Agree, the topic is quite interesting, but at the same time, it is very complex and multifaceted. Many people do not understand why they live. Let's say more - some do not even live, but simply exist. It was as if they were put on the boat of life. Floating with the flow from point A to point B, they didn’t really have time to notice anything.
Then, being at the finishing stage, and looking back, they sincerely don’t understand why this, let’s say, journey was even necessary. There are a lot of questions, and all of them have an unpleasant aftertaste. Only there are no answers. It turns out that a person breathed, walked, did something, suffered or rejoiced, worried or was in pain, but what all this was needed for - I still didn’t understand.
In this article:
Question from the point of view of existentialismLogotherapy - as an assistant in answering the questionFrom the abstract to the specificAnswer to the question based on Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri"What is the meaning of life - why do people live
Biological purpose of man
Finding the meaning of human life is a spiritual and philosophical problem. Ideas about the purpose of existence depend on the following factors:
- Lifestyle;
- social status;
- worldview.
If a person’s living conditions are favorable, he sees the meaning of his existence in achieving his own well-being. If he is in a hostile environment, then life loses both value and meaning for him.
When searching for the purpose of existence, one must understand that what is supposed to happen will happen anyway. The most important thing is to learn to interact with reality in the “here and now” program.
Otherwise, there is a great risk of conflict with society and with oneself. Against the background of intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict, problems usually arise, which in 90% of cases are laid in the foundation of subconscious fears.
The problem of the meaning of life in philosophy
Unlike other creatures inhabiting the earth, human life is a set of values. In order to master them, you must:
- decide on the goal;
- decide on funds;
- build life routes;
- start.
The meaning and purpose of a person's life depend on his priorities. For some, the meaning of existence lies in conquering a mountain peak. Some people dream of buying a luxury car. It is vital for someone to become a first-class doctor or scientist and find a cure for cancer.
For some people, the meaning of life is to create a family. In this case, they justify the biological purpose of man, which is to procreate.
How often do we think about why a person is born and lives?
The most carefree time is childhood. During this period, we all run around like crazy around our homesteads, pretending to be pirates, superheroes, robots. Thousands of amazing ideas may swarm in our heads, but there is not a single question about the meaning of life. And why?
And only after crossing the threshold of adolescence does a person begin to look for an answer to it. “Why does a person live? What is its purpose? What is the meaning of my life? - all these questions troubled the hearts of each of us. But some quickly threw them away, switching to more pressing problems, while others, on the contrary, spent their whole lives in search of undeniable truth.
Social function of the individual
People depend on each other to satisfy their individual needs. Against this background, communication and interaction between people is established.
A social function is an assignment to a specific person from society. It depends on the characteristics of the distribution of labor: the teacher is responsible for teaching, the physician is responsible for treatment, the entrepreneur is responsible for organizing production.
Sociologists judge the functions of a particular individual not by what he does or intends to do, but by what consequences for society flow from these actions.
If an individual refuses to perform his functions or the results of his activities have a negative meaning, we are talking about dysfunction.
By fulfilling his functions, a person becomes necessary for others. Against the background of the social division of labor, social statuses and roles are formed. “Cells” appear, each of which is responsible for performing an important social function.
Ancient philosophers and the meaning of life
Aristotle once said: “Knowledge of the soul is the main task of a philosopher, since this can give answers to many questions...” Moreover, he believed that any thinker should look for meaning in everything, since this search is an integral part of ourselves. He taught that it is not enough to accept things as they are, you also need to understand why they are needed in this world.
The German philosopher Georg Hegel was also puzzled by the question of why man lives in this world. He believed that such a desire to know oneself is inherent in us by nature and is our true Self. Moreover, he argued: if you understand what role is assigned to a person, then it will be possible to unravel the purpose of other phenomena of the universe.
Also, do not forget about Plato and his thoughts about why man lives on earth. He was sure: the search for one’s destiny is the highest good for a person. Partly, it was in these searches that his meaning of life was hidden.
What is the meaning of my existence on Earth?
Man is a paradox, often a character incomprehensible to himself. Man must also be seen as a problem - both for himself and for the planet as a whole.
Part of the answer to the question about the meaning of life lies in a person’s worldview - in how he positions himself: is he an animal or is he the king of all living beings on the planet.
When discussing the meaning of human life on earth, it is necessary to answer the following questions:
- Why do you need to live?
- What are life values?
- What is the overall purpose of human life?
You can try to get closer to understanding the purpose of your own existence by finding answers to the questions:
- What would I like to do if I didn't have the fear that I wouldn't succeed?
- What would I want to do so badly that I would even be willing to pay extra if only they would let me do it?
