What is the meaning of life? · Synthesizer School

Aug '22 in Other

What is the meaning of life?

I think a lot of people lack meaning in life.

I don’t say this with judgment, rather, as an observation.

Intuitively, we all know we want meaning in our lives, but we rarely stop to ask: “What IS meaning?”

While there are many definitions, psychologist Laura King has a good one: “The extent to which a person experiences his or her life as having purpose, significance, and coherence.”

Similar to motivation and discipline, there’s a lot of confusion around “meaning” and “purpose”.

Meaning - How we make sense of life and our roles in it.

Purpose - The aspirations that motivate our actions.

As you can see, you can have a lot of motivation (purpose), but feel empty inside (meaning).

This is why you see a lot of successful people reporting they’re unhappy or feeling empty when they become rich.

Alex Hormozi is one of a million examples.

He said when he finally “made it”, he didn't feel anything and realized how unhappy he was.

He was motivated and disciplined along his journey, having tremendous success, but once he reached his destination, he realized there was a lack of meaning and fulfillment during the process.

He also believes “life is meaningless” and “legacy is a myth" because no one cares or will remember his great, great, great, rich Uncle's life (I forget his exact relationship). Which I get. I understand where he is coming from and I agree to a certain degree, but I choose to make my life & legacy mean something.

One could argue it’s a lack of respect and gratitude for those who paved the way before you, but even if his great Uncle's success had no direct effect on his life, which I get, that doesn’t mean his Uncle’s life was meaningless, or that his impact/legacy didn’t have some sort of positive effect on his family tree.

Or maybe his Uncle was a horrible king and created an evil empire, I don’t know, I’m just sharing my perspective lol. No disrespect to Alex. I love him and admire him.

I think he is mostly making his argument from a “macro perspective” (optimistic nihilism), that life itself is meaningless so nothing matters, which is a helpful frame in certain situations, and the “micro perspective” in which life is rare, so make it meaningful while you’re here.

If anything, that makes me appreciate life even more.

“The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” - Leo Tolstoy

Maybe, but no matter how big or small your impact is, I believe it matters. And helping others can bring you great meaning and joy.

Our collective contributions all add up and have helped create this amazing world that we live in today, which I’m grateful to be a part of. Life is precious. Enjoy it.

Maybe there is no meaning to life, and we’re just a little spec floating around on a tiny ball in a big universe, but in our current reality, life itself isn’t meaningless, you decide how meaningful it is.

Hopefully, that inspires you to live a more meaningful life. I think it’s better than the alternative.

For me, I think there’s a balance between “life has no meaning” and “life is full of meaning”. It just depends on what frame you want to use at that moment. What do you think?

Anyway, here are a few quotes I synthesized for you about this topic. Enjoy :)

“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure” – Victor Frankl

“For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day, and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.” - Viktor Frankl

“Everything can be taken from a man but… the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” - Viktor Frankl

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” - Joseph Campbell

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” - Helen Keller

PS: Secret link: https://youtu.be/GO5FwsblpT8

11 comments