The concept and meaning of human life. What is the sense of life

“The misfortune of modern man is great:

he lacks the main thing - the meaning of life "

I.A. Ilyin

None of us likes meaningless work. For example, carry bricks there and then back. Dig "from here to lunch." If we are asked to do such work, we are inevitably disgusted. Disgust is followed by apathy, aggression, resentment, etc.

Life is work too. And then it becomes clear why a meaningless life (a life without meaning) pushes us to the fact that we are ready to give up everything that is most valuable, but to run away from this lack of meaning. But, fortunately, the meaning of life is.

And we will definitely find it. I would like you to read it carefully and to the end, despite the length of this article. Reading is also work, but not meaningless, but which will pay off handsomely.

Why does a person need the meaning of life

Why does a person need to know the meaning of life, is it possible to somehow live without it?

No animal needs this understanding. It is the desire to understand the purpose of one's coming into this world that distinguishes man from animals. Man is the highest of living beings, it is not enough for him only to eat and multiply. By limiting his needs to only physiology, he cannot be truly happy. Having the meaning of life, we get a goal to which we can strive. The meaning of life is a measure of what is important and what is not, what is useful and what is harmful to achieve our main goal. It is a compass that shows us the direction of our life.

In such a complex world in which we live, it is very difficult to do without a compass. Without it, we inevitably go astray, fall into a labyrinth, run into dead ends. This is what the outstanding philosopher of antiquity Seneca spoke about: “He who lives without a goal ahead always wanders” .

Day after day, month after month, year after year, we wander through dead ends with no way out. Ultimately, this chaotic journey leads us to despair. And now, stuck in another dead end, we feel that we no longer have the strength or desire to go further. We understand that we are doomed all our lives to fall from one dead end to another. And then the thought of suicide arises. Indeed, why live if you can not get out of this terrible labyrinth anywhere?

Therefore, it is so important to strive to resolve this question about the meaning of life.

How to assess how true a certain meaning of life is

We see a man doing something in the mechanism of his machine. Does it make sense in what it does or not? Strange question, you say. If he fixes the car and takes his family to the dacha (or a neighbor to the clinic), then, of course, there is. And if he spends the whole day digging around in his broken-down car, instead of devoting time to his family, helping his wife, reading a good book, and not driving anywhere in it, then, of course, there is no point.

That's how it is in everything. The meaning of an activity is determined by its result.

The meaning of human life must also be evaluated through the outcome. The result for a person is the moment of death. There is nothing more certain than the moment of death. If we are entangled in the labyrinth of life and cannot unwind this tangle from the beginning in order to find the meaning of life, let's unwind it from another, obvious and precisely known end - death.

It was about this approach that M.Yu. wrote. Lermontov:

We drink from the cup of life

with closed eyes

golden wetting edges

with their own tears;

when before death from the eyes

string falls

and everything that deceived us,

with a string falls;

then we see that it is empty

was a golden bowl

that there was a drink in it - a dream,

and that she is not ours!

ILLUSOR MEANINGS OF LIFE

The most primitive answers to the question about the meaning of life

Among the answers to the question about the meaning of life, there are three of the most primitive and stupid. Usually such answers are given by people who have not seriously thought about this issue. They are so primitive and devoid of logic that it makes no sense to dwell on them in detail. Let's take a quick look at these answers, the real purpose of which is to justify your laziness and not work on finding the meaning of life.

1. “Everyone lives like this without thinking, and I will live”

First, not everyone lives like this. Secondly, are you sure that these “everyone” are happy? And are you happy, living “like everyone else”, without thinking? Thirdly, what to look at everyone, everyone has their own life, and everyone builds it himself. And when something goes wrong, you will not have to blame “everyone”, but yourself ... Fourthly, sooner or later the majority of “everyone”, finding themselves in some serious crisis, will also think about the meaning of their existence.

So maybe you should not focus on "everyone"? Seneca also warned: “When the question arises about the meaning of life, people never reason, but always believe others, and meanwhile, it’s dangerous to adjoin those who go ahead in vain.” Maybe you should listen to these words?

2. “The meaning of life is to understand this very meaning” (The meaning of life is in life itself)

Although these phrases are beautiful, pretentious, and may work in a group of children or low-intellect people, they do not make any sense. If you think about it, it is clear that the very process of searching for meaning cannot be at the same time the meaning itself.

Any person understands that the meaning of sleep is not to sleep, but to restore body systems. We understand that the meaning of breathing is not to breathe, but to allow oxidative processes to occur in cells, without which life is impossible. We understand that the meaning of work is not just to work, but to benefit ourselves and the people in this work. So the talk that the meaning of life is to look for the meaning itself is childish excuses for those who do not want to think about it seriously. This is a convenient philosophy for those who do not want to admit that they do not have the meaning of life and do not want to look for it.

And postponing the comprehension of the meaning of life to the end of this life is like wanting to get a ticket to a luxury resort on your deathbed. What's the point of something you can't use anymore?

3. "There is no meaning in life" .

