Humanity has been talking about the meaning of life since the earliest times of its existence.
Humans are social creatures with a natural instinct for survival. At a basic level, this survival requires eating, drinking, resting, and procreating. It is precisely because of this that the meaning of life at the earliest stage of human existence could lie in the continuation of the process of evolution. But the more conscious people became, the more profound the understanding of their true purpose became for them.
Thanks to intelligence, curiosity, the ability to analyze and reflect, many minds began to increasingly ask the question “What am I living for?”, trying with its help not only to realize themselves, but even to survive in difficult periods.
How to find yourself?
You need to constantly try yourself in various processes and identify among them those that will lead to the achievement of the desired states. Naturally, without any doping. Such processes usually become directly related to human activities. I will try to demonstrate this using the example of people in creative professions.
Imagine that you like to draw or take photographs. Both are a set of actions combined into a single process, thanks to which you can materialize your feelings, and thereby express yourself. As a result of these actions, your works {creations} appear, which you demonstrate to the people around you. They admire what you do.
As a result, you feel an emotional and energetic uplift. You want to do this all the time, because you like both the process of self-expression and the response you receive from people as a result of the actions taken.
Social function of the individual
People depend on each other to satisfy their individual needs. Against this background, communication and interaction between people is established.
A social function is an assignment to a specific person from society. It depends on the characteristics of the distribution of labor: the teacher is responsible for teaching, the physician is responsible for treatment, the entrepreneur is responsible for organizing production.
Sociologists judge the functions of a particular individual not by what he does or intends to do, but by what consequences for society flow from these actions.
If an individual refuses to perform his functions or the results of his activities have a negative meaning, we are talking about dysfunction.
By fulfilling his functions, a person becomes necessary for others. Against the background of the social division of labor, social statuses and roles are formed. “Cells” appear, each of which is responsible for performing an important social function.
Goal setting
“How to find the meaning of life if you don’t want anything?” - you ask. The answer, apparently, will not please you: set a goal and go towards it with the will.
- What is the root of your passivity? Have you recently suffered a trauma or lost someone? Are you in a state of crisis, depression, that is, an unstable and unhealthy psychological state? Then you first need to “remove the splinter”: survive divorce, death, leaving, recover from trauma, get out of depression. To do this, you need to contact a specialist.
- Once your condition is stable (or if you are currently healthy, just lazy or uncertain), you need to start working. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Already in the question “how to find...” lies the answer - to search, and not to remain inactive. Go to the goal, through all external and, above all, internal obstacles (your “I don’t want”).
- “I don’t want” happens because of a lack of motivation. Why do you lack motivation? Are you satisfied with your current life? I think not, since the question arose. Then imagine the life you want, but be realistic in your plans. Have you imagined yourself, your life, the people around you, your feelings? Do you want that? That's the goal. Your life's purpose is the image of your achievements.
If you cannot yet concentrate your attention on life as a whole, then think about a specific goal that worries you more than others at the moment: work, love, education, health.
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Now think about how to achieve the presented image, and what is needed for this. What do you already have? How to get something that doesn't exist? Work on your worldview. As a result, you should have a clear idea of what the universe is, who a person is and how he should live.
A little practice
I want to push you to action and take you away from devaluing life. I suggest two exercises. You can repeat it regularly, especially when you “don’t feel like doing anything.”
- Imagine that you have 5 years left to live. Have you already come up with some images, values, ideas? I think yes. Probably, all the “later”, “I’ll have time”, “not now” immediately came to mind. And you probably wanted to do it right away? That's what we need to build on. Here are the first meanings for you. Constantly support them, call the genie out of the bottle and act.
- Imagine that you are 80. Your friends and family have a party to celebrate this occasion. The hero of the day is invited to give a speech. You are asked to talk about your life. This is where the “magic” begins. What would you like to say to those eyes? How would you like to appear to your guests? Here are your first guidelines for the future, your first goals and meanings.
Why is the absence of meaning a good thing?
Because it means that you have the opportunity to invent it. A world without meaning is a free space for our creativity, like a blank sheet on which we can depict anything. As renowned screenwriter Dan Harmon (author of that Morty quote) explains, “Realizing that nothing makes sense can actually save you. Once you overcome the initial horror and accept this fact, any point around you can become the center of the Universe for you, and any moment in life can become the most important.”