Sometimes a person loses the meaning of life. In this case, he either seeks it or begins to suffer without the absence of a purpose for existence.
The second is more characteristic of people with a neurotic character. Suffering against the background of the disappeared meaning of life is one of the signs of neurotic depression.
Creative individuals are usually not puzzled by the search for the purpose of existence. They create what people need and what they appreciate.
What am I living for?
The purpose of human life on Earth is determined in accordance with the type of personality.
Personal values, imagination and level of intelligence matter. For some, the meaning of life lies in endless advancement on the career ladder, for others - in the search for personal happiness, for others - in immersion in nirvana.
The purpose of existence for people of different value orientations:
- the creator – “this is what I am ready to work tirelessly for”;
- romantic - “this is what I am ready to give my life for”;
- parasite - “my goal is to live for free and not think about anything”;
- consumer - “my goal is to satisfy all my needs.”
The meaning of life of a highly intelligent, energetic person often becomes the meaning of life for others. This applies not only to brilliant scientists or bright charismatics like Che Guevara, but also to good entrepreneurs, as well as representatives of “family” professions.
Age meaning
A person begins to wonder whether there is meaning in life in adolescence. This is a period of rebellion when a boy or girl tries to express his thoughts and feelings.
Teenagers are characterized by such qualities as categoricalness and idealism. Some boys and girls, even while studying at school, come to the idea that life has no meaning. Sometimes this happens after a traumatic event, sometimes fatalistic thoughts are a tribute to fashion.
The purpose of existence of young people largely depends on their upbringing. Major teenagers who grew up in a prosperous family have a consumer mindset in 90% of cases. For them, the meaning of life lies in entertainment.
Tired of idleness, young majors really lose the meaning of life. Considering that finding new goals is always hard work, they cannot restructure their thinking. The result is almost always tragic.
The search for the meaning of life of an ordinary teenager begins after graduation, when he thinks about where he should go and what to devote himself to.
A person seriously begins to search for the essence of his existence after the first disappointments, achievements and losses.
Already in their first year, some people realize that they don’t like studying and that they would like to do something else. Then the meaning of their life at this stage becomes the acquisition of a profession that they really like.
Some start families during their studies. The meaning of life for them is no longer in obtaining a profession, but in giving birth and raising children.
Usually after 30 years people lose interest in what they did before. I.S. Cohn believes that a person, analyzing his own life, understands the unrealization of many plans. Against the backdrop of a revision of values, he realizes that all his goals were wrong. This period is designated by psychologists as a crisis of the meaning of life.
In old age, many people think about death. The meaning of life for religious people is preparation for departure to another world. Persons of an atheistic worldview strive to streamline their affairs. Often the meaning of life for them becomes the realization of an old dream, which they are used to thinking about as something unrealistic.
Examples from the lives of women and men
Based on the following examples from life, we can say with confidence that you cannot look for the meaning of life based on the opinion of society and established stereotypes.
Olga:
“Until I was forty years old, I didn’t think about why I live, and the question of the meaning of human life never bothered me. I was sure that I was living the right life: I had a child, a job, an apartment, and a permanent lover.
The crisis broke out when I was hospitalized with a complex injury. For a long time I could not be diagnosed. Time passed, the treatment was purely symptomatic, and the pain intensified.
In the end, one venerable professor who came from the capital stated with confidence: sarcoma. After that, I suddenly realized that the meaning of a woman’s life is not at all to start a family with an unloved, but “suitable” person... Fortunately, I pulled through, and now I try to live every day as if there is no tomorrow.”
Galina:
“Since childhood, I have been an energetic person, and by the age of 30, the program “Build a house, raise a son and plant a tree” was completed. Then it seemed to me that this was my main purpose.
When my daughter grew up, I devoted all my strength to “raising” her - I paid for education, first in another city, then abroad. I bought her an apartment and a car. When my daughter got married and gave birth to my grandchildren, I thought that my calling was to be a good grandmother. But life together with my daughter’s family did not work out... Now I am busy traveling around the world. Who knows, maybe one day I will find out what the meaning of a person’s life is.”
Vadim:
“I was in a storm until I was 35. Looking at my settled peers, many of whom were already married for the third time and paying alimony to numerous offspring, I realized that, most likely, I would never get married.
I traveled around the country with a guitar at the ready. I had no permanent job, no home, no girlfriend. And then I met my future wife, and I realized that the way I was living was wrong. I still can’t say what the meaning of a man’s life is. But for me personally, it’s about living for the one I love.”
Answer to a question about Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri"
We remind you that the poem, divided into two unequal parts, tells about a highlander boy named Mtsyri, who by chance ended up in a monastery and then fled from it. He was free for only three days. But the whole poem is dedicated to them!