The logic here is: "I did not find the meaning, so it does not exist." The word "find" implies that a person has taken some action to find (meaning). However, in truth, how many of those who claim that there is no meaning actually searched for it? Wouldn't it be more honest to say: "I have not tried to find the meaning of life, but I believe that there is none."

Do you like this saying? It hardly looks reasonable, rather it just sounds childish. To a wild Papuan, a calculator, skis, and a cigarette lighter in a car may seem completely unnecessary, meaningless. He just doesn't know what this item is for! To understand the benefits of these items, you need to study them from all sides, try to understand how to use them correctly.

Someone will object: "I was really looking for meaning." Here the following question arises: were you looking for it there?

Self-realization as the meaning of life

Very often you can hear that the meaning of life is in self-realization. Self-realization is the realization of one's capabilities in order to achieve success. You can fulfill yourself in different areas life: family, business, art, politics, etc.

This view is not new, as Aristotle believed. He said that the meaning of life is in a valiant life, success and achievements. And it is in this self-development that the majority even now sees the meaning of life.

Man, of course, must realize himself. But to make self-realization the main meaning of life is wrong.

Why? Let's think about it, given the inevitability of death. What difference does it make - a person realized himself and died, or did not realize himself, but also died. Death will equalize these two people. You will not take success in life to the next world!

We can say that the fruits of this very self-realization will remain on earth. But firstly, these fruits are not always of good quality, and secondly, even if they are best quality, then the sense of the very person who left them is zero. He cannot take advantage of the results of his successes. He is dead.

Imagine that you managed to realize yourself - you famous politician, a great artist, writer, military leader or journalist. And here you are... on own funeral. Cemetery. Autumn, drizzling rain, leaves flying to the ground. Or maybe summer, the birds rejoice in the sun. Words of admiration for you sound over the open coffin: “How happy I am for the deceased!N very well managed this and that. All those abilities that were given to him, he embodied not only 100, but 150%! ”...

If you come to life for a second, will such speeches comfort you? ..

Memory as the meaning of life

Another answer to the question about the meaning of life: "To leave my mark, to be remembered." At the same time, it happens that it doesn’t even matter to a person whether he leaves a good memory or not a very good one about himself. The main thing is “to be remembered!” For the sake of this, many people strive in every possible way for fame, popularity, fame, to become a "famous person."

Of course, a good memory has some value for eternity - it is the grateful memory of our descendants about us, who left them gardens, houses, books. But how long will this memory last? Do you have a grateful memory of your great-grandfathers? And what about great-great-grandfathers?.. No one will be remembered forever.

In general, the external achievements of a person (the same realization) and the memory of others about these successes correlate like a sandwich and the smell of a sandwich. If the sandwich itself is useless, then all the more so - you can’t get enough of its smell.

What business will this memory have for us when we die? We will no longer be. So is it worth it then to devote your life to “leaving a mark”? No one will be able to use their fame when they leave this world. No one will be able to assess the degree of his fame in the grave.

Imagine yourself at your own funeral again. The one who is entrusted with the eulogy is thinking hard what good things to say about you. "We bury difficult person! That's how many people came here to see him off on his last journey. Few get that kind of attention. But this is only a faint reflection of the glory thatN had during his lifetime. Many envied him. They wrote about him in the newspapers. At the house whereN lived, a memorial plaque will be fixed ... ".

Dead man, wake up for a second! Listen! Would these words make you happy?

The meaning of life is the preservation of beauty and health

Although the ancient Greek philosopher Metrodorus argued that the meaning of life is in the strength of the body and in the firm hope that it can be relied upon, most people still understand that this cannot be the meaning.

It's hard to find anything more meaningless than living for the sake of maintenance own health and appearance. If a person takes care of his health (goes in for sports, physical education, timely undergoes preventive medical examinations), this is to be welcomed. We are talking about something else, about the situation when maintaining health, beauty, longevity becomes the meaning of life. If a person, seeing the meaning only in this, gets involved in the struggle for the preservation and adornment of his body, he condemns himself to an inevitable defeat. Death will still win this battle. All this beauty, all this imaginary health, all these pumped-up muscles, all these experiments on rejuvenation, solariums, liposuction, silver threads, braces will not leave anything behind. The body will go underground and rot, as befits protein structures.

Now you are an old pop star who was young until her last breath. There are many talkative people in show business who will always find something to say in any situation, including at a funeral: “Oh, what a beauty has died! What a pity that she could not please us for another 800 years. It seemed that death had no power overN! How unexpectedly this death snatched her from our ranks at the age of 79! She showed everyone how to overcome old age!”

Wake up, dead body! Will you appreciate the way you lived?

Consumption, pleasure as the meaning of life

“The acquisition of things and their consumption cannot give meaning to our lives ... The accumulation of material things cannot fill

the emptiness of the lives of those who have no confidence and purpose"

(Merchant-millionaire Savva Morozov)

The philosophy of consumption did not appear today. Another famous ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC), who believed that the meaning of life is to avoid trouble and suffering, to enjoy life, to achieve peace and bliss. You can also call this philosophy the cult of pleasure.