Another nuance of this idea is well illustrated by a story from Mark Manson’s book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.” After the death of an old friend, he fell into depression and spent days lying on the sofa, thinking about the meaninglessness of life. And then one day he had a revelation: “If in fact there is no point in doing something, then there is no point in doing nothing.” After that, he got up from the sofa.
The structure and essence of the meaning of life
Despite all the ambiguity of the issue, scientists have been able to identify some stable provisions about the meaning of life, for example, regarding its structure. It is noted that, as a rule, there are several meanings in life: the leader and the subordinates. Based on this principle, the following models of meaning formation are distinguished:
- All meanings peacefully coexist or oppose each other.
- Subordination of all meanings to one leader.
- Change in additional meanings under the influence and growth of the leader.
- Inconsistency between the leading and additional principles (that is, the division of the inner world in two).
- The leading meaning serves only as a cover for the ever-evolving true meanings.
- The breakdown of the main meaning into secondary ones.
- There is one leading meaning, but it is interconnected with others and can change.
Thus, the meaning of life is life goals, the means of achieving them (abilities) and the result (information obtained during professional activities, communication and knowledge of the world).
The first conversation about the meaning of life, as a rule, comes in adolescence. Young children can also pronounce this concept, but probably blindly repeating after adults. According to developmental psychology, at this age a child cannot consciously be puzzled by this question.
That is, everyone has their own meaning of life?
Yes, research on the connection between a sense of meaning in life and mental/physical health and well-being shows that it doesn’t matter how you imagine meaning in life, as long as you have it in your life.
As philosopher Simon Blackburn writes in his book Being Good, to answer the question of whether life has meaning, you must first decide for whom: an electron in an atom, a stone on a riverbank, a black hole in the center of the Galaxy, or for you. From a psychological point of view, it is you who are important. Therefore, typical wording in questionnaires on this topic sounds like this: “I understand what the meaning of my life is,” “I have a clear sense of purpose in life,” “I am looking for something that gives me a sense of meaningfulness in life.”
Each item is rated on a scale from “absolutely true” to “absolutely false.” That is, the meaning of life is not only a subjective concept, but also a measurable quantity, essentially an indicator of the meaning that we attach to different areas of our lives and our position in the world. The value can fluctuate and sometimes drops to zero or goes negative, and then a feeling of meaninglessness arises. But the stock price of your life on this exchange depends only on you.
By any means
We always subconsciously strive to find ways to satisfy unmet needs. Either in the form of personal achievements in your profession, in business, in creativity. Or through fictitious illnesses, suffering, complaints, so that you receive attention from the outside. To always be comforted and pitied. When choosing your path, remember that frequently repeated actions are transformed into a dynamic stereotype in the terminology of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, or in simple words into a habit. Start taking actions that will be more beneficial for you in the future.
For career advancement and business development
Many people, like a breath of air, need a feeling of their own importance in the eyes of others.
Business development and career growth are great engines in life. Some even sacrifice personal well-being, the happiness of their family (perhaps an extreme), friendships, just to achieve success in this field. Often successful people end up lonely. You can’t contrast your career situation with real happiness!
What are the disadvantages of not knowing our purpose?
- Lots of fussiness . Because we don't know what goal we are rushing towards. We know what we want, but we don’t know where we are running. There is no common goal, so every time you achieve abstract goals, dissatisfaction comes. For example, we bought a TV and enjoyed it a little. What's next? Next I want to change the refrigerator, then the car. And at a certain moment, when the goal is achieved, we got what we wanted, suddenly a moment of dissatisfaction arises: well, yes, this is there, so what?
- Often in difficult moments of life there is a feeling of emptiness, apathy and even depression . These phenomena indicate that, most likely, a person does not know his meaning in life, does not understand his purpose.
- Personal crises that appear at the age of 30-55.
- Living someone else's life . The human personality and his nature are very easy to control, because if he does not have a big global goal, then most likely this person lives by petty passions or desires. And all manipulations in society are based on catching some kind of passion and playing on it. Such people often work for someone else, live for someone else, do not do what they need - live someone else’s life.
