses.
You need to evaluate mental abilities, character, health, relationships with people, attitude to life, education and self-education, interests and hobbies, etc.
Let's look at the list-evaluation of individual characteristics of our personality in accordance with different areas of life.
Then, based on these assessments and our goals, we will think about what properties, abilities and skills we should develop in ourselves, and which ones, on the contrary, we should gradually get rid of, when we start this and how.
Think carefully about how you would like to express yourself in life: what you are passionate about, what you want to achieve at work and in relationships with people, how to maintain or improve your health, what kind of family you want, etc.
Determine what points you need to pay attention to first, and what can be postponed until later. Set deadlines for completing key tasks.
Individual items of the balance sheet and plan would be worth detailing. For example, it is better to consider a character based on a list of its main traits. You can analyze in more detail your ability to deal with people, self-education, interests, and physical development.
Such expanded clauses should be set out on separate pages.
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes, a French philosopher and sociologist, believed that the main thing in life is the principle of moderation, according to which one should not rush to extremes, make hasty decisions, it is necessary to think everything over rationally and find the right path. According to his philosophy, the old is easy to destroy, but before doing this, you need to think about the consequences. The natural scientist respected the traditions and customs of various peoples, this speaks of his high moral qualities. Descartes' life rule stated the desire to change, first of all, oneself, and not the world around him. After all, man is the highest mind, and only he can control his thoughts and rule over them.
Rene Descartes. Author Franz Hals
Drawing up a plan for your development
- Based on an analysis of your own personality, clarify your goals;
- Determine the goals that are of paramount importance;
- They must meet your capabilities, qualifications, abilities, and available time;
- Determine the sequence of work, the methods used to achieve the goal;
- Divide all tasks into stages and determine the deadline for completing each of them;
- Monitor the implementation of intermediate stages;
- After solving any task, analyze it and note what you did well and what you did poorly.
Arthur Schopenhauer
The 19th century German philosopher, misanthrope Arthur Schopenhauer wrote that people are driven by someone else’s will, and a person cannot independently control his destiny, his will is determined. Life for him is hell, in which a fool follows universal pleasures, committing sins, and ultimately comes to disappointment, and a wise man limits his pleasures and sets a limit to his desires, thereby avoiding troubles. Human life, according to Schopenhauer, consists of a constant struggle with death and suffering, from which it is impossible to get rid of.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Plan and execution
In order to carry out a plan, you must first of all think it over well, and write down individual points in detail.
For example, how will you improve your fitness, master the desired profession, where will you start improving your health, etc.
This means that you will receive the widest possible information about this subject: for example, about the profession, find out which of your friends can help you with advice, where you can start studying it, etc.
If you want to improve your fitness, then you need to systematically train according to the program. It will be much better when you formulate your intentions on paper.
Jean-Paul Sartre
The representative of atheistic existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, viewed human existence as a meaningful, free activity. However, in the sphere of labor economic participation, a person does not belong to himself, he does not lead an authentic existence. Life itself, according to Sartre, is a consistent chain of self-denials in which freedom is realized, and it is precisely this that is the only basis for the value and non-value of human actions. Freedom places unconditional responsibility on society, as a result of which it is expressed in a critical attitude towards the world and people.
Jean-Paul Sartre. By Moshe Milner.
How to achieve success
Most experts agree that the person who succeeds is the one who already has some success.
And this is quite natural, since he believes in himself, in his strength. For him, every small success is a stepping stone to the next, larger one.
Anyone who has not experienced any success does not have such opportunities. This is evident from the first years of schooling.
Students who achieve good results in their studies successfully graduate from school, but those who have not experienced success, who do not believe in themselves, generally resign themselves to their role as underachievers and with great difficulty “crawl” from class to class, and often end up out school.
Therefore, the task of teachers is to give weak students the opportunity to feel success and self-confidence.
The thing you succeed in itself is not as important as the fact that you succeeded. This gives you self-confidence and faith in your strength.
Therefore, try to remember past success more often and, most importantly, remember the feelings that you experienced at the same time.
This creates a certain “success habit”. With each subsequent success, remember the previous ones and thus strengthen your sense of self-confidence.
Learn more from your successes than from your failures. Of course, when analyzing any completed case, you must find out where you did the right thing and where you made a mistake.
Once you realize your mistakes, try to avoid them in the future. But this is where thoughts of failure should end.
Do a better job of analyzing the methodology for completing successfully completed tasks in order to protect yourself from failures in the future.
And of course, you have to love what you do and move forward step by step.
Inspiration is a necessary thing, but no amount of inspiration will help if, having taken on some business, we do not persistently move forward in it, step by step.
We will definitely fail, and this will discourage any endeavor at all.
For example, this is how weightlifters train. They lift a light weight at first and then gradually increase it by adding plate after plate to the bar. You should do the same.
Do not overestimate your strengths and abilities, otherwise you will be disappointed and lose faith in the future.
Develop the habit of responding to failures and troubles with optimism.
