Tag Archives: Life

Beauty, Happiness, Life, Moral Feed, Relationships, Society, Uncategorized

Does life have a meaning and how to approach life meaning?

I can say with a certain confidence that question –  “Does life have a meaning?” – is the most popular question that arises in a certain group of friends after they have had too much to drink.

Especially if this group consists of your average ‘Joe’, ‘Steve’ and ‘Bob’.

By no means do I imply that average is in any way demeaning towards this group. One can only be demeaning if one says certain things that are not true.

P.S. Stick to the last paragraph…

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Average Joe in Rollercoaster

Life is similar to roller-coaster – up and down and upside down!

Why has this question gained such immense popularity? Simply because media has made it into something big.

“You must seek the meaning of life!”

“Money is not the meaning of life, love is!”

“You will be happy when you find the meaning of your life!

These are only a few examples. While some of the stuff posted above and elsewhere in the World Wide Web may have some truth to it, the way how it is explained is utterly wrong.

All these generic stories are regurgitated by gurus all across the globe in all colors, varieties, and languages.

As a consequence, our beloved average Joe, Steve, and Bob start to seek their meaning of life without actually understanding what-the-actual-duck they are looking for.

Furthermore, they have no idea what will they do when (and if, obviously) they find this unique meaning to their lives except that it will allegedly make their life fulfilled and therefore happy.

Let’s look at this from a different perspective, using casual and simple terms. I look at people who try to answer the question of whether life has a meaning with pity.

Did that sound arrogant? Good!

Stick around and continue reading.

Have you ever been to a rollercoaster?

It’s fun, scary, amazing, disturbing and so many other things. The thing is when you sat in it, did you try to answer what is the purpose of it?

Let’s suppose you did although I am pretty sure you were too fucking excited or scared to think about anything else.

The rollercoaster takes you from place A to place B, preferably, in an entertaining way.

What else can take you from A→B?

Car…Bike…Legs… Heck, even hands if you are strong enough!

The main point is the “meaning” of the rollercoaster is not unique to the rollercoaster itself. There is nothing special about it. It just exists.

It takes people from A→B and that is it. Just like your life. It takes you from birth to old age.

You are going down that hill and you are feeling the breeze of the wind against your cheeks and you don’t give a damn about what is the purpose of the rollercoaster while it gets the job done. You were enjoying the ride!

What would happen if that wouldn’t be the case?

Take a wild guess. You might as well start reflecting about its purpose, what it’s meant to do, what it could do, while totally missing the whole point.

By thinking about all that you are not being delivered A→B in an entertaining way which was the one and only meaning in the first place!

Throw Out the Fast-Food

Throw out fast food! – Will You do it?

If you are just way too average, then you still are not getting my point.

It’s totally fine, I mean, the truth is 100% Raw, 100% Organic, and 100% stripped out of the last bits of Romanticism still left in the world.

It is not beautiful. It is not pleasant. But then again, hey, nobody promised you that.

Except, of course, all two-faced eels who bake inspirational quotes for breakfast only to later throw them on your Instagram plate and laugh while you gobble that shit down your throat.

Have you ever seen anyone grabbing onto carrot as their life depended on it? What about a chocolate bar or a burger?

Yeah, precisely.

Knowing the truth is more desirable for your emotional and mental health but since ignorance is bliss, you are better off getting morbidly obese on all the pseudo-facts delivered to you for free by pseudo-gurus.

Day-to-day.

Year-to-year.

Does life have a meaning?

After all this brainwashing, you feel unhappy only because someone told you that love is the way or helping others is the way, or getting children to take care of is the real meaning of life.

Love is great. Helping others is awesome. Children are amazing. There is one very relevant message I had the urge to tell you since the beginning of this post.

I just thought I should prepare you for it. Sit down, take a deep breath. LIFE DOES NOT HAVE A MEANING.

“Now That Just Can’t Be True. You Are A Cynical Bastard. How Dare You.” – you may say…

Anyone with some basic knowledge in biology will at least partially agree with me right off the bat. For those of you who don’t – Please, don’t limit yourselves to such generic accusations and, moreover, don’t let it grind you up from the inside.

Below there’s a comment section meant for meaningful discussions, be sure to thank me or hate me there.