To serve the Fatherland
Some might think that this is not relevant today.
Not true! There have always been devoted and selfless people, ready to defend not only themselves, their family, but also their Motherland. That's why we hear so many new names of heroes (we learn some only after their death). Events in Syria, the North Caucasus and other “hot spots” showed how many patriotic warriors there are in our country. Their exploits and heroism during military operations are the key to the peaceful existence of our state.
The meaning of life: how to start looking
It seems that most psychologists themselves are not sure what the meaning of life is. And they try to avoid this issue. It is complex, difficult, and there are no universal recipes. But in reality there are none.
But can we at least understand what the meaning of human life is, and does it change over time? Where to start looking for an answer to the question about the meaning of life if your life now seems meaningless to you, and for you these are not empty thoughts, but a really serious problem?
This may seem difficult at first.
Why do we need meaning in life?
We are accustomed to thinking that the meaning of life is a philosophical question that can be addressed after all pressing problems have been resolved. But in fact, this is a prerequisite for the successful solution of many pressing problems. There is now ample evidence of the connection between a sense of meaning and quality of life. Here are some important correlations.
- Physical health. Having a purpose in life reduces the risk of stroke and death from cardiovascular disease in old age. In general, people over 50 who have a clear purpose in life have lower mortality rates.
- Standard of living. If you have a purpose in life, you are likely to be above average in wealth. If only because you try to invest in long-term projects and are not prone to spontaneous spending.
- Mental health. In one study, researchers studied 1,400 older adults for 18 years and found that subjects who had a purpose in life were more independent, less likely to be depressed, and scored higher on working memory tests. The influence of a sense of meaningfulness in life on cognitive functions is also recorded at the level of neuroanatomy of the brain.
- Psychological stability. Believing that life has meaning makes a person psychologically more resilient to what is called allostatic load—that is, the “physical wear and tear” of repeated or chronic stress. And it helps to recover faster from negative experiences.
How to find the meaning of life
There are several ways to find meaning in life. And they are all related to working on yourself.
Lead an active lifestyle
The frantic pace of life is so tiring that sometimes even on your legal day off you don’t want to do anything. The only desire is to lie in silence at home on the couch. But this is not a solution. So you definitely can’t find the meaning of life. So get up from the couch or chair and start moving.
To begin with, try responding to suggestions from friends and relatives to take a walk, go out into nature, or just walk through the park. Buy a pool or gym membership.
It can be done simpler. Go outside when it's raining. Listen to your feelings. Take a deep breath of fresh air and feel life. Realize that it is everywhere around you, you just need to learn to notice it.
Do something you've never done before
Another step you can take in your search for the answer to the question “how to find the meaning of life” is to leave your comfort zone from time to time. Let's say you suddenly realized that you want to draw. Don't hesitate, go to the store and buy all the necessary supplies. Or at least borrow from your child, if you have children, an album and pencils. Or suddenly the thought of swimming with dolphins struck you. Bring this idea to life, otherwise it will remain at the level of reflection.
There is another option - just get up early and admire the sunrise. This is the easiest thing you can do. But at the same time, this is a big step towards understanding why you live in this world.
Do not be afraid
To be afraid or not to be afraid - it all depends on you. In any case, life will end the same. And it’s up to you how you live it. Are you ready to live it in an embrace with your fears or do you want to experience incomparable emotions and pleasure from living the way you want?
Get to know yourself
It's not that difficult to do. You can try to look inside yourself, listen to the emotions and sensations at one time or another. Or you can use hundreds of psychological tests that you will find on the Internet. Whichever option you choose, this is an excellent opportunity to get to know yourself better as a person, find your strengths and weaknesses, and your personal meaning in life.
Feel needed
Another way to find the meaning of life if you don’t want anything. Try devoting part of your life to other people or, for example, animals. This is exactly what psychologists advise. Become a volunteer, visit an orphanage or a department where cancer patients are treated. Help others feel joy again and make them smile. This will not only help them, but also you. You will feel how life acquires its lost meaning, how it is filled with new emotions, desires and goals.