This cult reigns in modern society. But even Epicurus stipulated that it is impossible to live only for the sake of obtaining pleasure, while not being consistent with ethics. We have now reached the reign of hedonism (in other words, life only for the sake of pleasure), in which no one even agrees with ethics. We are set up for this by advertisements, magazine articles, television talk shows, endless serials, reality shows. This permeates our entire daily life. Everywhere we hear, see, read calls to live for our own pleasure, to take everything from life, to catch a moment of good luck, to “break away” to the fullest ...

The cult of consumption is closely connected with the cult of pleasure. In order to have fun, we have to buy something, win something, order something. Then consume it, and all over again: see advertising, buy, use it for its intended purpose, enjoy. It begins to seem to us that the meaning of life is to use what is widely advertised, namely: certain goods, services, sensual pleasures (“sex”); experiences that give pleasure (travel); the property; a variety of "fiction" (glossy magazines, cheap detective stories, ladies' novels, books based on TV series), etc.

Thus, we (not without the help of the media, but of our own free will) turn ourselves into meaningless half-humans, half-animals, whose task is only to eat, drink, sleep, walk, drink, satisfy the sexual instinct, dress up ... Man myself reduces himself to such a level, limiting the purpose of his life to the satisfaction of primitive needs.

Nevertheless, having tried all conceivable pleasures by a certain age, a person becomes fed up and feels that, despite the various pleasures, his life is empty and something important is missing in it. What? meaning. After all, there is no meaning in pleasure.

Pleasure cannot be the meaning of existence, if only because it passes and, therefore, ceases to be pleasure. Any need is satisfied only for a certain time, and then it declares itself again and again, and with renewed vigor. In our pursuit of pleasure, we are like drug addicts: we get some pleasure, it soon passes, we need the next dose of pleasure - but it also passes ... But we need this pleasure, our whole life is built on this. Moreover, the more we get pleasure, the more we want again, because. Needs always grow in proportion to the degree to which they are satisfied.. All this is similar to the life of a drug addict, with the only difference being that the drug addict is chasing the drug, and we are chasing various other pleasures. It also resembles a donkey chasing a carrot tied in front: we want to catch it, but we cannot catch up ... It is unlikely that any of us consciously want to be like such a donkey.

So, if you think seriously, it is obvious that pleasure cannot be the meaning of life. It is quite natural that a person who considers his goal in life to receive pleasure sooner or later comes to a serious spiritual crisis. For example, in the US, about 45% of people drink antidepressants, despite the high standard of living.

We consume, we consume, we consume… and we live as if we will consume forever. However, death is ahead of us - and this is reliably known to everyone.

Now over your coffin they can say this: “What a rich lifeN lived! We, his relatives, have not seen him for months. Today he is in Paris, tomorrow in Bombay. One could only envy such a life. How many pleasures he had in his life! He was truly lucky, a darling of fate! How muchN changed cars and, sorry, wives! His house was and remains a full bowl "...

Open one eye and take a look at the world you have left. Do you think you lived your life the way you should?

The meaning of life is the achievement of power

It's no secret that there are people who live to increase their power over others. This is how Nietzsche tried to explain the meaning of life. He said that the meaning of human life is in the pursuit of power. True, the very history of his life (madness, heavy death, poverty) began to refute this statement during his lifetime ...

Power-hungry people see the point in proving to themselves and others that they can rise above others, to achieve what others could not. Well, what is this meaning? That a person can have an office, appoint and dismiss, take bribes, make important decisions? Is this the point? In order to gain and retain power, they earn money, look for and maintain the necessary business connections, and do many other things, often overstepping their conscience...

In our opinion, in such a situation, power is also a kind of drug, from which a person receives unhealthy pleasure and without which he can no longer, and which requires a constant increase in the “dose” of power.

Is it reasonable to see the meaning of your life in the exercise of power over people? On the threshold of life and death, looking back, a person will understand that he has lived all his life in vain, that for which he lived, leaves him, and he is left with nothing. Hundreds of thousands had enormous, and sometimes even incredible power (think of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler). But at one point they lost it. So what?

Power has not made anyone immortal yet. After all, what happened to Lenin is far from immortality. Is it great joy to become after death a stuffed animal and an object of curiosity of the crowd, like a monkey in a zoo?

There are many armed guards at your funeral. Investigating glances. They fear a terrorist attack. Yes, you yourself did not die a natural death. Guests, dressed in black with a needle, look alike. The one who “ordered” you is also here, expressing condolences to the widow. In a well-trained voice, someone reads from a piece of paper: “... Life is always in sight, although it is constantly surrounded by guards. Many people envied him, he had many enemies. This is inevitable given the scale of leadership, the scale of power thatN... Such a person will be very difficult to replace, but we hope thatThe NN appointed to this post will continue what he startedN…”

If you heard this, would you understand that you did not live in vain?