The thing is, there is not a lot that separates humans from fish or from the tree growing outside your house that also happens to be your dog’s best friend every time he needs to take a leak. All living things have five things in common:

  1. Organization – all living things are made up of cells, their count may vary but they have a strict structure within the cell and cells themselves are organized in a neat manner.
  2. Metabolism – a mix of different biochemical reactions that allow the organism to sustain itself.
  3. Homeostasis – the ability of organisms (even if comprised of a single cell) to maintain optimal conditions for metabolism to happen.
  4. Growth – one cell becomes larger and many cells divide and accumulate to make the whole organism take a particular shape.
  5. Reproduction – Living organisms can reproduce themselves and create new living organisms.

Five things that must be found in an organism to claim it is alive. As you probably noticed, I didn’t add anything else.

Like, Meaning of life? How would you even define it? Do all living things seek to find the meaning of life? I hope you do find that as ridiculous as I do.

If we were to define a meaning to life then it is quite simple. Be Alive. Every single cell in your body wants to live as long as possible and that’s that.

Another problem with Life’s meaning, besides the fact that everyone’s trying to sell it to you is that you actually feel you are entitled to one just because you are a human being.

How arrogant and miserable is that?

Herein lies the cause of the pity I feel for everyone who is seeking for it. We are being taught that we are something special.

Nature’s wonder.

Born from a golden egg. The rough truth (Again!) is that our DNA (basically what defines the difference between species) differs by approximately 2% from that of chimpanzees.

Who’s laughing now about monkeys? You are no more than a next-gen chimpanzee. That tiny difference has been of great impact on our world around us, for sure, however, the fact remains the same. Feel special?

Religion as a meaning of life

I will start pressing the red buttons because the next point is religion. Religions come and go. If you are born in country A you are more likely to be brought up with religious views that are most popular there and it is the only determining factor.

Different religions have been trying to give you the same pseudo-meaning. A miserable one and yet, nevertheless, meaning. Basically, they say – be a slave.

Yep, you heard me, be a slave and everything else will be taken care of.

Be a slave to someone that is all super-powerful and although your life will be shit, at least you are going to get a sweet afterlife.

Just when you thought slavery was so 19th century-and-late, right?

Listen, I get it.

You are into banging your head against the floor, starving yourself when some dude tells you to and doing some basic thing that’s written in a fiction book.

It has no meaning in itself BUT somehow through decades and millenniums, we all have been trained to feel like this is the right way to live our lives because it’s easier to control a herd of sheep rather than a crowd of sheepdogs.

What I am getting at is that sure, we do have a cool thing called consciousness and abstract thinking and we can make neat stuff with it, explore the universe and what-not. The only problem for me is our total fucking inability to use it properly.

Our self-taught arrogance and the feeling of superiority, while mixed up with thousands of religions that blur our perception have deceived us into thinking we are something more than living, organic matter with the small bonus of being able to paint some shit on the fabric or build some shit in a more sophisticated way than our long-forgotten cousins.

Life Does Not Have a Meaning. Life starts, go on, you make a kid or two (or more if you are in Africa), and then you die. Max you can squeeze out of your life is planting a tree on top of your rotting body that is being eaten by worms a few days after your “soul has gone to heaven”. Hopefully, you don’t fucking care what happens to your body, since it was just a phase, just a temporary entertainment for your “meaningful and eternal soul” while it’s on a fast-lane to hell, paradise or whichever place you believe you deserve to go.

A Very Meaningful Postnatal Depression

If after this you come to the conclusion that your life doesn’t need a generic label then great, you have finally given birth to a useful thought after x years of your otherwise meaningless life.

While the thought of no-life-meaning can be depressing, it’s actually a good thing!

What to do with this information?

Do you feel empty?

It’s a good thing.

You can fill an empty vessel with a bunch of interesting, amazing and useful things. This time, put a lot of effort into this and leave all the crap outside.

Live your life as it is the only one.

You don’t get second chances. You don’t get to please your master or his servants in order to get a special VIP ticket to someplace special. Your organism possesses cool features but it’s hardly unique and those who say otherwise either lack necessary education or are just plain ignorant.

Is this it?

Should you just go to your 9-5, earn your 401(k) and get two children? Do what you like.

There is no meaning in life as much as there is no right way to live life. You are the judge to yourself.

Not the fictional character in the sky or below the ground. Not your brothers, sisters or friends. Be yourself.

Life is the meaning and the absurdity of life itself.

I understand your doubts about what you have just read.

Mull it over, sleep on it. Accept that you (a human being,a species) are not the center of the world and the sole ability to think abstractly does not guarantee you a ticket to world dominance Your life is not of bigger importance than that of the flower in your pot. It may seem so, but it is not.

There is another point that should be taken into account. While the flower can’t choose where to be in the pot you can.

