What is the meaning of life? Well-known Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato believed that our purpose in this life was to gain knowledge in preparation for the next life.
Other Philosophers such as Epicurus believed that pleasure is the main goal in life. After giving these ideas lots of thought, I have come to my own conclusion that the true meaning of life is far more complex than either of these; far too complex for any human to fully comprehend. In fact these two different philosophies are only part of the grand picture. If it were that easy for men to figure out our lives wouldn’t be so messed up now. The meaning of life revolves around many different things. I think these things include: self-understanding, development of mind and soul, and an afterlife.
According to Epicurus, pleasure was the meaning of life. His ideas of life were completely opposite of Plato’s. Epicurus, in my opinion was a little bit niave and narrow-minded in his view on the subject. He would say that the meaning of life was to experience pleasure until the end of your existence. He did not believe in an afterlife or that a person had a soul that lived forever. He just thought when you are gone that’s it.
I disagree with all of that because I have many religious beliefs from which I derive the meaning of life. One of these beliefs is that there is life after death, and that there is one supreme being of the universe. This goes back to Aristotle’s first mover theory. I would however agree that life is a balancing act between pain and pleasure; or good and evil. You can’t have one without the other.
For everything in existence, there is always something of opposition. Another ancient Greek philosopher was Socrates. Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth living. ” I agree with this in a sense that if you can’t look back at your life and be proud of your accomplishments, then everything that you ever did was in vain.
You have to be able to look at the mistakes you have made and be able to learn from them or you are doomed to repeat those mistakes. Maybe on a deeper level Socrates might have been talking about analyzing the purpose of one’s life. This in my opinion is just as important. I feel that in order for me to succeed in life I have to at least examine the meaning of my being. I believe that it comes to a point in every person’s life where they sit back and think “why am I here?” Whether it happens often or not, I wouldn’t believe any person of sane health that said they never once thought about it.
Socrates also said that “the good of life is knowledge. ” He believed in a higher good in life that could be achieved through an endless search for knowledge. His definition of higher good was when virtue and knowledge united. Although I agree that what Socrates speaks of is an important part of living, I would not go so far as to say it is the reason for liveing.
I say this partially because of my definition of knowledge. I see knowledge not as just to be found in the universe, but in a way created by humans not unlike myself. Many things that are classified as knowledge such as: language, mathematics, and history are all human-created. Our language was created by people in earlier civilizations, as well as mathematics.
History is the story of these early people and civilizations. Should I assume that my reason for living is to learn of someone else’s life? If so, what was that person’s meaning for living? Undoubtedly these things are of tremendous value to our civilization and how we live. But I ask myself once again how does it relate to “why we live. ” As far as Socrates belief in a higher good, I agree 100%. I honestly believe that there is a higher good that can be achieved but not just through the search of knowledge.
