Meaning of Life Essay

We ask ourselves everyday if our life has meaning. We view our lives and others’ lives in different ways. I agree with life being viewed as a game, and life as learning is adding meaning to our life. I disagree with life having no meaning at all. Every human being views life differently and believes your life is influenced by different ideas and lessons. Life as a game creates a theory that we can’t just take our lives too seriously or else we won’t be happy and feel as if we have fulfilled our lives and/or our purpose on earth. In our textbook it says if you believe your life is a game, you must pick the type of game you wish to play in your life. You can play games that are purely for fun, for superiority, social, hurting your opponents, or to help others. If you pick to have your game of life to be played just for fun then this could possibly be the happiest way to play your game of life. When being able to play a game for fun it excludes the worry of being judged and having to conquer other opponents to become the â€Å"winner† in your game of life. Your opponents could be your friends, family, co-workers, peers, mentors throughout your life and this could make you a miserable person if they turn their backs on you, or fight against your game of life. If we pick to play our life in a game to hurt our opponents then do we decide who our opponent is? Our opponents could be people in our lives who we do not like. They could become our friends and family and if we disagree, then do they become an opponent to us because we don’t see eye to eye? There are so many different ways you could pick to play your game of life. And only you can pick your game, but others around us do influence our choice of what we choose for a game. We don’t want to pick a game to which we are setting ourselves up to become targeted as a â€Å"loser†. We all want to be the â€Å"winner†. I believe in our game of life we should be able to choose if we are going to be the â€Å"winner† in our game of life and who the â€Å"losers† will be. Or should everyone be a winner? Some games in particular could cause chaos in our lives. If we choose to play our life as a competitive game then this could end up giving us enemies, and then what is life really about when you have people against you. In a competitive game it is hard to see the ending outcome of the game, so it is always a gamble to what your life or even the next day might bring. When you don’t know what the next day will bring, does the rules in your game of life change? It is possible when playing a game, the rules will change and new ones can be created and taken away. As little kids playing games, when they don’t like a rule, or merely forget a rule, this changes the game. And these changes affect the outcome of your ending result. Unfortunately I think the rules of your game can change because you learn new things and new technology comes out every day. Life as learning is something we all are introduced to throughout our lives. But do we pay attention to the things life is trying to teach us? Our textbook refers to having a bad experience and turning it into a situation we can learn from. I think we take all situations we are put into and get some kind of lesson or moral meaning out of it. If you view life in different ways then it could change how you react to your life lessons and the idea you should get out of the story. I believe we should all try everything once if it is presented to us and it is morally right. If you can’t live your life to the fullest, then are you actually learning everything you can from your life? Do we encounter things in our life because we should learn from them? Is life supposed to have flaws so we can become a better person and make ourselves better prepared for the next time the problem arises? We can ask ourselves all theses questions and if we listen to the ending result and want to understand then we will take something out of the issue as a life learning situation. But can we shut the ideas and ending decisions out, and ignore the life lesson? I think that each and every event that happens in our life was presented to us to teach us a new life lesson and prepare us better for the next time if it comes up in our life again. These life lessons can hurt us but if life was perfect all the time, then when faced with a flaw in our life we wouldn’t know how to respond and cope with the problem. Some people in life can’t face their flaws of life and walk away or give up. People might do this because they can’t deal with the pain and suffering they believe they are being faced with. With the two philosophies above I do agree that our life is a game, and life is learning. We pick what we want to believe and understand. And in our life we play a game where we can pick the â€Å"winners† and â€Å"losers†. We believe that we make the ending decision in our life and pick what our life stories and experiences actually mean. When we are surprised with conflict and a sudden problem, we might not be able to control our life until we can understand what is going on. And if we take time to understand, then aren’t we still controlling our life? We could always walk away and ignore the new problem. The idea I disagree with the most is life has no meaning at all. Albert Camus said in his book The Myth of Sisyphus that â€Å"the absurd had become a widespread sensibility in our times. † He also relates life having no meaning at all to atheism. If there is no external meaning, then he believes there is no point in life. If life had no meaning then wouldn’t we careless about our future and live for that moment. If life has no meaning then would we be in school trying to receive a quality education? Albert Camus believes that most humans are frightened by the idea of living on earth with no purpose to life. And this allows humans to create a purpose to live. In our textbook it states a quote from his book, â€Å"The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of it own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. † This to me means that when you are asked to conquer something that is impossible for you to accomplish, then it is the worse thing that would happen in your life. This makes you feel like you have failed at what god has asked you to do. I believe we all have a meaningful life. Each and every one of us affects someone in the world, either if it’s a positive way or sometimes in a negative way. We won’t always realize our affect on others unless it is pointed out to us. As we discussed in class, a drug addict might share his story, and affect children and teenagers and show them the life they lived and how they are now. I think as a teacher you add meaning to your life by teaching others about a variety of topics in life and history. The question does life have a meaning is worth answering. Each and every one of us has our own opinion of life and if it has meaning. We truly can’t look up the definition in the dictionary and believe that is what life is. We need to look at our personal situations, as well as experiences to see how it molds our view of what life means. The definition of life from The American College Dictionary states â€Å"a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived as belonging to the soul. † This to me means that as long as we have a presence on earth they have life on earth. This definition isn’t the only one about life; we create our own meaning which is molded to our life. If life is just about existence, then life may have no meaning. We are here on earth to impact people in same way and form. If we are here just for existence then we aren’t living life. In reality I think life can be looked at in many different ways and there is not just one definition. Is their just one definition and would this change the way we live our lives? Would we be different people than who we are today? Life is a special thing, and we can view our life in different perspectives. As mentioned in my paper we can view life as a game, as learning, and life can have no meaning at all. I don’t agree with all the ways we can view our life, but each and every one of us can pick our own way to view life. For me I agree with the fact that life is a game. We pick if we want to play a game for fun, or to be the king of the world. The way we decide to play our life game determines who we are as a person and it helps affect the mood we are in. I also believe life as learning. In life we are given many different life lessons. And what we take from these life lessons is teaching us life. If we don’t take the time to learn, then our life isn’t complete. Or we at least aren’t living our life to the fullest. I disagree with the fact that our life has no meaning. We make our having meaning, and if we don’t put meaning in our life, then it will be meaningless. You might view your life as meaningless, and to others your life could be filled with meaning. Your view of your life can be different than the way others view your life. Life can have many different meanings and can affect our lives in different ways. In the end we choose what our life will be, and how we will live our life. No one else can choose how you should live your life. In the end it is your choice and your choice alone. We can be influenced by others, but they can’t make the final decisions.