The meaning of life is the multiplication of material wealth

The 19th century English philosopher John Mill saw the meaning of human life in achieving profit, benefit, and success. It must be said that Mill's philosophy was the target of ridicule by almost all of his contemporaries. Until the 20th century, Mill's ideas were exotic views that were not supported by almost anyone. And in the last century, the situation has changed. Many people believed that there was a meaning to this illusion. Why in illusion?

Now many people think that a person lives in order to earn money. It is in increasing wealth (and not in the pleasure of spending it, as we discussed above) that they see the meaning of their lives.

It is very strange. If everything that can be bought with money is not meaning - pleasure, memory, power, then how can money itself be meaning? After all, not a single penny, not billions of dollars can not be used after death.

A rich funeral will be little consolation. The dead body is not relieved by the softness of the upholstery of an expensive coffin. Dead eyes the brilliance of an expensive hearse is indifferent.

And again the cemetery. Location next to the famous. The grave site has already been tiled. The cost of a coffin could have taught a poor young man at the university. A cloud of mutual hatred swirls over a group of relatives: not everyone is happy with the division of the inheritance. Even in admiring speeches hidden gloating slips through: “N was the chosen man. An alloy of luck, will and perseverance helped him achieve such success in business. I think if he had lived another 3 years, we would have seen his name in the list of the largest billionaires of Forbes magazine. We, who had known him for many years, could only watch with admiration how high our friend soared…”

If you break the silence of death for a moment, what would you say to that?

There will be something to remember in old age

Some say: “Yes, of course, when you are on your deathbed, everything loses its meaning. But at least there was something to remember! For example, many countries, fun parties, a good and satisfying life, etc.” Let's honestly analyze this version of the meaning of life - to live only in order to have something to remember before death.

For example, we had a well-fed, full of impressions, rich and cheerful life. And at the last line we can remember the whole past. Will it bring joy? No, it won't. It will not bring because this good has already passed, and time cannot be stopped. Joy can only be obtained in the present from what has been done really good for others. Because in this case, what you did lives on. The world remains to live, with the good that you have done for it. But to feel the joy of what you pleased yourself with - went to resorts, threw money, had power, satisfied your vanity and pride - will not work. It will not work because you are mortal, and soon there will be no memories of this. All this will die.

What joy for the hungry is that he once had the opportunity to overeat? No joy, but on the contrary, pain. After all, the contrast between the good “before” and the terribly bad and hungry “today” and no “tomorrow” at all is visible too well.

For example, an alcoholic cannot be glad that he drank a lot yesterday. He's just sick of it today. And he can't remember yesterday's vodka and thus get a hangover. He needs her now. And real, not in memories.

During this temporary life, we can have many things that we think are good. But we can take nothing with us from this life, except the soul.

For example, we went to the bank. And we are given the opportunity to come to the bank vault and take any amount of money. We can hold as much money as we want in our hands, fill our pockets, fall into piles of this money, throw it, sprinkle it on ourselves, but ... we cannot go beyond the bank vault with it. These are the conditions. Tell me, that you held innumerable sums in your hands, but what will it give you when you leave the bank?

Separately, I would like to give an argument for people who want to commit suicide. To you, as to no one else, the futility of good memories should be obvious. And you have had good times in your life. But now, remembering them, you do not feel better.

ONE OF THE OBJECTIVES OF LIFE, BUT NOT THE MEANING

The meaning of life is life for the sake of loved ones

Very often it seems to us that life for the sake of loved ones is precisely the main meaning. Many people see the meaning of their lives in close person, in a child, spouse, less often - a parent. They often say this: “I live for him”, they live not their own, but his life.

Of course, to love your loved ones, to sacrifice something for them, to help you go through life - this is necessary, natural and right. Most people on earth want to live, getting joy from the family, raising children, taking care of parents and friends.

But can this be the main meaning of life?

No, to idolize loved ones, to see only meaning in them all life, all your affairs - this is a dead end path.

This can be understood with a simple metaphor. A person who sees the whole meaning of his life in a loved one is like a football (or other sports) fan. A fan is no longer just a fan, this is a person who lives for sports, lives for the successes and failures of the team he is a fan of. He says so: “my team”, “we lost”, “we have prospects” ... He identifies himself with the players on the field: he seems to drive soccer ball, he rejoices in their victory as if it were his victory. Often they say this: “Your victory is my victory!” And on the contrary, he perceives the defeat of his favorites extremely painfully, as a personal failure. And if for some reason he is deprived of the opportunity to watch a match with the participation of “his” club, he feels as if he was deprived of oxygen, as if life itself passes him by ... From the outside, this fan looks ridiculous, his behavior and attitude to life seems inadequate and even just stupid. But don't we look similar when we see the meaning of our whole life in another person?