You have granted certain cool features as I mentioned above. Use them, develop your own thoughts, share them, discuss them. Win arguments, Lose arguments.

Life in itself is purposeless. Nevertheless, you can become a rationally thinking and wonderful creature!

Be sure to check other posts regarding life meaning:

Beauty, Happiness, Life, Moral Feed, Relationships, Society, Uncategorized

“The unexamined life is not worth living” – What does it mean?

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” These were the words that came out of Socrates’ mouth when he was asked to choose between penalty and exile.

Socrates chose his penalty over exile, but why?

Since there had been no further explanation regarding this statement, it sparked several arguments if this holds true or not. When he chose his penalty, would that meant that he gave up?

Amidst all these, the statement is something modern age still listens to.

Philosophers who lived through the years had different and opposing views on how and when to say that one has thoroughly examined their lives.

An examined life for Cicero is based on integrity and service whilst Seneca is to have meaningful goals.

Fyodor Dostoevsky defines examined lifelike human’s resistance from evil and misery. Whilst, Socrates see it as becoming wise and humble as human.

Yet, is there a wrong or a right answer to what constitutes an unexamined life is?

As the answer is all-encompassing, each philosopher raised valid points.

From which, other questions arise.

Would this mean that if you fail to examine your life, you are as good as a walking dead? How do you examine your life?

The philosopher under fire

It’s always easy to go back and look at the thoughts and ideas of past generations with disagreement. For many reasons but mainly because as time changes so do we, so do our ideas. This can become a paradox of sorts as we now see with this famous quote he left us. Even though it is now widely thought of as untrue it still remains a part of large religions, philosophies, and teachings.

Strange right?

With the broad philosophical strokes painted by our genius’s of thought, it can be easy to misunderstand their original meaning.

Meaning is what it really comes down to if validity is questioned. The controversial quote has definitely reached this point, so now we ask: What did he mean?

Is life worth living?

What does anyone of us really know? Honestly? Do we know that the sun will rise tomorrow? Or that the oceans will stay put?

The word “know” is difficult to wrestle with sometimes and tends to be thrown around…

Life is worth living!

A LOT!

The past is easier to deal with though, for instance: I know that I woke up yesterday. So to find out the context of Socrates’s “unexamined life” quote we need to know him and his ideals as closely as possible.

Unfortunately, he left zero written teachings behind, so we turn to his students: Plato and Aristotle.

After looking at what they left behind we quickly see that these two students adopted very similar thoughts on life. They both believed in virtue, truth, knowledge and ethical behavior. They also placed immense importance on one of their teachers’ most famous answers: “know thyself!”

Know thyself

Is this so different from the quote that clearly tells us to examine our lives? No.

Then why is one accepted and the other under fire? It is very simple and comes down to the last part of his quote.

When he says “life is not worth living”. People thought this was an arrogant statement given that we are so diverse.

I have always wondered at the quote “knowledge is power”. Why not “the application of knowledge is power”.

Knowledge is useless unless you use it, so what is the knowledge without application? Well, I think Socrates would disagree with me for a very important reason.

Knowledge is a powerful thing in itself only because as conscious beings knowledge becomes part of who we are. It becomes ingrained in us on a level hard to comprehend.

When I say the knowledge I mean true knowledge, not the fact that we read a book and believe some of what it says.

True knowledge is special, and I think Socrates wanted us to understand that.

When we gain knowledge it becomes a new part of us, we become something more. If this is the case, what would you want to understand most of all?

Ourselves? That seems to be a good place to start.

A point of reference

Imagine this: You are born just as you were before but on a different Earth. The two Piles of the earth are the exact same except one thing.

The new one has no light at all. No sun, fire, light bulbs or any way to see anything. If this happened to ask yourself, what would you call the darkness?

Nothing, everything, it would just be. Simply because there is no point of reference to distinguish its existence.

There is no opposite and there is nowhere to start.

Unless we examine who we are, examine our lives, we lose our point of reference.

We will go through life blind, deaf and hardly with any real understanding of this controlled chaos we call life.

How do you examine life?

Some argue that those who tried to examine their life and decides not to go through it all can be considered “examining life” by itself.

Somehow similar to the “falling in love with the idea of love” but not actually “falling in love” itself.

To examine life, do we measure it up versus a certain standard or is it about finding a meaning to it? If it is the former, to which standard should we measure it to? Whereas, the latter asked a profound question of how do you find meanings into your life?

In this age where everyone is on survival mode with barely enough time to ponder on their lives, human, in general, succumb to go with the flow. Following the standard set by everyone else, would that count as an examined life?

