How Does a Person Live a Meaningful Life - Assignment Example

? How Does a Person Live a Meaningful Life? Many lives are wasted everyday because of a lack of meaning and a lackof direction. Oftentimes, the person does not know what he wants in life, or keeps changing his decisions, perhaps because the conscious and unconscious do not seem to agree with each other. A meaningful life is a life lived in kindness both on the inside and on the outside, and more than anything, should be a person not only of contemplation but also of action. The one quality that makes someone live a meaningful life is the life of kindness. Unless someone is kind, he will never be able to fully understand another person. When one is kind, he will be able to help other people not only through his acts of kindness but just by being a kind person to them. There are three advantages to being kind. First, through his example, he can inspire others to be also kind to their neighbors. Whenever there is a natural disaster that strikes a particular place, we cannot help but be inspired by people who lend a helping hand to the victims and we are then filled with their inspiring kindness, and then we then help these people. Had it not been for the kindness of some people, not many other people would decide to make donations to a particular charitable organization. A second advantage of kindness is that it is its own reward, which means that the moment one shows kindness, he must already be happy with what he is doing. Moreover, in a supernatural point of view, those people who do acts of kindness sincerely are actually even rewarded more by God. Although a truly kind person does not expect any reward for what he has done, somehow God rewards him in secret. A third reason for why kindness defines meaning in life is that when one is kind, he will be able to get to know so many people whose lives he will touch and who can help fill his happiness. Also, in the realm of the supernatural, perhaps this is where one can find someone who he can love for the rest of his life, or he may be able to help. Indeed, with kindness nothing can go wrong. The saint is an example of someone who acts with kindness. He exemplifies kindness through his work and through his actions. The saint touches people’s lives only through her kindness. It is actually not his or her faith that moves the congregation but her kindness, and this kindness cannot be without action. The reason is that kindness cannot be the kindness that we know if it does not involve sincere giving of oneself and of one’s time and resources. In short, the action aspect of kindness is already embedded in its name and in its definition. You cannot therefore define, explain or talk about kindness without demonstrating it. This is also the reason why it is just natural for the saint to be kind and to exemplify kindness. The saint is actually the living example of kindness. Aside from kindness, another factor that makes life a meaningful one is that of sincerity, for without sincerity, there is no desire to be kind. Sincerity therefore is the one thing that determines the degree of kindness that one wants to express to someone who needs it. How then can sincerity be attained? As Plato taught us, we need to constantly contemplate our lives and we need to continue asking questions. As long as we contemplate our lives, we then try to understand how different or how similar our actions are to our true intentions. Thus, through contemplation we will at least have an idea whether what we are doing is sincere or not. The philosopher Plato has once asked the Greeks to contemplate on their lives and to keep asking questions in order to find out whether what they were doing were still moral or not anymore. From this, one would like to think that Plato was asking the Greeks also the question of finding out whether what they were doing on the outside were still in synch with what they had been wanting to do on the inside. For if these two things are similar, then that is a powerful combination that yields fruitful action and that if so, it is action blessed with sincerity and cultivated in genuine love and concern for one’s fellowman. A lot of people we see on TV or in the news seem kind but perhaps some of them perform acts of kindness only for the sake of fame or convenience, which means that some of them could actually be insincere in their dealings. If so, then these insincere acts of kindness will never add any meaning to their lives. Even in relationships, if one does not contemplate or ask questions as to whether this relationship is what the couple really want or not, then at some point the relationship will then start becoming blurry. Only relationships that have properly been rationalized and whose participants have always contemplated it would be able to survive. For those relationships that are simply based on emotion and where the lovers never contemplate, perhaps one day, they would simply find themselves in a relationship that is never actually meant for them – or a relationship which they actually did not wish on the inside no matter how seemingly beautiful it is on the outside. The kindness shown by the saint and the contemplation taught by Plato would not be complete without the faith shown by Saul of Tarsus. How can one continue to be kind without the assurance that these acts of kindness will never be in vain and that these acts of compassion will never be wasted? Only with faith can someone realize and keep believing that being kind will always result in something good and will always be inspiring to others. If one has no faith, then he will just stop being kind and stop helping altogether. Why is this so? Because, without faith, he would think that his efforts will simply be put to waste and that if he helped, maybe he would even get hurt or be killed for doing it. Thus, faith – like the one exemplified by Saul of Tarsus – is like the one that gives kindness its own reward. At the same time, it is faith that determines sincerity. When Plato asks us to contemplate or to look into the depths of our own hearts and minds, then what he means is that, through contemplation, we should ask ourselves whether we still keep the faith behind our actions and our motives. Because, if there is no more faith in us, then it would be useless for us to continue something like a relationship or an endeavor. We can therefore only continue doing acts of kindness in full sincerity if we possess the faith that fuels our desires and the same faith that promises us the rewards of a better life. Each one of us is called to have faith, not necessarily in a religious sense but in a way where we believe that whatever we do or we do not do are all accounted for. Nobody wants his efforts to be in vain and nobody wants to love but fail in the end. Each one secretly and unconsciously desires success in whatever we do. This is not the same as the reward of money or the reward of fame or a place in heaven. The reward that people seek with their faiths is the gradual realization of the vision of the world that they have always dreamed of. For those who help in the name of kindness and sincerity, faith works by showing them that their efforts can indeed make one happy and can make them happy too. The desire to be happy and the desire to see other people happy is never the same as the material desire to gain fame, money or a place in heaven, which are all insincere desires. Faith is good but it should be active. This is what Soren Kierkegaard teaches us. Faith alone by word is not enough. For Kierkegaard, the active life can only be had through an active participation in one’s life or in another’s. For active faith, Kierkegaard reminds people of the