It’s easier to be a fan than to play sports yourself: it’s easier to watch a match on TV, sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer, or at the stadium surrounded by noisy friends, than to run around the field for the ball yourself. Here you cheer for “your own” - and it seems that you yourself have already played football ... There is an identification of a person with those for whom he cheers, and this suits a person: there is no need to train, waste time and effort, you can take a passive position and at the same time get a lot of strong emotions, almost the same as if he himself went in for sports. But no costs, inevitable for the athlete himself.

We do the same if the meaning of our life is another person. We identify ourselves with him, we live not our lives, but his. We rejoice not in our own, but exclusively in his joys, sometimes we even forget about the most important needs of our soul for the sake of the petty everyday needs of a loved one. And we do it for the same reason: because it's easier. It is easier to build someone else's life and correct other people's shortcomings than to take care of your soul and work on it. It is easier to take the position of a fan, to “cheer” for your loved one, without working on yourself, simply giving up on your spiritual life, on the development of your soul.

Nevertheless, any person is mortal, and if he has become the meaning of your life, then having lost him, you will almost inevitably lose the desire to live on. A most serious crisis will come, out of which you can only find a different meaning. You can, of course, "switch" to another person, and now live for him. Often people do this, because. they are accustomed to such a symbiotic relationship and simply do not know how to live differently. Thus, a person is constantly in an unhealthy psychological dependence on another, and he cannot be cured of it, because he does not understand that he is sick.

Transferring the meaning of our life to the life of another person, we lose ourselves, completely dissolve in another - the same mortal person as we are. We sacrifice for the sake of this person, who also will not necessarily someday be gone. Once at the last line, do not we ask ourselves: what did we live for? They spent their whole soul on the temporary, on something that death would swallow up without a trace, they created an idol for themselves from a loved one, in fact, they lived not their own, but his fate ... Is it worth devoting your life to this?

Some live not someone else's, but their own life with the hope that they can leave their loved ones an inheritance, material values, status, etc. Only we know well that this is not always good. Unearned values ​​can corrupt, descendants may remain ungrateful, something may happen to the descendants themselves and the thread will break. In this case, it turns out that living only for others, the person himself lived his life without meaning.

The meaning of life is work, creativity

“The most precious thing for a person is life. And it is necessary to live it in such a way that it would not be excruciatingly painful for the aimlessly lived years, so that, dying, I could say: all my life and all my strength were given to the most beautiful thing in the world - the struggle for the liberation of mankind.

(Nikolai Ostrovsky)

Another common answer to the question about the meaning of life is work, creativity, some kind of "business of life". Everyone knows the common formula for a "successful" life - to give birth to a child, build a house, plant a tree. As for the child, we briefly discussed this above. What about "house and tree"?

If we see the meaning of our existence in any occupation, even if it is useful for society, in creativity, in work, then we, being thinking people, will sooner or later think about the question: “What will happen to all this when I die? And of what use will all this be to me when I lie dying?” After all, we all perfectly understand that neither a house nor a tree is eternal, they will not stand even for several hundred years ... And those activities to which we devoted all our time, all our strength - if they did not bring benefit to our soul, did they have do they make sense? We will not take any fruits of our labor with us to the grave - neither works of art, nor gardens of trees planted by us, nor our most ingenious scientific developments, nor favorite books, nor power, nor the largest bank accounts ...

Isn't that what Solomon was talking about, looking back at the sunset of his life at all his great achievements, which were the deeds of his life? “I, the Ecclesiastes, was king over Israel in Jerusalem… I undertook great deeds: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself, I made gardens and groves for myself, and planted in them all sorts of fruitful trees; he made himself reservoirs to irrigate from them groves that grow trees; I bought myself servants and maids, and I had households; I also had more herds and flocks than all those who were before me in Jerusalem; collected for himself silver and gold and jewels from kings and regions; he got singers and female singers and delights of the sons of men - various musical instruments. And I became great and richer than all who were before me in Jerusalem; and my wisdom has been with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not refuse them, did not forbid my heart any joy, because my heart rejoiced in all my labors, and this was my share of all my labors. And I looked back at all my works that my hands had done, and at the labor that I labored in doing them: and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of the spirit, and they are of no use under the sun!(Eccl. 1, 12; 2, 4-11).

The "works of life" are different. For one, the business of life is service to culture, another is service to the people, the third is service to science, and the fourth is service for the sake of a "bright future for descendants", as he understands it.

The author of the epigraph, Nikolai Ostrovsky, selflessly served the "cause of life", served the "red" literature, the cause of Lenin and dreamed of communism. A courageous person, a hard-working and talented writer, a convinced ideological warrior, he lived "the struggle for the liberation of mankind", gave his life and all his strength to this struggle. Not many years have passed, and we do not see this liberated humanity. Again he was enslaved, the property of this free humanity, divided among themselves by the oligarchs. Selflessness and ideology, sung by Ostrovsky, is now a target for the ridicule of the masters of life. It turns out that he lived for the sake of a bright future, raised people with his creativity to a feat, and now these feats are used by those who do not care about Ostrovsky and the people. And this can happen with any "business of life." Even if it helps generations of other people (how many of us are able to do so much for humanity?), it still cannot help the person himself. After death, this will not be a consolation for him.