In an annoying situation, don’t give up; on the contrary, actively look for a way out of it.
After some time, such activity in difficult situations, as well as when solving problems, will become natural for you. The habit will begin to work so that when you find yourself in a similar situation again, you will automatically take a proactive position.
And vice versa, the one who in such a situation lost faith in his own strength, was passive, will behave the same way in the future in similar circumstances. All problems seem smaller once we stand up to them and try harder to solve them.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein is an Austrian philosopher and logician of the 20th century, perhaps one of the most incomprehensible and mysterious thinkers. He considered the main task of philosophy to be the clarification of language. He also wrote that everything that happens in personal life can be important, but life itself has no meaning different from these things. Indeed, personal life has meaning in the form of events, actions and results that occur throughout a person's journey. Everything that happens to us is important to our loved ones, the people who love us, it is thanks to them that we feel needed.
Ludwig Wittgenstein. By Moritz Nähr. Austrian National Library
The question of the meaning of life worried not only ancient Greek philosophers, French and German thinkers, but also the sages of China and India.
What to do to successfully implement plans and goals
The completion of a task for which a deadline is set must be monitored.
Therefore, when starting work on self-improvement, set tasks for yourself in such a way that they are not too large, but not too small.
The main thing is that you do not undertake to improve all aspects of your life at the same time, which would be extremely difficult. The inability to achieve everything at once.
Such attempts will only negate the fervor with which you took up the work. In less than a week you will be disappointed and give up on your endeavors.
However, this should not be done. Look at things soberly.
First, set yourself one task, and an urgent one. When you see that you can handle one or two more, gradually expand your plans.
Start implementing the plan quickly so that in the state of enthusiasm that covers you at first, you can cope with as much work as possible.
Don't forget that daily tasks usually stand in the way of its implementation. Therefore, set and complete tasks that are partial and subordinate to the main thing. This will keep you confident in your abilities.
Balancing and reviewing your own tasks will give you the opportunity to look at your life as a whole. Please ensure that the plan covers all areas of life: work, education, leisure, sports, family life, etc.
When making a plan, you must also take into account the circumstances that prevent you from achieving your goals. Therefore, think about whether it is worth adding another column to the written plan: “Expected obstacles.” If you really want to achieve your goal, keep in mind that you will have to sacrifice something else. But make sure that you do not lose something dear to you, although you may not realize its value now (for example, the love of your wife, children, friendship).
Confucius
The ancient thinker and philosopher of China, Confucius, tried to understand the hidden nature of man. He was convinced that material well-being should fade into the background, and the meaning of human life lies in achieving the Tao, and an ethically complete society will arise only in the case of self-sacrifice. Confucius believed that it was necessary to take care of relatives and elders, to respect and love everyone around. Then a society whose attribute is knowledge will be united and capable of rapid and effective development. Moral values and education are an integral part of the formation of the inner world and views of every person.
Confucius
What is the meaning of life - answer
It is impossible to give the only correct answer to the question “what is the meaning of human life on earth,” because the purpose in life, even in philosophy, is considered from several sides, depending on the approach.
It is difficult to briefly describe what the meaning of life is. People have been looking for it for years, based on their life experience, values, lifestyle, thinking, interests, etc. A serious test or shock can force a person to change his life guidelines at any time. Following them, the essence of life will change.
The only thing that can be said for sure is that every person sooner or later asks himself this philosophical question and tries to find his own answer.
Buddha
The founder of religious and philosophical teachings, Buddha, devoted a lot of time to thinking about the purpose and meaning of life. Indian systems are characterized by belief in karma, samsara and moksha. Bad and good deeds committed by people throughout their lives, which have either positive or negative consequences and affect rebirth, are karma. Samsara is an endless sequence of birth and death. A person’s desires are always inexhaustible; to this dissatisfaction should be added the suffering and pain experienced throughout life’s journey. Moksha is liberation from samsara, the opportunity to break out of its circle. Hence the purpose and meaning of life, namely the awareness of the state of dissatisfaction and the beginning of getting rid of all desires.
Buddha
Balance of positive and negative qualities
Before you set a life goal, there are some things you need to do.
Imagine that your family has decided to build a summer house.
First, you need to calculate whether, and if so, when, you will be able to raise the money needed to build it. You must realistically assess your financial situation.
This means comparing your systematic income and expenses, calculating how much money you have saved and how much debt you have. It is also necessary to take into account where and how you can increase income and, conversely, reduce expenses.
In addition, you also need to consider how much time you can devote to construction. What materials are needed and how long it will take to implement the plan.
Only after carrying out such an “inventory” can you begin to implement the plan.
Something similar needs to be done regarding your life goals, desires and plans.
Here you also need to take an “inventory”, but this time of the content of your personality: analyze which positive qualities of yours will help you implement your plans and desires and negative ones that may hinder you.
Which qualities need to be developed or acquired, and which ones need to be eliminated in order to achieve success.