It is a standard in itself but would that be enough?

All these questions are under the premise that we have been brought to this life to be at our “fullest potential.” In the quest towards the best version of ourselves, conscientious effort to continuously assess our lives has to be made. The ability to think and examine sets humans apart from the rest of the creatures on Earth.

Failing to use this unique ability to think is like losing your purpose, which equates to dying.

Happiness Versus Fulfillment

In this journey called life, many argued between pursuing one’s happiness over finding fulfillment. Happiness in itself is subjective as it can take the form of tangible representation such as awards or material possession like house etc.

On the other hand, it can also be intangible taking the form of meaningful and deep relationships. As simple as it seems, many find this pursuit superficial. Happiness is fleeting and Earth bounded. Yet, a quest to find fulfillment or your purpose is more fitting towards the worthy life.

Examining life goes beyond having a checklist of your material possession to a profound understanding of current versus ideal state. The ideal as our fullest potential. And, seeking the fullest potential leads to look deeper into our spirituality, acknowledging the existence of a higher being or entity.

That the existence of humankind is not merely to fulfill its earthly desires but in creating a “dent in the universe.” It requires a higher sense of spirituality with the conscious effort to reflect, correct our own mistakes and contribute to society.

Our purpose is our birthright. We then need to go through the purpose of life examination.

The journey towards fulfillment is a never-ending tirade of searching and finding our place is in this vast universe. To make a difference where you are with unquenched thirst towards wisdom and love.

When that time comes when we are stripped down to our bare necessities, it is not what we have acquired materially that matters most but how our presence has contributed to society. The aim is for continuous progress, not perfection.

In conclusion, the statement “The unexamined life is not worth living,” is Socrates’ way of reminding everyone to spare some time for self-reflection. But a mere analysis would not make any progress without action. A life worth living is being mindful that you are a work in progress towards fulfilling your purpose in life in making a difference in this world.

Beauty, Happiness, Life, Moral Feed, Relationships, Society, Uncategorized

Is technological advancement a net positive or a net negative?

In earlier days, the only entertainment system people had on their own was radio. Through the radio, they listened to the dramas, movies, songs, and news as well.

Nowadays, there are many entertainment units like Television, Music System and home theatre are available in almost all the homes. One could get theatre effects in the convenience of their home itself.

Isn’t that great?

Indeed, it is.

This wouldn’t have been possible without the technological advancements, some people even doubt that we are living in real world.

But, it comes with its own downside too. Instead of playing outside with friends, children are spending a lot of time in front of the Television. This would eventually lead to obesity in children.

Also, few children might end up having some sight problems as well.

Technological advancements made communication easier, or so it seems…

When it comes to communication, we could see a lot of advancements too.

Earlier, letters were used to send messages from one place to another. Telegrams were used in case of emergency messages.

Later, with the advent of the internet, electronic mail came to existence. Through this, anyone was able to send messages at ease. The telephone also made the communication process much easier.

But through mobile phones and smartphones, people are able to send messages easily. Internet plays a vital role in the advancement of the communication filed. It makes even the communication across the continent easier. Isn’t that really makes our life simpler? Yes, indeed. But, it brings its own disadvantages too.

People are often more addicted to their smartphones and spend more time in the virtual world through the internet. They often miss spending time with people around and miss to spend quality time with their loved ones every day.

What’s the use if the husband and the wife stay online all the time without having a real conversation among them?

Doesn’t that destroy the family values altogether?

Technology has made education for everyone, but it seems not everyone enjoys it…

In the field of education, technology is playing a vital role as well. Earlier, one has to go to school and universities to learn things. The traditional system still exists too.

But the way, students taught have changed.

Nowadays, the projectors are used immensely compared to the traditional blackboards.

Even students have the flexibility to learn the courses online. Numerous online tutors are available who could help the students and clarify their doubts anytime with ease. They don’t have to wait to go to school.

But one should understand the main purpose of going to school is just not for the sake of studying alone, it will make a person understand society better. It will make the students be part of a group and function efficiently. It will promote the teamwork too. The students will be able to network well by going to schools or universities. This benefit could not be completely accomplished in the online education system.

The students might get distracted and the meticulous learning is not really possible in the online education system. It has reduced the attention span tremendously.

Of course, the internet plays a huge part

Advancements on the internet are one of the major achievements done by technology. Through this, anything is actually possible. This has made communications much simpler. Through social media, one could keep in touch with their friends easily.

This helps in unveiling numerous career opportunities for the people as well. The Internet has made education simpler too.