LIFE IS A TRAIN TO ANYWHERE?

Here is an excerpt from Yulia Ivanova's wonderful book "Dense Doors". In this book, a young man, a darling of fate, Ganya, who lives in the godless times of the USSR, has a good education, successful parents, perspectives, thinks about the meaning of life: “Ganya was surprised to find that modern humanity does not really think about this. Naturally, no one wants global catastrophes, nuclear or ecological, but in general we go and go ... Some still believe in progress, although with the development of civilization the probability of flying down a nuclear, ecological or other derailment increases greatly. Others would be happy to turn the locomotive back and make all sorts of bright plans about this, but the majority just goes in an unknown direction, knowing only one thing - sooner or later they will throw you out of the train. Forever and ever. And he will rush himself further, the train of suicide bombers. A death sentence weighs on everyone, hundreds of generations have already succeeded each other, and neither escape nor hide. The judgment is final and not subject to appeal. And passengers try to behave as if they have to go forever. They get comfortable in the compartment, change the rugs, curtains, get to know each other, give birth to children - so that the offspring will occupy your compartment when you yourself are thrown out. A kind of illusion of immortality! Children, in turn, will be replaced by grandchildren, grandchildren by great-grandchildren... Poor humanity! The train of life that became the train of death. The dead who have already descended are hundreds of times more than the living. Yes, and they, living, are sentenced. Here are the steps of the guide - they came for someone. Is it not for you? Feast in Time of Plague. They eat, drink, have fun, play cards, chess, collect match labels, stuff suitcases, although they demand “without things” to leave. And others are making touching plans for the reconstruction of the compartment, their car or even the entire train. Or the carriage goes to war against carriage, compartment against compartment, shelf against shelf, in the name of the happiness of future passengers. Millions of lives are derailed ahead of schedule, and the train rushes on. And these same crazy passengers are merrily slaughtering a goat on the suitcases of beautiful-hearted dreamers.

This is such a gloomy picture that opened up to young Ghana after long reflections on the meaning of life. It turned out that every life goal turns into the greatest injustice and nonsense. Make up your mind and disappear.

Waste your life to do good to future passengers and make room for them? Beautiful! But they are also mortal, these future passengers. All mankind consists of mortals, which means that your life is dedicated to death. And if one of the people reaches immortality, is immortality right on the bones of millions?

Okay, let's take the consumer society. The most ideal option - I give according to my abilities, I receive according to my needs. There may be, of course, the most terrible needs, and abilities, too ... To live in order to live. Eat, drink, have fun, give birth, go to the theater or go to the races... Leave behind a mountain of empty bottles, worn-out shoes, dirty glasses, sheets burnt by a cigarette...

Well, if you put aside the extremes ... Get on the train, sit in your seat, behave decently, do whatever you want, just don't interfere with other passengers, give the lower shelves to the ladies and old people, don't smoke in the car. Before you leave for good, hand over your bedding to the conductor and turn off the lights.

Everything ends in zero anyway. The meaning of life is not found. The train is going nowhere...

As you understand, as soon as we begin to look at the meaning of life from the point of view of its finiteness, our illusions begin to rapidly disappear. We begin to understand that what seemed to us the meaning at some stages of life cannot become the meaning of the existence of all life.

But doesn't it make sense? No, he is. And known for a long time thanks to Bishop Augustine. It was Blessed Augustine who made the greatest revolution in philosophy, explained, proved and substantiated the existence of the meaning that we are looking for in life.

To quote the International Philosophical Journal: “Thanks to the philosophical views of Blessed. Augustine, Christian religious teachings, allow you to make logical and complete constructions to find the meaning of human existence. In Christian philosophy, the question of faith in God is the main condition for the existence of the meaning of life. At the same time, in materialistic philosophy, where human life is finite and there is nothing beyond its threshold, the very existence of a condition for resolving this issue becomes impossible and in full height unsolvable problems arise"

Let's try to find the meaning of life in another plane. Try to understand what will be written below. We do not aim to impose our point of view on you, but only give information that can answer so many of your questions.

THE MEANING OF LIFE: WHERE IT IS

“He who knows his own meaning sees his purpose.

The purpose of man is to be a vessel and instrument of the Divine.

(Ignatius Brianchaninov )

Was the meaning of life known before us?

If you look for the meaning of life among the above, then it is impossible to find it. And it is not surprising that, trying to find it there, a person despairs and comes to the conclusion that there is no point. In fact, he's just not looking there...

Metaphorically, the search for meaning can be depicted as follows. A person who seeks meaning and does not find it is like lost traveler, caught in a ravine and looking for the right path. He wanders among the dense, thorny, tall bushes growing in the ravine, and there he tries to find a way out to the road from which he has strayed, to the path that will lead him to his goal.

But in this way it is impossible to find the right path. You must first get out of the ravine, climb the mountain - and from there, from above, you can see the right path. Likewise, we, who are looking for the meaning of life, first need to change our point of view, because we cannot see anything from the pit of a hedonistic worldview. Without the application of certain efforts, we will never get out of this hole, and certainly we will never find the right path to comprehend life.

So, to understand the true, deep meaning of life is possible only by working hard, only by acquiring some necessary knowledge. And this knowledge, which is most surprising, is available to each of us. We simply do not pay attention to these wells of knowledge, we pass them by, not noticing or contemptuously dismissing them. But the question of the meaning of life has been raised by mankind at all times. All people of previous generations faced exactly the same problems that we face. There has always been betrayal, envy, emptiness of the soul, despair, deceit, betrayal, troubles, disasters and illnesses. And people were able to rethink and deal with it. And we can use the colossal experience that previous generations have accumulated. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel - it has actually been invented a long time ago. We just have to learn how to ride it. Still, we can’t think of anything better and more ingenious.

Why are we, when it comes to scientific developments, medical achievements, useful inventions that make our life easier, various practical knowledge in a particular professional field, etc. - we widely use the experience and discoveries of our ancestors, and in matters as important as the meaning of life, the existence and immortality of the soul - we consider ourselves smarter than all previous generations, and proudly (often with contempt) reject their knowledge, their experience, and more often we reject everything in advance, without even studying and without trying to understand? Is it reasonable?

Doesn’t the following seem more reasonable: to study the experience and achievements of ancestors, or at least get acquainted with them, reflect, and only then draw a conclusion for yourself whether the previous generations were right or not, whether their experience can be useful to us, whether it is worth shall we learn their wisdom? Why do we reject their knowledge without even trying to penetrate? Is it because it's the easiest?

Indeed, in order to say that our ancestors thought primitively, and we are much smarter and more progressive than them, a great mind is not needed. It is very easy to say unfoundedly. And to study the wisdom of previous generations without difficulty will not work. You must first get acquainted with their experience, their knowledge, let their philosophy of life pass through you, try to live in accordance with it for at least a few days, and then evaluate what this approach to life brings in fact- joy or longing, hope or despair, peace of mind or confusion, light or darkness. And even then a person will be able to judge with full right whether the meaning that his ancestors saw in their lives was true.

Life is like a school

And what, in fact, did our ancestors see the meaning of life? After all, this question has been raised by mankind for centuries.

The answer has always been in self-development, in educating a person of himself, his eternal soul and in bringing her closer to God. This is how Christians, Buddhists and Muslims thought. Everyone recognized the existence of the immortality of the soul. And then the conclusion seemed quite logical: if the soul is immortal, and the body is mortal, then it is unreasonable (and even simply stupid) to devote your short life to serving the body, its pleasures. Because the body dies, it means that it is pointless to put all your strength into satisfying its needs. (Which, in fact, is confirmed in our day by desperate materialists who have come to the brink of suicide.)

So, the meaning of life, our ancestors believed, should be sought in the good not for the body, but for the soul. After all, she is immortal, and she can enjoy the acquired good forever. And who wouldn't want eternal pleasure?

However, in order for the soul to be able to enjoy not only here, on earth, it is necessary to educate, educate, elevate it, otherwise it will not be able to contain the boundless joy that is prepared for it.

So life is possible, in particular, imagine as a school. This simple metaphor helps to get closer to understanding life. Life is a school where a person comes to train his soul. This is the main purpose of attending school. Yes, the school has a lot of other things besides the lessons: breaks, communication with classmates, football after school, extracurricular activities- visits to theaters, hiking, holidays ... However, all this is secondary. Yes, perhaps it would be more pleasant if we came to school only to run, chat, take a walk in the school yard ... But then we would not learn anything, we would not receive a certificate, we would not be able to receive further education, nor work.

So we come to school to learn. But in and of itself, studying for the sake of studying is also meaningless. We study to gain knowledge, skills and get a certificate, and then go to work and live. If we assume that there will be NOTHING else after graduation, then attending school, of course, makes no sense. And no one argues with this. But in reality, life goes on after school, and school is just one of its stages. And on how responsibly we treated our education at school, the “quality” of our subsequent life largely depends. A person who leaves school, believing that he does not need the knowledge taught in it at all, will remain illiterate and uneducated, and this will interfere with him throughout his future life.

Just as stupidly, to the detriment of himself, a person acts who, having come to school, immediately rejects all the knowledge accumulated before him, without even getting acquainted with them; claims that he does not believe them, that all the discoveries made before him are nonsense. The comicality and absurdity of such a self-confident rejection of all accumulated knowledge is obvious to everyone.

But not everyone, unfortunately, is aware of the even greater absurdity of a similar rejection in a situation when it comes to understanding the deep foundations of life. But our earthly life is also a school - school for the soul. It was given to us in order to educate our soul, to teach it to truly love, to teach it to see the good in the world around us, to create it.

On the path of self-development and self-education, we will inevitably encounter difficulties, just as schooling cannot always be easy. Each of us is well aware that any more or less responsible business is associated with various kinds of difficulties, and it would be strange to expect that such a serious matter as the education and upbringing of the soul will be easy. But these problems, trials are also needed for something - they themselves are a very important factor in the development of the soul. And if we do not teach our soul to love, to strive for light and goodness, while we are still living on earth, then it will not be able to receive endless pleasure in eternity, simply because it incapable will receive kindness and love.

Elder Paisius Svyatogorets said wonderfully: “This century is not to live happily ever after, but to pass exams and move on to another life. Therefore, the following goal should stand before us: prepare so that when God calls us, go away with a clear conscience, soar to Christ and be with Him always.

Life as preparation for birth into a new reality

One more metaphor can be given in this context. During pregnancy, the unborn baby's body grows from a single cell to a fully formed human being. And the main task of the intrauterine period is to ensure that the development of the child goes correctly and to the end, so that by the time of birth the child takes the correct position and can be born in new life.

Nine months in the womb is also in a sense whole life. The child is born there, develops, he feels good there in his own way - food arrives on time, the temperature is constant, he is reliably protected from exposure external factors… Nevertheless, at a certain time the child has to be born; no matter how good it seems to him in his mother’s stomach, in a new life such joys await him, such events that are simply incomparable with the seeming convenience of intrauterine existence. And in order to get into this life, the baby goes through serious stress (which is childbirth), experiences unprecedented pain ... But the joy of meeting with his mother and with the new world is stronger than this pain, and life in the world is a million times more interesting, more pleasant more diverse than existence in the womb.

Our life on earth is similar - it can be likened to the period of intrauterine existence. The purpose of this life is the development of the soul, the preparation of the soul for birth into a new, incomparably more beautiful life in eternity. And just as in the case of a newborn baby, the “quality” of the new life in which we find ourselves directly depends on how correctly we developed in the “past” life. And those sorrows that we meet on the path of life can be likened to the stress experienced by a baby during childbirth: they are temporary, although they sometimes seem endless; they are inevitable, and everyone goes through them; they are nothing compared to the joy and enjoyment of a new life.

Or another example: the task of a caterpillar is to develop to such an extent that later it becomes a beautiful butterfly. To do this, you must comply with certain laws. The caterpillar cannot imagine that it will fly and how it will be. This is a birth into a new life. And this life is fundamentally different from the life of a mundane caterpillar.

Life as a business project

Another metaphor that explains the meaning of life is the following:

Let's imagine that a kind person gave you an interest-free loan so that you can carry out your own business project and with its help you can earn money for your future life. The term of the loan is equal to the term of your earthly life. The better you invest this money, the richer and more comfortable your life will be at the end of the project.

One will invest a loan in the business, and the other will start eating up this money, having drunken parties, parties, but just not working on multiplying this amount. In order not to think and not work, he will find a bunch of reasons and excuses - “no one loves me”, “I am weak”, “why make money for a future life, if you don’t know what will happen there, it’s better to live now, and it will be seen there” and .t.p. Naturally, friends immediately appear who want to spend this loan with a person (it’s not for them to answer later). They convince him that there is no need to repay the debt, that the One who gave the loan does not exist (or that the fate of the debtor is indifferent to Him). They convince that if there is a loan, then it should be spent on a good and fun real life and not for the future. If a person agrees with them, then the party begins. As a result, a person comes to bankruptcy. The term to repay the loan is approaching, but it is wasted, and nothing has been earned.

Now, God gives us this credit. Credit itself is our talents, mental and physical abilities, spiritual qualities, health, favorable circumstances, external assistance.

Look, don't we look like gamers who spend money on a momentary passion? Haven't we played? Do not our "games" cause us suffering and fear? And who are those “friends” who are so actively pushing us to skip this loan? And these are our enemies - demons. They themselves disposed of their talents, their angelic qualities in the worst possible way. And they want the same for us. The most desirable alignment for them is if a person does not just skip this loan with them, and then suffer for it, but if a person simply gives them this loan. We know many examples when, by manipulating weak people, bandits deprived them of housing, money, inheritance, left them homeless. The same thing happens with those who live their lives in vain.

Should this horror continue? Isn't it time to think about what we have earned and how much time we have left for the implementation of our project.

Often suicidal people scold God for not getting what they want, that it is difficult to live, that there is no understanding, etc.

But don't you think that God cannot be blamed for the fact that we simply do not know how to earn, to properly invest what He has given, that we do not know the laws by which we must live in order to prosper?

Agree that it is rather stupid to continue to skip what is given, and even blame the creditor. Maybe it's better to think about how to fix the situation? And our Lender will always help us with this. He does not act like a Jewish usurer, sucking all the juice out of the debtor, but credits from Love to us.

(Psychologist Mikhail Khasminsky, Olga Pokalyukhina)
How to find the meaning of life? ( Alfried Lenglet)
Is there any point in a soap opera? ( Hieromonk Macarius (Markish))
good choice ( Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov)
The meaning of life: To multiply talents or develop abilities? ( Archpriest Alexy Uminsky)