For the author and his main character, these days show the meaning of life - to be free, focusing on your desires and dreams. The author tried to convey that Mtsyri lived only when he was in his home, and in the days after the escape. But staying in the monastery was nothing more than simple existence.
Lermontov also tried to convey that real life is always associated with constant risks and the struggle for survival - this is precisely the moment that can be seen in the poem after the hero’s escape from the monastery.
How to calm down
According to the creator of the doctrine of stress, G. Selye, stress is the aroma and taste of life. It should not be avoided because complete freedom from stress means death.
In order to calm down, you need to learn how to properly organize your rest. Changing activities helps a lot. If a person is engaged in intellectual work, then on the weekend he should go in for sports or go out into nature.
You can also resort to auto-training: “I am completely relaxed, a pleasant warmth spreads throughout my body. My pulse slows down and becomes even. I relax, my pulse is slow.”
You should also get a massage. It helps improve blood circulation and increase muscle tone.
Meditation also helps you calm down
God's plan, or Why do people live on the plan?
You can’t talk about the meaning of life without touching on the topic of religion. After all, all existing beliefs have their own opinion on this issue. Their sacred texts give clear instructions on how one should spend one's life and what is the highest good for a person.
So, let's look at the most common denominations.
- Christianity. According to the New Testament, all people are born to live a righteous life, which will give them a place in heaven. Therefore, their meaning in life is to serve the Lord and also to be merciful to others.
- Islam. Muslims are not too far removed from Christians; their faith is also based on serving God, only this time to Allah. In addition, every true Muslim must spread his faith and fight the “infidels” with all his might.
- Buddhism. If you ask a Buddhist: “Why does a person live?”, he will most likely answer: “To become enlightened.” This is precisely the goal that all followers of Buddha pursue: to purify their minds and move to nirvana.
- Hinduism. Everyone has a divine spark - Atman, thanks to which a person is reborn after death in a new body. And if he behaved well in this life, then at the next rebirth he will become happier or richer. The highest goal of existence is to break the circle of rebirth and indulge in oblivion, which gives pleasure and peace.
Bottom line
Returning to our question: “What is the meaning of human existence?” - the answer is the following: a person must grow as much spiritually as possible during his current life, that is, compact the body of the spirit, for example, with good deeds, deeds, emotions and adjust its surface so that it becomes smooth without holes and depressions.
It is the Spirit that is the invisible observer who accompanies a person throughout his life. All our ups and downs depend on it, since everything we sow is ultimately reaped, and we begin to think and, accordingly, change for the better only when illnesses or problems begin to completely overcome us.
Arthur Schopenhauer's concept
The 19th century saw a surge in thinking about the purpose of human existence. Arthur Schopenhauer's irrational concept offers a new approach to solving this problem. The philosopher believes that the meaning of human life is just an illusion, with the help of which people are saved from the terrible thought of the purposelessness of their existence. In his opinion, the world is governed by absolute will, which is indifferent to the fate of individual people. A person acts under the pressure of circumstances and the will of others, so his existence is a real hell, a chain of continuous suffering, replaced by each other. And in search of meaning in this endless series of suffering, people come up with religion, philosophy, the meaning of life in order to justify their existence and make it at least relatively bearable.
Worldview and mentality: contradictions at the global level
Everything that happens in society as a whole is also not “chaos”, but is subject to certain laws of mass psychology. To the question of why a person needs a person, there is an answer that is more global than our particular, personal cases.
Mentality has a significant influence on each of us: these are the features of worldview, world observation, worldview that have developed in a certain space among a large community of people.
Thus, people born in some Islamic countries have an anal mentality. It is characterized by patriarchy and traditional values: family life, reverence for elders.
In America and Europe there is a skin mentality. He is characterized by rational pragmatism, considerations of utility and benefit. There is a characteristic distance between people. Relations between people within the state are regulated by law and order. But everything outside is perceived as “prey.”
The people of the post-Soviet space also experience the world in their own way: we have a unique, communal-collectivist urethral mentality. It implies the priority of society over the individual. The law is not written to us - you cannot limit the sweeping Russian soul to it. We are regulated only by shame in front of other people. There are no distances between us, such as in the West. With us, everything is personal: a person can wholeheartedly crush your nose in a fight, and half an hour later, for a dear soul, eat and drink together at the same table. And also sincerely and from the heart. For an American, rational consideration will be primary, and for a Russian, it will be a heartfelt impulse.
If you take the average American, he doesn’t care what actually happens outside his country. And he cannot go beyond the natural distance that is inherent in his mentality. But we are built differently.
