The Meaning of Your Life
The universe is incomprehensibly vast, Earth is densely populated, and the internet is overloaded with people trying to be seen through desperate posts and attention grabbing (not unlike this blog). It's hard enough to stand out and have an impact at work let alone in your community, country, or planet. Even the greatest minds in history have only marginally nudged humanity in one way or another. The most powerful people in the world right now still don't have enough influence to significantly shift mankind's trajectory on their own.
So in the rock concert that is the world how are we supposed to whisper our way to any sort of relevance in the history books? What meaning can any of our individual lives truly have?
In some ways, especially if we're looking at things from an individualistic lens, we can't really derive a whole lot of meaning from our lives on our own. That's one of the fatal flaws of the rampant individualism of our society today. It's dooms us to a likely meaningless end.
Unless, we connect our individual efforts, our story, our contributions to the greater, interwoven force of mankind. While our contributions are comparatively meager they are nonetheless imperative to the advancement of our species. Every child born, lesson taught, and warm hug shared adds to the near infinite power of human cooperation. One person marching from Selma to Montgomery wouldn't have changed history, it took 25,000 people to really make a change that day but I imagine that a deep sense of meaning was indelibly etched into the hearts of each and every one of those 25,000 marchers. Meaning that has no doubt transcended time, making them a significant part in the advancement of humanity. Even the top civil rights historians could probably only name a dozen or so names of those who marched but those people and their progenitors know they were there. Individually they didn't need the accolades for they knew that they were a part of something truly revolutionary and historical.
Whatever your beliefs are about God or the concept of God, one way of looking at it is that 'God' is the greatest possible good. Whether that means a supernatural being to you or the best possible outcome for the world. Maybe the greatest possible good involves equal rights for all, eradicating poverty, or ending the mistreatment of animals. Whatever it is to you, the greatest possible good is something that you should believe in, study, and ultimately dedicate your life to. As you put this greater cause in the forefront of your attention your life will be filled with a greater sense of purpose. You yourself may not reverse climate change or stop female genital mutilation but your life will be immeasurably enriched by throwing your efforts towards the cause.
What is the greatest possible good that you can imagine? Go do it. Find other people that want to do it too. And try not to get in the way of the people who are working towards their greatest possible good while you're at it.
So in the rock concert that is the world how are we supposed to whisper our way to any sort of relevance in the history books? What meaning can any of our individual lives truly have?
In some ways, especially if we're looking at things from an individualistic lens, we can't really derive a whole lot of meaning from our lives on our own. That's one of the fatal flaws of the rampant individualism of our society today. It's dooms us to a likely meaningless end.
Unless, we connect our individual efforts, our story, our contributions to the greater, interwoven force of mankind. While our contributions are comparatively meager they are nonetheless imperative to the advancement of our species. Every child born, lesson taught, and warm hug shared adds to the near infinite power of human cooperation. One person marching from Selma to Montgomery wouldn't have changed history, it took 25,000 people to really make a change that day but I imagine that a deep sense of meaning was indelibly etched into the hearts of each and every one of those 25,000 marchers. Meaning that has no doubt transcended time, making them a significant part in the advancement of humanity. Even the top civil rights historians could probably only name a dozen or so names of those who marched but those people and their progenitors know they were there. Individually they didn't need the accolades for they knew that they were a part of something truly revolutionary and historical.
Whatever your beliefs are about God or the concept of God, one way of looking at it is that 'God' is the greatest possible good. Whether that means a supernatural being to you or the best possible outcome for the world. Maybe the greatest possible good involves equal rights for all, eradicating poverty, or ending the mistreatment of animals. Whatever it is to you, the greatest possible good is something that you should believe in, study, and ultimately dedicate your life to. As you put this greater cause in the forefront of your attention your life will be filled with a greater sense of purpose. You yourself may not reverse climate change or stop female genital mutilation but your life will be immeasurably enriched by throwing your efforts towards the cause.
What is the greatest possible good that you can imagine? Go do it. Find other people that want to do it too. And try not to get in the way of the people who are working towards their greatest possible good while you're at it.
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