You ask: what is the meaning or purpose of life? I can only answer with another question: do you think we are wise enough to read God's mind?
-Freeman Dyson
If you randomly stop any man on the road and ask him as to where is he going and why; you will get a reply without delay. However, if you ask a person 'What for he is living?" or 'What is the purpose of life?' you will, most probably find ignorant faces. An average person seldom knows the answer. Even there are millions of us to whom the question never arises. What a fun that everyone is living but no one knows ‘why?’
The question is quite simple and yet the most puzzling one. As we enquire, we find different answers from different sources. The religions have their own but different answers. The philosophers have their own ideas. Mythologists view it differently and so do the sociologists. Rather than indicating the ‘purpose’, each presents different perspectives of life. An answer that can be accepted by all unanimously is yet to be found.
We are not able to find most convincing meaning of life because we don’t know whether our birth is our own selection. We try to find the logic of our existence. However, It would be natural for logical mind to be ignorant about the meaning of ‘life’ because it developed much later after our birth.
The subject of ‘understanding or finding the purpose of life’ is taken up very seriously by people with religious and spiritual bent. How strange, it could be that the same people strive throughout their lives not for ‘Life’ but for ‘Getting rid of Life..!! Don’t they strive for ‘Liberation’, ‘Emancipation’, or ‘Nirvana’?
At this point, we can make out that the exercise for finding ‘Purpose’ or ‘Meaning’ of life is very complex. No two intellectuals would ever accept each other’s point of view. On the other hand, for the majority of common men, the best option is to find ways and means to live life happily.
“What is the purpose of life?” - We don’t know.
“How long is the journey?” - We don’t know.
“What is the destination of this journey?” - We don’t know either..!
So, in the face of these major uncertainties, it’s only wise to enjoy every moment of it (of course) without hurting others..!!
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