Irving Ruan

“The Meaning of Life”

One often whimsically muses over the “meaning of life” as a means to either pass by time or engage one’s self in a spiritual joust with the mind. The epigram has undertaken a rather philosophical connotation throughout the past millennia, inspiring some to even go travel around the world in search of the catchphrase’s significance. What remains curious, however, is the ironic nature of the proverb and what most—if not all—people ponder about when confronted with such a benign saying. The strange bridging of two life-affirming words by the most common preposition harbors an usual yet comforting feeling of universality, as if the meaning should bear the same fruit of epiphanic elation for everyone. To say the Person A has, through some metaphysical hokum, found the “meaning of life” will and should not necessitate that the meaning of it will be the same for Person B. Yet, this mindset seems to be inexplicably ubiquitous in today’s society. For what reason, I do not know. Needless to say, my contention is that we are constantly catapulted with fanciful ideas and crazy concepts each day that we can never be in an objective state to formulate our own meaning. In fact, many of our world views consist of a variety blend of other people’s world views, all molded to our own moral compass’s liking.

The original prompt stands as a testament to our insatiable curiosity for the unknown. That we should apply our knowledge to understand the world around us is indeed admirable; however, there are some things we cannot comprehend through the lens of science. To witness a caterpillar courageously emerge from its imprisoning cocoon as a magnificent butterfly can most surely be studied, explained, and understood in biological terms. But what of its nature? Its essence? It seems to me, and probably to you, that it becomes exponentially harder when it comes the task of quantifying nature. Or, to put it in another perspective: understood by the narrowness of our mind. Is this where it ultimately begs the question presented herein? To diligently inspect it on said premise would not reveal anything apparent but what is defiantly obvious is the philosophical inverse of the platitude itself: to give life a meaning.