Meaning of Life: Pop Culture to Philosophy

 Meaning of Life: Pop Culture to Philosophy

What is the meaning of life? 

This particular question has kept Philosophers awake night after night. One of the most interesting things about Philosophy is that they battle with each other through rational arguments and understanding for thousands of years. To this day, we still debate the ideas of Socrates and Aristotle.

Asking what life's meaning means asking what gives anyone’s life meaning. Or what does it even mean to give ‘meaning’ to something?

When we talk about the meaning of life, pop culture often implies that Success, Happiness, Money, and love define the meaning of life. 

Moreover, our social construct wired all these metrics in our minds, influencing us to a greater degree. Many of us maintain or want to maintain a certain standard. For this, we often look for a higher-paying job that gives us accessibility to a good amount of money and assets. All of those make us feel safe, successful, and somewhat superior.

Furthermore, Contemporary Capitalism and the idea of the modern family have greatly influenced our concept of the meaning of life. It has popularized the idea of monogamous marriage giving birth to the contemporary family, which typically consists of children and their parents. Consequently, people have started defining their own life with the success of their family members. Especially in 3rd world countries, if a child of a family gets to be a doctor, engineer, or lawyer, they tend to find peace and prosperity.

 Frankly, our nature of thinking and rational decision is nurtured by this dominating economic system that the whole world has adopted

 However, Existentialist Philosopher Camus thinks life doesn’t have any inherent meaning. We choose to give meaning to the things we love to do, and through those meaningful things combined, we find the meaning of life.

 A critical question might arise: Do we really have choices in a capitalist world? ( if we do so, to what extent? How can we measure the extent of it?)

Undoubtedly, we have some degree of choice, such as what to eat, which clothes to wear, and which courses to enroll in. These might make us feel like we can choose most things.

However, The Ukrainian people couldn’t choose their invasion by The Russian Federation and the utmost suffering it has been causing. A kid born in South Sudan, a country in Sub-Saharan Africa, cannot access necessary food and education even if he wants. I can’t even choose not to attend my classes at university because that would revoke my student status.

It’s, therefore, necessary to understand and acknowledge the privileges that we have been fortunate to have. The more privileges we have, the more choices we can make.

The wealthiest Ukrainians could already move their life to some other countries. In South Sudan, the politically influential figureheads enjoy a lavish lifestyle. All of these privileges some are earned but mostly inherited from generation.

The question is, what to do with all the privileges? 

Each of our lives is unique in its way, just each of us is unique in our own way.

As life is nothing but recollections of our moments, we all should find things that make us happy and excited. It is essential to recognize the value of little things like having a coffee in the morning, being drenched by rain, and dancing mindlessly alone in a room. At the same time, we should all be aware that our privileges are the reasons we get to enjoy all the things mentioned earlier.

Thus, with all the privileges we have been blessed with, we ought to elevate the sufferings of less fortunate people. 

In the book Ichigo Ichie, Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia said, “ What we are experiencing right now will never happen again.”

In other words, we appreciate our life, the people we love, and the privileges we have. It indeed tells us to make the best use of ‘now.’

We are all chasing something like academic validation and social standards, forgetting that the point is to do things that make us happy. The anxiety and the uncertainty of the world often chase us to forget the journey- the beauty and singularity of it rather being inclined to our destination.

Live a life that’s meaningful to thyself.

Enjoy the journey before the destination.

The meaning of life depends upon what meaning you choose to give it.