Bill payments could be done using Internet banking. Money transfer has been made easier. Anything could be bought by sitting in one place using online shopping.

No commuting is required and people can shop at their own convenience.

But, it has led to major issues as well. Data theft is one of the emerging problems in today’s world. Hackers use the data and steal money using the internet.

Medicine has gone further, but can it go too far?

Much advancement has been observed in the medical industry. It has helped immensely to save the lives of many people. Few of the advancements are heart transplantation, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment, and knee or hip replacements.

These wouldn’t have been possible without the advancement of technology.

On the other hand, if one uses mobile phones or laptops for more time, it will cause vision problems, stress, sleep issues, and neck strain. More stress could lead to depression as well.

Coin (or technology) has two sides

Positive and negative effects of technology are like two sides of a coin.

The technology advancements have both positives and negatives. The positives definitely outweigh the negative effects. But, it is also necessary to mitigate the negative effects.

People should be educated about data theft and sufficient precautions have to be adopted to prevent it.

We shouldn’t get addicted to mobile phones and use them only when it is required.

We should be made aware of the negative effects of mobile phones.

Overall, people should understand the negative effects of technology and change should come from within oneself to change the world. This would definitely make the world a better place to live.

Beauty, Happiness, Life, Moral Feed, Relationships, Society, Uncategorized

Are Highly Intelligent People Less Happy? – “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know”

Ernest Hemingway has rightly said, “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know”. Intelligent people might have accomplished great things in their work, having a loving life partner or a loving family, but at times, intelligent people to agonize from sadness, loneliness or conflicted thoughts.

Overthinking has a negative impact on happiness

According to the research, it has been found that people with higher IQ levels are considered to be overthinkers. They tend to analyze each and every aspect of life and beyond. As a result of this, it transports them to undesirable, unwanted situations that even don’t exist at all.

Happiness and intelligence do not harmonize with each other. Happiness is all about living each and every moment without thinking for a second. The less you understand and overthink, the happier and carefree you will be. However, in the case of intelligence, it is a complete polarity. Examining each and every situation leaves a person in a miserable and devastating situation.

Overachieving and Happiness

Smart and intelligent people truly know what they want in their life and hence, they do not settle for anything less. It doesn’t matter how far they have reached in their life, it is difficult for them to settle with present things.

They want something bigger in their life that can make them happy in every way possible. Intelligent people have got excellent theoretical minds, hence it makes them uneasy to fit into a mediocre world.

They got an idealistic perception of the world. Hence, when their expectations meet reality check, it lands them into disappointment. Intelligent people are highly susceptible to what people think about themselves. Reading people’s hidden motives is enough to make them anxious and restless. They are too much confined to themselves.

People with high IQ usually do not allow any people in their life unless they know their “Real” character. They are deep-thinking individuals who analyze each and every behavior of the person in a rigorous manner.

Past Experiences, Guilt and Negative Emotions

Many times, it has been observed that intelligent people are often prone to past experiences that foster feelings of discontentment, negative emotions and guilt in their life, due to which these experiences do not open future joy and happiness in front of them. These emotions hinder or block their gateway towards happiness that they have always set an eye for. Moreover, such people are always prone to over-thinking as they analyze every circumstance twice.

The entire concept of too much thinking is not only overwhelming but exhausting as well. Your thoughts can over-power your entire existence as well as can put you down with their weights. Often, we have been hearing this many times that the world is over-occupied by wrong people and men. But the entire point is why do you have to consider it twice? Whatever other people do, it isn’t your responsibility as well as you have no power or control over it right? Then why the intelligent folks have to over-think every part of it?

Another point is that the person with a high IQ always wants to do every task with precision and carefulness, and in such times, when the cards don’t come out in their favor, they get disappointed. It has to be understood that at times when things don’t go according to you, it is okay, and you don’t have to feel disheartened for that. But this type of practical knowledge is not present in the intelligent men.

Final Words on Happiness

We can conclude that intelligent men will have all the success and luck in their life, but still, they yearn to ask for more can lead them into altogether overwhelming situations. Basically, they want more out of simple things and when they fail to meet their expectations it leads to a situation where they are more of annoyed as well as frustrated by themselves. Not only this, happiness is a state of mind and intelligence is the scope of the mind.

When you are happy, you are more focused on the present state of events. But, when you are just intelligent, you fail to accept your present as you want more out of it. Furthermore, an intelligent state of mind refuses to settle but a happy mind is like a fluid, it will adjust itself in no matter what may be the situation.