Happiness and meaning - Essay Example

Philosophy 17th May, Happiness and Meaning of Life As Kolak and Martin argue in their article “Meaning”, the question of the meaning of life is a question that is inevitable in life; every person at one point or another in his/her life has to grapple with this question in an attempt to get the meaning or the purpose of life (Kolak and Martin, 87). This paper gives my personal reflection on happiness and the meaning of life; the reflection incorporates Kolak’s and Martin’s views on happiness and the meaning of life.

In my reflections on the meaning of life, I have come to realize that the meaning of human life lies in serving other human beings through doing what one loves. In my view on the meaning of human life, the both reason why some people never find meaning in life is that they are either individualistic and they do not want to share their lives with other people, or they never get chance to do or to work in fields that they love. The following is the main reason why I believe that the meaning of human life can be found in serving other human beings.

To begin with, a critical look at the main reason why many people never find meaning in life shows that they are individualistic and they do not want to share their lives with other people. In their reflections on the meaning of life, Kolak and Martin agrees with this view when they argue that the main cause of human struggle is division from within and from without, Kolak and Martin argues, “Everyone knows it takes two to have a fight. You can’t be involved in a struggle unless someone is resisting.

The resistance might come from outside or from the inside- either you are divided from someone else, or from environment, or from yourself” (Kolak and Martin, 88). For Kolak and Martin, therefore, once one is united with other people, with the environment, and even with oneself, there is less struggle in life and hence, one will find the meaning of life. Kolak and Martin goes on to argue that it is only by ending the divisions or the fragmentations that cause human struggle that one can avoid struggling, hence finding the meaning of life.

A critical look at the main cause of division that Kolak and Martin are talking about shows that it is individualism; because of individualism, people are separated from others, from the environment, and even from themselves because they will not be at peace with themselves when they are not united with other people and the environment. For this reason, therefore, individualism is actually the main cause of human fragmentation that makes human beings to see life as being useless. The question of the meaning of human life, however, is intrinsically related with the question of human happiness.

In my reflections on human happiness, I have come to realize that human happiness lies in doing what one loves, or in doing what one is talented in. This is because it is only in doing what one loves that one will find fulfilment in one’s work and in one’s life. Kolak and Martin support this view of happiness when they argue that it is only by pleasing other people that we become successful (Kolak and Martin, 89). By pleasing others, Kolak and Martin meant serving other people excellently so that the people will be happy and appreciative of our services or work.

For Kolak and Martin, in order to perform excellently in our work and please other people, we should be connected to the activity or the work that we do (Kolak and Martin, 90). By being connected to one’s activity or work, Kolak and Martin meant that one should really love their work and do it as an end in itself, rather than as a mean to some other ends (Kolak and Martin, 91). A critical view of how one can be connected to one’s activity or work shows that it is only by doing what one loves and what one is talented in.

In my view, it is only by doing what one loves or what one is talented in that one can be truly connected to the work or to the activity, hence being able to excellently serve human beings and to please them.In conclusion, human happiness and the meaning of human life can be attained only through selflessly serving other human beings by doing or by working in the area that one is talented in. Through selfless service to other human beings, one will be united to other people, to the environment, and even to oneself, hence finding true happiness and the attendant meaning of one’s life.

Work CitedKolak, D., and Martin, R. “Meaning”. Wisdom without Answers: A Guide to the Experience of Philosophy. USA: Wadsworth, 1989.