What Is The Meaning Of Life?

"In an uncertain world, here is certainty; in a world without foundations, here is a rock-solid foundation" - Douglas J. Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: Romans

What is the meaning of life? Ah, the age old question. So many have asked the question, and so many have attempted to provide an answer. This question must come up in the mind of man during his toilings on the planet Earth. Of course it does. We look up into the sky, across the wind swept horizon and ask: "Why? Why am I here? What is the purpose in all this? What is the ultimate end of life?"

I wondered, what do the great minds of the world consider to be the meaning of life? I did a quick Google search for quotes from the great minds of history regarding the meaning of life. On a list from Goodreads.com are quotes on the meaning of life ordered with the most "liked" quotes at the top. I had to laugh as I scrolled through the quotes.

The first and most "liked" quote is very revealing, regarding what the internet, and the intellectual prefer to believe about meaning:

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

? Albert Camus

The second quote in the list is equally revealing:

“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

These two "great thinkers" insist that you must not even ask what the meaning of life is. Albert Camus seems to suggest happiness is the meaning of life. For Joseph Campbell, you are the meaning! You make the meaning. I've heard that many times before. That humans infuse their own meaning into any given situation. Now why would that be the case? It seems somewhat contradictory. In addition, there is no rational there. And that is something I simply cannot accept, that truth is simply my personal preference. Sounds more like a selfish western view, very individualistic and conceited. So the question remains, even when post-modernists shock us with the conclusion that "you shouldn't even ask."

Another writer that I've read, named Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn) said, "Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.” Given the debauched, erotic lifestyle of Henry Miller, the fact that his books are banned in many countries for their depravity might lead to the conclusion that Henry Miller himself may have a personal stake in a necessary lack of meaning.

Included on the first page of results for quotes on the meaning of life were three different quotes from Christopher Hitchens, a renowned atheist who died of complications from alcoholism at a relatively young age. A quote is also included from Frederick Nietzsche, a man who fought God his entire life and eventually succumbed to inner madness later in his life. Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Philip K. Dick, Stephen King.. fascinating... That we look to fiction writers to describe meaning in life.

We can pretend life has no meaning, perhaps to fight for a clear conscience, but that is never quite satisfactory. We know internally that there is something more. We know it. There is a deep desire within man to understand the purpose of all things. It is an indescribable sense of meaning. We know deep down that truth is not subjective, but objective. We know deep down there are fixed truths.

I don't buy it when someone tells me not to search for something. I don't believe it when someone tells me that "absolutely" all truth is relative. It cannot be. Those around me cannot cancel my journey. I have taken it. Life is not a vacant search for pleasure. Life is not a merry go round of self service. Those ideas are at the roots of the problems of this world, not the solutions.

Now at the next level, perhaps up a floor, we have those who say we must look within. That's a very appealing suggestion on the surface. Look within for the truth, as they say, trust your heart! Follow where your heart leads. Yes, I've been down that road as well. It didn't work out particularly well. My heart was interested in.. pleasure. My heart was interested in say, a penultimate happiness. Or a constant state of satisfaction. Unfortunately there was no way to arrive at such a place. There was no perfect romantic relationship, or perfect concoction of prescription medications that could fill the void in my soul. There was no perfect job. There was no toy, car, house, or award that could keep me satisfied. Ultimately there was always the hazy morning after, and a vacant feeling of loneliness, guilty, and emptiness. And again the next day, after the hang over subsided, the neurotic search for eternal pleasure would begin again. A great thinker once said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.