What is the aim of life? This is the most perplexing question I have asked myself.
I have had brainstormed many times for an answer to this question, quite unsuccessfully.
I am still not standing before each of you hands full.
But I have a few thoughts to share about the goal of life.
To make it look easy and simple, I have divided the discussion: Aim of life into two areas:
1) General Aim of Human life: what is human life all about?
2) Specific to You: what is the aim of your life?
We all know, we are born in this world without our consent, have to fight for daily bread (as we feel hungry four times a day,and bread is not free in all supermarkets) and finally we have to die one day, by age of around 75-80, or a couple of years after, if you are so lucky.
So, what is the aim of human life (if there is one)?
The question can be termed as philosophical, and hence science is not expected to give an answer to this question. My personal analysis of the question produced an answer which has its elements rooted in spirituality and non-spirituality.
Look at what the human population/generation have done till today (AD 2011) : produced off-springs, fought wars, invented new technologies and finally died.
If you search an answer for the same question – meaning of life – from the fellow animal world, you can understand that – they are also doing the same, except the last three. All animals produce off-springs, search their daily bread and finally pass away from the world.
So passing the genetic material, DNA, to the next generation is what which is happening in all life forms apart from what they do in their daily life routine.
Hence this can be generalized as the aim of population, if not life.
Survival is the first task each person/population faces once born on this earth and they find food, mate and produce the next generation to make sure that their population is not becoming extinct.
But analyzing the human population, are we passing any thing more than the DNA to next generation?
The answer is yes!
We are passing our moral values, assets, better technology, better environment(doubtful in this) and so on.
So, all our generations have voluntarily or involuntarily tried to add many things to make human life more beautiful and civilized.
Or in another sense, generations before have tried to help the present, and the present generation has the duty to work for the future.
A very brief list of our forefather’s simplest discoveries include fire, stones, metals, wheels, clothes and the inventions of paper, motor cars, planes, vaccines, computers, mobile phones, space satellites.
If these were not there, think how would have been our present life.
So, I feel this can be passed as the meaning of human life in general:
Sow seeds for a better Generation-Next!
or to make it more simple: Help others.
OK. That is about human life in general.
But what is the aim of each individual?
Be a part of this chain.
Its a team game. Play your part.
Do some thing which can add more value and meaning to your life.
Give something back to your world.
Make world a better place than the one you saw when you were born.
Get inspired from the acts of great leaders who contributed much to the world.
-A.Lincoln who abolished slavery, M.Gandhi who liberated a nation using Ahimsa and non-violence, L.Pasteur who saved the world from a dreaded disease with his vaccine, A.Graham Bell for telephone or B.Gates for personal computer revolution.
This is the message for each one of us:
Help others in the way you can.
Be a Better individual.
Constantly try to improve your capabilities.
Make the world a better one in your own way with your contribution.
All the very best!
PS: If you have any additions to the spiritual meaning/philosophical meaning of life please feel free to send your views to me. I am deeply interested in this. Of course, everyone is, I suppose:)