What is the Meaning of Life? Essay This question has puzzled the human racefor about as long as it has existed. This begs the question, if no-one hasthought of an answer by now, no-one including geniuses such as IsaacNewton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, then why ask a fourteen yearold boy? The answer to that is simple, I am a complete and utter genius, a”super genius” if you will. Of course this idea is quite laughable, and thereal reason one might perhaps ask me is to evaluate my understanding of thefollowing: < Where am I going? < Different philosophies of life < Why some people are religious < What makes someone religious < Why Catholics are religious < Can a person be Christian just by being good < How Catholics find meaning and purpose < Vocation < And so on and so on.
. . . Personally I think there is no meaning to life and life is whatyou make of it, but that is not the answer that is expected of me, in factthe answer expected of me is probably along the lines of this.
. . What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life? Everyone has wondered about the answerto this question at some point in their lives, in fact this question buildsthe bases of a mid-life crises. At about forty men and women start going,”what’s the point, who cares anymore? What IS the meaning of life?” whetherthis is true or not I wouldn’t know, never having experienced a mid-lifecrises myself, being, as I mentioned earlier, only fourteen. Nevertheless,it is an important question. Now before I inform you of my “revised”opinion of this question, let’s first take a look at other people’s views.
Being as there are a wide variety of people on this planet there area wide variety of answers to this question. These range from ‘the meaningof life is to become a {insert name of cult, religion, organisation etchere}’ to ‘the meaning of life is to eat your own foot’. The question thenis which one is right. The answer to that question is, they all are. .
. okay, maybe not, but they are all right in the individual mind of eachperson who created that singular answer, this is also not true but it is avery good lie. However if you yourself have no answer to this question thenyou are likely to come under one of the following: Existentialist,Humanist, Materialistic, Nihilist or Religious. These are the main philosophies of life, existentialism being the aphilosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individualexperience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence asunexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for theconsequences of one’s acts. Humanism being a philosophy that centres onhumans and their values, capacities, and worth.
Materialism being thephilosophy that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute thegreatest good and highest value in life. Nihilism being the rejection ofall distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiateall previous theories of morality or religious belief. And finallyreligious which is having or showing belief in and reverence for God or adeity. It is of course possible to come under more of one of the above.
There, you now know what you are, happy? No, of course your not, you wantto know more don’t you? Okay, fine. . . Why would someone become religious?That’s a good question. Well the answer to this for most people is surprisingly easy, becausethey have no choice, they where baptised before they could even talk.
Butwhat about adults who get baptised? I hear you cry, well okay, I don’tbecause I’m sure you’re a) not that sad, and b) I can’t hear you. . . butanyway, why would someone become religious of their own free will? Thiscould happen for two reasons, okay, three: One) They suddenly decide itstheir vocation, their calling and go out to become religious because theyfeel like it, Two) They need some sort of forgiveness or absolution becausethey’ve done something wrong, and Three) By accident, you know the sort ofthing, you get really drunk and wake up with a wife in Las Vegas and a newreligion. .
. okay maybe not, but the first two are valid answers. Why are Catholics religious? This question is completely selfexplanatory, what .
