There are only two ways to live a life: one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle. (Albert Einstein)
What is the meaning of human life? This is a good question. It would seem that there is no point in spending time studying different subjects, authors, and their views, if the end will come anyway and these efforts will mean nothing? After all, our dreams, hopes, and achievements will have no meaning after death, when the dead body will simply lie underground as food for worms. Is this really true? What is the value of what I write, and does it have any value at all?
It’s hard to say. Perhaps everything I do on this blog is completely pointless. There are always these conflicting views inside that only make it harder to find answers. At certain moments in my life, I’m more inclined to think that my “writings” really mean something, and if the things I write here are valuable to at least one person, I’ll be happy. But maybe I just want to convince myself of this in order to move on, to continue my creative work. In other periods in my life, a more depressing view of things takes over my mind. It often happens when I notice a lot of absurdity in the world, such as mass terrorist attacks, wars in my country, the killing of ordinary people who are not involved in the conflict at all. People die in huge numbers simply due to their nationality or religion. At any moment, you can be literally crushed by a car, or a genetic mutation can lead to cancer in your body, which will slowly eat away at your body. You may want to stop this crazy world, but of course you then quickly realize that you do not have divine powers.
Again, you often don’t know what to hold on to, what things are really worth your attention and time. And how much time is left? Even the Universe itself, with its trillions of galaxies, will not be able to support any form of life in an incomprehensible number of years: the last stars will “go out”, black holes will evaporate, and there will be nothing. Nothing at all. No structure in the Universe at all. Only cold emptiness. Not only is human existence ephemeral, but the entire Universe itself will cease to exist in the incredibly distant future. This is our reality.
But on the other hand, this realization makes me get up every morning and try to bring something valuable to the lives of people around me. I was amazed to learn that a person’s heart beats about 2-3 billion times in a lifetime. It may sound like a lot, but after reading (and hopefully digesting carefully) this text, your heart has already made a couple of thousand beats. Suddenly, each of these beats feels different, right? It belongs to you, and you can never get it back.
But… Is that really all there is to it? What are we left with? Perhaps everything I have written above seems too dark and depressing. But I think you can look at it from another angle. How? Well, hug a friend who is with you now, because you may not have another opportunity later on. Create cool memories, either when you have great experiences just by yourself or with others that you love and respect. If our stay on Earth is to have any meaning, it needs to be discovered and cultivated through wonderful relationships with the people around us, through shared interests and values. In my opinion, that is the thrill of this incredibly short but really meaningful life. And it doesn’t actually matter what comes after we die. At least, that’s what I think:)
Damn it, it all sounds too melodramatic, but perhaps that’s how it should be. Anyway, I think the question of what life means, what makes meaning in human life is of course very profound and deeply personal, everyone is going to tackle it from different angles, depending on their own worldviews and experience. I’ve just shared here some of my thoughts on this question, and no doubt they will also change over my lifetime as I continue to learn more and continue to be surprised hopefully by new discoveries in my own life. 🙂