Remember that happiness is in the little things
Look for the good in everything around you. Only in this case will you learn to let life pass through you, to truly see and feel it.
Who is this person?
A person is more than just a physical body.
I’ll try in a few words.
Man is a spiritual being. And the path of man on Earth is, first of all, the path of the soul. This is her experience of life in a human body, this is her embodiment here.
I wrote a little about why this is so, here and here. But much will be said in future materials.
This machine, which is called the human body, cannot travel without a driver. Our body is just meat, blood and bones, nothing more. By itself, this entire complex system cannot exist. Unconscious.
What is consciousness? Today, the scientific world cannot clearly answer this question. But it exists and without it the body is dead.
This Consciousness, if we talk about it with a capital C, and not as relating to an individual living being, it is in every organism, in everything that surrounds us. Just as all organs work - harmoniously in one system - this is how absolutely everything works in nature. Everything is one.
What is inside you is also inside everything around you. This awareness has come to people for a very long time. Here are Eastern traditions, religions, and yoga. Everything is one.
To make it clearer, a person has three bodies: external (material, physical), astral and causal. (More about the three human bodies)
Vadim Demchog talks about this very well: the role, the actor and the viewer. To put it very roughly, the role is the body, the actor is the soul, the viewer is God.
And the most important thing is that, existing separately, all this is essentially one whole, indivisible, single. God is the actor in his role, and at the same time he is also the spectator.
Is it possible to live without a goal in life?
Some people don't understand the meaning of life and therefore live without it. But such people lack internal motivation and are unlikely to achieve anything in their lives. After all, if a person does not set goals for himself, it is difficult for him to strive for an ideal life. If a person does not understand what the meaning of his life is, he becomes weak and it is very difficult for him to achieve anything.
If a person does not understand the meaning of his life, it is very easy to control him and make decisions for him, because often such people do not have their own opinion. As a result, their individuality suffers and they stop expressing their personality.
Psychologists say that people who do not see a purpose in their life often become drunkards, become depressed or commit suicide. To prevent this from happening to you, you need to make goals, plans and understand why you live on earth.
A person needs a goal. You yourself know about the samurai without a goal.
To meet personal needs
If you thought that there was a hint of selfishness here, then you are probably right. But a huge number of people in the world live like this. More precisely, they even waste their lives without thinking at all about the interests of others. Whatever this representative of the human race does, everything is for his beloved. Beautiful clothes, delicious food, entertainment, fashionable toys - all the delights of being only for your own good.
Even having created a family, such a person sees himself in the first place. Such judgments often make their loved ones unhappy.
Will psychotherapy help in finding the meaning of life?
Yes - it's usually easier and faster. A long, unsuccessful search for purpose and meaning in life, as we know, can be psychologically draining and make you even more unhappy. In this situation, psychotherapy is a real chance to break out of the vicious circle.
Although it is believed that psychotherapeutic assistance is needed to solve mental problems such as depression, in fact, this tool, when used skillfully, is also suitable for problems at the existential level. Moreover, as psychology professor Clara Hill says, almost all the problems with which people turn to psychotherapists are indirectly related to the meaning of life. “Of course, no psychotherapist will tell you what the meaning of life is, but what he can do is help you to see that life has meaning - always, in any conditions and under any circumstances,” as the famous psychologist wrote Viktor Frankl, who studied the possibilities of psychotherapy in solving existential problems.
For those searching for meaning in life, a good psychotherapist can be a reliable guide to help them discover the feelings and ideas within themselves that lead to purpose and a sense of meaning. And then identify needs, prioritize and build a meaningful life around them.
Finding meaning in life is an individual task with many variables, so there is no best technique or universal method. For some, psychodrama or psychoanalysis is suitable, for others, cognitive behavioral or gestalt therapy.
Finding competent specialists, especially in one place, is not always easy - there are many pseudo-psychologists in this area who practice alternative methods not confirmed by science. Therefore, it is safest to look for a psychotherapist through proven services, for example, Zigmund.Online. They select specialists who practice approaches approved by the scientific community, check their experience, level of education and professional training. Another advantage of the service is a special algorithm that helps select a specialist based on your personal request, so that working with him is as simple and effective as possible. This increases the likelihood of finding “your” psychotherapist on the first visit. To make the decision easier, the service offers the first two sessions with a psychotherapist for the price of one - for 2,490 rubles.
