This is perhaps the most important question in all of philosophy. Most modern philosophy is an attempt to answer this question in one way or another. I have pondered on this question for a long time. At one point, the obsession took a toll on me and led to an existential crisis. Intense curiosity sometimes has its downsides.
Funnily enough, I had realized that such existential crises often arise at the point of deep emotional vulnerability. Like kicking someone when they are already down. It made someone like me who preferred solitude become more reclusive. It made me more stubborn. And weirder. But the deep dark days of intellectual stimulation were worth it.
Many philosophers such as Camus(Sisyphus’s story is an interesting take), Nietzsche(sadly, he was miserable in real life), and others have had an interesting take on this question over the years. I will add mine here.
This is my brief take on this age-old question.
Nature of Meaning
It might be better to ponder a while on the nature of the meaning we seek.
We often are not on the lookout for any temporary meaning i.e. something that dies with us. If we had been, most philosophers would have been out of jobs centuries ago. Instead, we are looking for a meaning which is permanent and extends as far as the passage of time permits. We want a part of us to be immortal whether physically or figuratively. That is the reason most want kids or try to leave behind a ‘reputation’ or a ‘name’ for future generations. We want to be alive in some form or another even when we are decaying in the local graveyard.
Secondly, when most people struggle with the question because they are stuck in recursive feedback loops involving these questions. Every answer begs another question and so on. There is no endpoint. No definite answer to end all questions.
Lastly, Meaning for us just doesn’t need to be permanent. We need to have a role in the dance of the cosmos. Right from when we were hunter-gatherers, we had a definite role in our tribes i.e. to aid in the survival of the tribe. Deep down, humans have an innate desire to be important and useful, as we were in those tribes. And meaning is the only thing that makes us feel important. Our sense of worth gets attached to it. It’s not that we desire to have a meaning as much as we desire to escape the worthlessness and oblivion that comes from the lack of it. We desire to be important and play a useful role in the cosmos that is completely indifferent to our existence.
The Hard Pill of Truth
Every one of us will die someday. And we will be forgotten after death. Even if you might be as accomplished as Newton or Shakespeare, your name will die when humans as a species get extinct. I would happily place a wager that humans as a species cannot live till infinity. The odds of that happening are a big fat nil. So, even having kids is bound to fail in the long run to save your genetic code even though it may delay the inevitable for a while. We chase immortality. But the realization of our mortal nature makes us uncomfortable and feel worthless. In order to escape this dark truth, we seek some form of meaning.
With the latest advances in science and increase in scientific knowledge, we think in terms of cause and effect. Like every phenomenon in physics can be pointed to a definite cause and a definite effect, we simply replicate the same rational thinking models towards the subjective conscious experience of our life. We are bound to get troubled by it and search for a definite answer.
Over the years, I have come to a few realizations about this topic.
My realizations
- If there was any definite meaning, it would come at the cost of Freedom
If life had some definite meaning or purpose, we would not be free to do as we desire. Our life would be akin to robots pre-programmed to perform certain tasks. Lack of meaning gives rise to a blank slate. Lack of meaning and Purposelessness gives rise to true freedom. And you can only choose one.
2. Meaning is subjective and valid as long as you are alive
All meaning we create is temporary. And it matters while you are alive. Being temporary doesn’t diminish the importance of your goals and well-lived life. Your meaning exists as long as you are alive. Even though anything won’t matter in the long run but in the short run, it really does matter a lot. A well-lived life is always more desirable than a miserable one.
3. Life doesn’t need any meaning. You have been asking the wrong question for a long time?
We tend to think too rationally. We believe everything including life has a cause and effect or in other words, happens for a reason. Ever since language has been invented by humans to clear confusion in our communication ways, we have become obsessed with reason. Life shouldn’t be viewed through that lens. Reason is something we assign to objective phenomena, not subjective phenomena. We believe if something exists, there must be a reason for it. I guess that is the reason religious people struggle less with this question than skeptics as they outsource the agency of reason to an all-knowing almighty.
“Meaning of life is to experience life”. I heard this quote somewhere but cannot cite it. But I believe the truth is very close to this. Life is an experience that is above meaning. It is something to be witnessed rather than something to be achieved. An experience, not a reason. Experience needs no reason, it just is. It would be a big crime to put something as beautiful as life under the lens of some mundane meaning.