The Ultimate Meaning of Life

By Kauko Luukkonen

As we all know, the dilemma of comprehending the meaning of life has intrigued both the humans and the humanity ever since the start of existence. However, it seems there is only a few who have claimed having realized this meaning. Nevertheless, we have for thousands of years pursued that one conclusion, which would be universally accepted. It seems as if humans have an inherent desire for seeking a meaning for their existence. But why have we failed to find it? Is there indeed anyone who could confirm having found it? If yes, what exactly did he discover? Why is it important to realize the meaning of life just now?

This book reflects upon various perspectives which may point us to the direction of this rather elusive realization. The book gives little emphasis on the qualitative aspects of the physical life, but instead attempts to discover the ultimate meaning of The Life. This approach leads up to potentially uncovering the significance of existence, rather than merely finding the meaning of one lifetime. Let us hope these reflections shall give you hints, assistance and insight into where the meaning of your life might lie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Jun 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9789528078241

Kauko Luukkonen

Kauko Luukkonen is a retired IT professional and entrepreneur. This is his seventh book.

Book preview

–

The Ultimate Meaning of Life

As we all know, the dilemma of comprehending the meaning of life has intrigued both the humans and the humanity ever since the start of existence.

However, it seems there is only a few who have claimed having realized this meaning. Nevertheless, we have for thousands of years pursued that one conclusion, which would be universally accepted. It seems as if humans have an inherent desire for seeking a meaning for their existence.

But why have we failed to find it? Is there indeed anyone who could confirm having found it? If yes, what exactly did he discover? Why is it important to realize the meaning of life just now?

This book reflects upon various perspectives which may point us to the direction of this rather elusive realization. The book gives little emphasis on the qualitative aspects of the physical life, but instead attempts to discover the ultimate meaning of The Life. This approach leads up to potentially uncovering the significance of existence, rather than merely finding the meaning of one lifetime.

Let us hope these reflections shall give you hints, assistance and insight into where the meaning of your life might lie.

CHAPTER 1: CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS

Before we approach the puzzle of the meaning of life, it might be good to take a bit closer look at some concepts related to this issue. When we place a question of "What is the meaning of life?", we should first comprehend what life is. A few years ago, a large telecommunications company created a popular commercial slogan for marketing its telecommunications solutions for the public. "Life is." Even though the slogan aspired to portray a humorous image of "life is what it is or life happens when it happens, a deeper meaning could be unveiled behind it if one cared to delve more. Another well-used phrase of life is brief, keep away the grief contains a deeper meaning, too, if scrutinized more closely. Eduard Bernstein, a German theorist of Marxism, had a well-known saying purpose does not mean anything to me, the motion means everything to me. This idea encourages you to just live your life and see for yourself where it leads. Another of his sayings while reaching out for something, a human lives a random life which may bring forth something significant gives support to the previous phrase in terms of seeing life as a by-product of something larger. A Finnish writer, Hannu Raittila, has said that the first 40 years of life is birthing, and the following 40 years is dying. This idea encourages you to learn to live your life, rather than to contemplate its potential meaning. The famous Finnish cartoon figure, Harald the Terrible, a Viking warrior, has contributed to the issue of life, too, by saying that life is about war and battle while having times of distress."

When we use the concept of "life", we invariably mean the physical lifetime a human lives here on this planet. Could it be feasible that this concept points to some other life? Can there be other life? If yes, what would this "other life" be like? Where would one lead such a life? If there is such a life, what kind of relationship would it have with the life we are currently having? This issue has brought the mankind to a dead-end time after time.

Another relevant concept relating to life is "meaning. The use of this concept has often been questioned by many who instead prefer to use objective" as it is seen to be a more appropriate term.

They argue that life creates movement towards something which, though, we do not know yet.

The term "meaning implies that life is more of an impassive state or mere significance, which does not call for activity. Is life more of being than doing? The state of being may have a meaning, but obviously activity may have a meaning, too. The meaning" tends to leave it open in terms of how the actual meaning of life is accomplished. Is it possible that the meaning is self-fulfilling, without the human input? As if a human leads a meaningful life, which will then actualize regardless of his actions. Or should a human fulfil his life on his own? This implies that the meaning of life will not come into realization unless a human makes it happen for himself. Where will the meaning come from? Who or what shall give the meaning? Is it up to humans themselves to define what the meaning of their lives is?

On the other hand, an "objective of life contains the presumption that primarily life is about doing, moving towards a certain direction. What makes the definition of doing difficult is that one should know what kind of doing is required to reach the objective. If a human does not know what his objective is, he cannot know, what form of activity the accomplishment calls for. And what kind of activity one should avoid. As a concept, the objective" conjures up a predefined, life-long undertaking, the goal of which is to reach an outcome which is agreed upon before the start. How do we know, which life-long undertaking we should try to accomplish? Is there an index of available undertakings somewhere for us to choose from? Or do we all share one undertaking? If the undertaking reached one particular outcome, who exactly would specify it? Or is a human himself allowed to determine what the outcome of his life should look like? If so, how does he know, what outcomes are there to choose from? Or do we again share one outcome? How would humans find the definition of this single outcome?

One more concept, which is, in fact, only indirectly part of the original question, will have an impact on the overall consideration. That is, whose life and meaning are we talking about?

Meaning of whose life? We will give the obvious reply, it is my life. But this reply prompts for another question. Who or what am I? This question is widely considered to be one of the most essential issues from the viewpoint of human spiritual growth. Well, obviously it is easier, if I understand, who I am, right? If humans had a misconception about their true selves, it would naturally result in them having an equally incorrect idea of the meaning of life in the first place.

From that perspective, it is useful to understand one’s origin. Together with the meaning of life, these two issues have given the mankind sleepless nights for thousands of years.

Now, if we should ask ourselves "Who am I?", most of us would obviously reply: human. So, I am a human being. I am one with my body, right?

And subsequently, when my body dies, I will die as well. This thought is based upon the assumption that the human himself is the source of his life. And when the source of life withers, the human shall cease to exist. What substance is this human source of life? Where exactly in the human body does the power engine reside, which empowers the human existence? Most of us would probably offer either the heart or the brain or both for an answer. If this theory were considered valid, what would the meaning of life be in this instance? What should we all accomplish or achieve by using the physical body? Or would it be viable to think that inside the human there is some other attribute which produces the source of life? There has been a lot of argument around this subject, yet without any satisfactory explanation that would be more widely accepted.

We might also ask how does one know that one has fulfilled the meaning of life or reached the objective of life? Can it be pointed out by reasoning?

Can we examine it by using a logical chain of thought? Can we feel the meaning of life like any other emotion? Or are we not able to identify it until we die? Who would then be the entity to identify it? Also, it would probably be safe to say that scientists would like to know if the fulfilment of the meaning of life or accomplishment of the objective can be verified using a commonly accepted scientific method.

Apart from the meaning of life, the reason for the existence of our world seems to be equally elusive. One might argue that, before trying to understand the meaning of life, we should first work out why this perceivable world of ours exists in the first place. Not until we have found the answer to that question, can we ask ourselves Who am I?. Because I exist in this real world, what is my relation to this world? Am I an integral part of this world? Or am I separate from this world, even though I seem to reside and function here? And further, what is my role in this world?

It would stand to reason that "the role" we play in this world, having first realized the purpose of our world, is indeed the meaning of our