Quotes about the meaning of life
Public pages on social networks are replete with a large number of quotes and statements by famous people dedicated to the meaning of life. We have prepared a selection for you in which everyone can find something interesting for themselves:
“The meaning of life doesn’t matter what you attribute to it. The point is to be alive."
Joseph Campbell
“Whoever we are, whatever we make of ourselves, that is all we will ever have, and that, in its deep simplicity, is the meaning of life.”
Philip Appleman
“Our main goal in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."
Dalai Lama
“There is not one big cosmic meaning for everyone; there is only the meaning that each of us gives to our lives, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like a separate novel, a book for each person.”
Anais Nin
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees whose shade you wouldn’t expect to sit in.”
Nelson Henderson
“The meaning of life is not just to exist, to survive, but to move forward, to rise, to achieve, to win.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Life should be fun, joyful and fulfilling. May each of you be like this."
Jim Henson
“The ultimate goal of the human mind in all its manifestations is to become acquainted with the truth.”
Eliza Farnham
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to society, and while I live I have the honor of doing what I can for it.”
George Bernard Shaw
“I feel that the ability to care is what gives life its deepest meaning.”
Pablo Casals
“A man born with a talent which he is called to use finds his greatest happiness in its use.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Our goal is not to become each other. This means getting to know each other, learning to see the other and respecting him for what he is.”
Hermann Hesse
“Start living right away and consider each day a separate life”
Seneca
“Every moment of your life is infinitely creative, and the universe is infinitely generous. Just make a clear enough request, and whatever your soul desires should come to you."
Mahatma Gandhi
Each of these quotes about the meaning of life illuminates precisely those values that were close to its author.
The meaning of life is determined according to the beliefs that people hold. However, all human belief systems are, to varying degrees, accurate or erroneous in their description of the world. Moreover, belief systems change over time: from generation to generation, from culture to culture, from era to era [Philosophy Now, 2021].
The beliefs held today even by large sections of the population did not exist yesterday and may not exist tomorrow. Therefore, given belief systems, whether religious or secular, are arbitrary, and in order to determine one's purpose, one must abandon these systems. Otherwise, the meaning of life cannot be determined [Philosophy Now, 2021].
What is a sense of life? Eternal question
— The eternal question: not how to live, but for what? What is the meaning of human life here on earth?
Father Boris: Seventy years ago I heard a story on French radio.
There lived one man, he had great spiritual needs, he strived for spiritual life, culture, aesthetics. And he was forced to live in extremely philistine conditions. At work - he knew in advance - all his colleagues would never forget to wear satin arm ruffles, so as not to spoil the sleeves of their jacket when you sit and write all day. They will not forget to put a pillow on the seat of the chair so as not to give themselves hemorrhoids. He knew in advance that they would talk about how they spent Sunday, what easy victories they had, how they had low-class fun - who would get drunk, who would be with the girls... He knew that he would come home in the evening, and at home his wife would open the door and say : “It’s good that you came. Take off your shoes - our floors have just been polished. Take off your shirt quickly - the laundress will come to take away the dirty linen. And at the same time, look - I put veal in the oven. You know, your mother-in-law doesn’t like it when veal burns.” He is horrified: “I can’t do it anymore!!! My soul thirsts for emotions - spiritual... cultural... and here - vulgarity and philistinism both at work and at home.” And he gets into a noose.
"That Light"
People who have ruined their souls for the sake of money suffer greatly and are terrified of death. After all, their body is all they have. And the body will die sooner or later, sooner or later it will be eaten by worms. You cannot take your accumulated wealth with you to the next world.
To demonstrate this simple truth to the world, Alexander the Great , who had conquered all the riches of the world, before his death ordered holes to be cut out in the coffin, and when Alexander's body was carried to the funeral pyre, everyone saw two empty palms sticking out of the coffin. Without words, the great commander showed the whole world that he was not taking any wealth with him to the next world. We come into this world naked and we leave naked.