It is we who respond with our hearts to everything that happens in the world. We care about what happens around us. Therefore, the unique task of revealing and comprehending the unity of the species is assigned by nature to the Russian people. Sound people, born in a country with a urethral mentality, are trying to make sense of this connection between us all. They wonder why we are so different, but still need each other.
The answers are revealed when there is basic, fundamental knowledge about the nature of connections between people. This is fully revealed by the training “System-vector psychology” by Yuri Burlan. It describes in detail the properties of all eight vectors of the psyche and the unique role of each of them. Both at the micro level (in the life of a particular person) and at the macro level (in the interaction of large communities of people).
To master this knowledge means to realize oneself as successfully as possible among other people. Get connections with others that will bring you joy. They will allow you to build a truly happy life.
And for sound engineers, this is also a unique opportunity to apply their abstract intellect, to direct their search to the area that today determines the future of all humanity. And this means finally feeling with your heart and understanding with your mind that you were born at exactly the right time and in the right place. And clearly understand why.
Author Evgenia Astreinova Editor Tamara Tkachenko Proofreader Ekaterina Zhavoronkova
The article was written using materials from Yuri Burlan’s online training “System-vector psychology”
Denial of the meaning of life
Following Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche explained the features of the inner world of man in the aspect of the nihilistic theory itself. He said that religion is slave morality, that it does not give, but rather takes away from people the meaning of life. Christianity is the greatest deception and must be overcome, and only then can the purpose of human existence be understood. He believes that most people live to prepare the world for the emergence of a superman. The philosopher called for abandoning humility and relying on an external force that would bring salvation. A person must create his own life, following his nature, and this is the main meaning of existence.
SO WHAT IS NEXT?
And then it was only a matter of time. From the first replicators to palm trees and giraffes, the path, although not short, is inevitable. The mechanism is simple: successful copying survives, very successful copying survives even better, unsuccessful copying is scrapped. Blindly clinging to each other, mindlessly reproducing themselves, mindless replicators managed to build our world. They started with something simpler: the first single-celled organism arose many years after the first replicator. By the way, do you know the name of the type of replicators that seized power on planet Earth? You know, you know: it’s called a “DNA molecule.” A long, double, coiled chain of blocks made up of small molecules called nucleotides.
“There is no need to look for it in the oceans; it has long ceased to float freely in its waters,” writes Dawkins. “Now these ancient replicators are collected in huge colonies and are completely safe in huge, clumsy robots, fenced off from the outside world, communicating with it in tortuous, indirect ways and influencing it using remote control. They are present in you and in me, they created our bodies and souls, and the only meaning of our existence is their preservation. These replicators are called genes, and we serve as comfortable survival machines for them.”
Why are influenza, AIDS and hepatitis so difficult to treat?
Not all genes travel around the world in comfortable survival machines; there are also desperate adventurers who exist on their own, not daring to build a suitable house. True, in nature there are now few places where a defenseless molecule can feel calm: every drop of water is full of microbes that are just looking for someone to profit from. Therefore, “lonely cowboys” are forced to ride as hares in other people’s cars. Such parasitic pieces of DNA, which are transmitted from organism to organism, without helping it in any way and without participating in reproduction, are called viruses.
Viruses, when introduced into the body, behave differently. Some begin to chop down the branch on which they are sitting and begin to rebuild the surrounding cells. This is how cancer and AIDS viruses behave. And there are also quiet free riders, who just let them modestly settle somewhere in the liver and lead an unnoticed life there. Alas, things are no better with them. This is how hepatitis viruses or, say, a runny nose behave timidly and politely. But this is where your immunity comes into play. With the excitement of a policeman catching Tajik construction workers, your T-lymphocytes, sensing a stranger, begin to crumble the walls of the cells in which he has settled. In pursuit of the enemy, your immune forces can almost destroy your liver or give you a week of love with a handkerchief - all with the best intentions. And doctors are forced to fight not so much with the virus itself, but with the enraged immunity of the host body.
Disadvantages of previous theories
Now we should talk about what shortcomings there are in these concepts. After all, both scientific and religious hypotheses are not capable of giving a comprehensive answer to the question: “Why do people live on earth?”
The disadvantage of scientific theory is that it highlights a general goal that is ideal for the entire species as a whole. But if we consider the problem on the scale of one individual, then the hypothesis loses its universality. After all, it turns out that those who are not able to have children are completely deprived of any meaning in life. And a healthy person is unlikely to like existing with the thought that his only purpose is to pass on his genes to his offspring.
The position of religious communities is also imperfect. After all, most religions place the afterlife above earthly life. Moreover, if a person is an atheist or an agnostic, then his existence is devoid of any meaning. Many people do not like this kind of dogma, so over the years the foundations of the church begin to weaken. As a result, a person is again left alone with the question “why do people live on earth.”
