The Inspiration
I’ve always had the tendency to contemplate the intricacies of the human condition and other deep questions about life, but I’ve had special interest as of late. I’m enrolled in the new Philosophy/World Religions course being offered in high school this year for the first time. I have to say, it has sparked a lot of new ideas and different ways of understanding the world. We’ve studied Hinduism and Buddhism so far, and their ideas are very intriguing to me. With all these thoughts running through my head, I felt like it was best to organize them into an article and share them with you.
What is the purpose of life?
One might say that our sole purpose is to recreate and pass on genetic strands so that the human race continues to thrive. Another might claim that our lives are essentially devoid of meaning, because we are just one individual in the midst of seven billion on a tiny rock floating in the incomprehensible vastness of space. Yet another might suggest that our duty is to be as good as a person we can be, whether for the sake of simply being a decent human being, or perhaps to reach some sort of spiritual enlightenment. The point is, there is no clear answer.
(Plato’s famous “Allegory of the Cave” – Image Source)
Philosophers have wrestled with these questions since the dawn of the human race, and while they have offered up different viewpoints, there is no absolute conclusion. It’s still up to us as individuals to come to terms about what our own lives mean. It is a daunting task, yet at the same time, it is this quest to find ourselves that drives many of us to keep moving forward. We’ve been taught to follow the linear progression of going to school, graduating, finding a job, starting a family, raising children, and then having them repeat the same cycle, but I feel like there is some deeper meaning to life beyond that.
It is the journey that matters, not the destination. The destination is that we’re all going to die someday, so what really counts is what we do during the time until then. Why do we continue to fight despite all the suffering of the human condition? What is it that we’re searching for? Will we ever find it?
Does money buy happiness?
Consider this: Do celebrities who are making a fortune and who are considered “successful” actually happy? On the flip side, are those who are living a life without luxury somehow more happy than the rich and famous?
Money does provide happiness and a sense of comfort. Money provides a safety net to cover life’s unexpected expenses. Money unlocks new opportunities that would be harder to attain otherwise, such as travelling around the world. At its most basic level, money covers day-to-day cost of living. It is the food in your mouth, the clothing on your shoulders, the roof over your head. Having sufficient money means not having to worry about being in debt or paying the monthly bill, and still having enough money to enjoy life’s pleasures. With all this said, it would be naive of me to say that I could be completely happy without money, but I will say that it doesn’t provide permanent happiness.
When you bought something that you really wanted, how long did that happiness last? When I got my first phone, I was really excited to explore all the different features. However, it was not long before that initial novelty wore off and it just became something I took for granted. Perhaps you may be guilty of buying a piece of clothing that you “loved”, only to wear it a few times (or not at all) before it doesn’t feel as special anymore. Essentially, the initial high of getting something new only lasts for a short time before you get used to it. As a result, you may end up buying something else to satisfy that craving, only to get bored after a while, and buy yet another thing. Thus, you get trapped in this vicious cycle of materialism and temporary happiness.
In fact, you may run out of material goods that will fill that emptiness. My teacher mentioned a study that found that an individual’s general level of happiness caps off at a certain amount of income. It makes sense that making more money will provide more happiness than someone struggling to meet basic necessities, but at some point, that happiness level stops rising. Say you make $300,000 a year and you get a raise to $350,000 a year, will that make much of a difference? Sure you’ll have more money to spend, but you can already afford almost everything you would ever want. