Meaning

The pursuit on the meaning of life is universal and eternal. In all the history of man no consensus has been made on this subject. The thought then occurred to me, perhaps there is not just one meaning to life. After all, even a single word contains multiple definitions; thus life, which encompasses all words, would no doubt contain more than one answer.

I have erred in hoping to seek meaning from a universal point of view, like how man hope to track space and time absolutely. Space and time is relative so must be judged from a reference, and this is how i came to view life and its meaning.

The meaning of life depends not only on the point of view, but also of the time. i believe the basis premise of life is the ability to change, influence, reproduce, and survive. The first two factors are closely related, one is the ability to change oneself, the other is the ability to change others or the environment. The last two are equally related. Reproduction is the survival of one's gene and survival is the preservation of one's life. Looking from this way, life at its most basic is change and survival.

The meaning of life then is how we define those two basic things. People view survival differently. Some find family and the continuation of gene to be utmost important. They find meaning in love of family. Other find spirituality to be utmost important in survival, thus they emphasize on religion. Then there are others who think true immortality can only be found in their work, thus projects were built, books were written, and great tombs are constructed. Some find survival in friend's memory and find meaning in that, so they judge friendship important.

Since there is not just one answer, I don't have to declare one truth over the other, I don't have to just pick on meaning and live by it. I may find family more important on New Years Eve, I may find Friends more important on their birthdays, I may find my projects important during work hour. Meaning of life is dependent upon time.

It is also more than that. Life itself is limited by time. If I have eternity then I would find my priority very different from if I have just one more day to live. So partly, the meaning of life is determined by time. An 80 year old man may tell you honestly of the meaning of life and it would not apply to you. Some wisdom is only true when you are at the right stage to receive it.

[Thoughts]