Some of humanity’s most celebrated philosophers, writers and artists have tried to reveal the ultimate purpose of existence. When people start discussing the meaning of life, the conversation resembles a scenario of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: everyone is searching for the answers, but no one knows what the real question is. Do we need a purpose to exist? In his poem An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope implies that no matter how unexplainable and disturbing the Universe seems, it still functions rationally according to its perfect laws. As people, we need to acknowledge our role in the great chain of life.
There is hardly a man who has not wondered what the point of being alive was. As long as we are looking for different definitions and explanations on the purpose of men, we will never penetrate deeper into this intractable problem. Many people find the purpose in fun, pleasures and money, but we are constantly witnessing celebrities who are getting treatments for depression and addiction when they realize that such life is pointless. As beings with limited capacity, we cannot help but wonder and make assumptions about things greater than life.
According to religious views, people should obey certain rules without questioning them. Once they fulfill that purpose, they will spend an eternity with no problems and obstacles. But, is there a greater torture than that? Do we want to spend an eternity without being challenged to grow through our experiences? Throughout our lives, we get to realize that the purpose of being a human is the journey itself.When we become aware of the importance to live through all perspectives of being a human, we come to the conclusion that unnecessary experiences simply cannot exist. At a certain level that we cannot comprehend, there is a reason behind everything. When we devote ourselves to spiritual growth, we look beyond the limited reality that has consumed our world.
People who seek the purpose of life in materialistic explanations think that the more they possess the more powerful and important they are. When we rely on religion, we get a sense of security, thinking that God would forgive our inability to rise to the greatest heights a man could possibly achieve. We rely on intelligence, logic, science, and other means searching for the answer we carry inside: we are here to become and remain virtuous people regardless of the experiences we go through.