sacrifice of Abraham of his son Isaac as part of the active faith that one has. A lot of people would think faith is merely a word or something that is only a concept which is synonymous to belief, hope or even some strong belief. Nevertheless, although faith can indeed be a concept, every person is encouraged to practice it actively by doing something or through positive action that will cause a corresponding positive change in another person’s life. For example, if one considers the idea of sympathizing with the victims of a natural or man-made disaster, one should not only try to believe that good things will happen to those people affected by such a disaster. Rather one should believe that he or she is being used by God as an instrument in carrying out God’s plan to help those people. Active faith therefore requires or rather encourages people to help or to assist others in times of need by believing that one is instrumental to the fulfillment of other people’s needs, other people’s lives and other people’s sufferings. Thus, if one believes that he or she is a part of life of another, one believes that he or she plays a necessary spiritual role in the life of that person. If one therefore hears another person say that he is suffering from a particular disease or a particular problem, then one should not only sympathize or hope that things will get better for that person, but rather should think that one has an active participatory role in that person’s life. If it is not a physical role, then it must be a spiritual one, as often it is. One’s belief in such an idea is the meaning of the active faith that Kierkegaard would like to emphasize. Active faith is not only a momentary obligation to one’s fellowman but rather it is a perennial duty towards one’s neighbor. It is not just helping someone in times of need but also by becoming a part of that person’s life, although you just work in the background. The possession of active faith does not stop at the point where one’s neighbor is suffering. It rather extends throughout one’s neighbor’s life. Through this, one can give meaning not only to one’s life but also to the life of another. For example, if one tells you that he has a dream of becoming a famous man someday, active faith requires us to think that we have a direct or indirect participatory role in his or her life and in the fulfillment of that particular dream. If one person tells us his aspirations, we need not only bask in the beauty of these aspirations but rather we should ask ourselves what role we play in or what we can do for the fulfillment of such a dream. This is entirely different from meddling with one’s life or with one’s private affairs. The idea of active faith is therefore similar to playing a rather indirect role in one’s life by helping to make things happen for that person. It is like asking “What gift does this person want from me?” or “What gift can I share with this person?” or “What can I do to help make this person a little happier in his life?” Active faith is therefore synonymous to the idea of sharing oneself with one’s neighbor and rejoicing in the process of such sharing. Active faith is also not an obligation directed towards only the needy but towards everyone who has a need, and that is practically everyone in ones midst. Everyone has a need and a problem, and active faith somehow teaches us to help that person solve his problem or get out of the negative situation that he is in. As long as we realize the active or passive role that we play in someone’s life, we would realize that almost everyone needs our help and needs us to help them in their lives. Active faith only stops from existing as a principle if there are no more people to help. In a similar way, the meaning of one’s life only ceases if there are no more people with problems to solve. Thus, one should realize that as long as there is someone who needs our help in one way or another, whether they have asked for it or not, it means that we should continue practicing active faith or our active or passive role in that person’s life. If we realize that this is the same principle that works in all our interpersonal relationships, we then come to realize the role we play as instruments of God’s love and peace. Active faith is also about selfless giving and is required of all without any excuse. Most people would have an excuse not to give perhaps because of their own financial constraints or perhaps because they believe they do not have much to give, or that they think it is actually them that should be helped. However, active faith requires us to think that there is always something that we can share with others no matter what our situation in life is. In short, no matter how small the amount of money we have in our pockets, we can still spare someone with our choice. The lesson to be learned here – the one that makes life meaningful – is not just the idea of giving to one’s fellow man but the idea of being able to make a choice even if one does not seem to have any choice at all. Often, people would have a very good excuse for not helping others or not sharing their hearts with others. A good range of excuses would be physical distance, a lack of money, the presence of many problems, or simply idea that I deserve more help than that person. However, if one thinks like that, he too will soon find out that he does not have any more power of choice, for his circumstances have already addressed his choice and has already made the decision for him. This therefore means that a man who possesses active faith naturally can make his own decision despite the circumstances. Therefore, even if I am poor, I would still have the choice whether to help my suffering neighbors or not. This then gives meaning to one’s life and existence. Lastly, a life of active faith must be one where all aspects of a person work together towards the fulfillment of a goal. In the language of Sigmund Freud, this means that for man to be truly successful, he has to make both his conscious and unconscious self agree with each other. There should also therefore be a unification of the id, ego and superego, for a man whose aspects of self function altogether in the same direction is able to accomplish great in life, and can truly experience success. This somehow echoes Plato’s idea of introspection and contemplation, and that it is this concept that defines sincerity. Oftentimes, there are people who want to do something good in their lives but they revert back to their old negative ways because their unconscious and their id are too strong to overcome. There are also those who say one thing but do the opposite, for the same reasons. What then can help us accomplish our plans fast and what then can make us obtain something in life without any more doubts? Most importantly, what then can restore our honor, dignity and integrity? People make promises freely without even thinking whether they can truly fulfill those promises or not. Thus, the agreement of the unconscious and conscious in one individual will propel him towards success through integrity. That is how one’s life can have meaning. The meaningful life is all about kindness inside and out, as well as a combination of both contemplation and action. Its concept, however, is defined by the ideas of several people. The saint is the perfect example of kindness, and both Plato and Freud somehow believe that there should not be any question that exists between the mind and the body. The basis of kindness is also faith and choice as demonstrated by the teachings by Saul of Tarsus and Soren Kierkegaard. The most meaningful life, therefore, is one of contemplation and action, and with faith coupled with courage. Read More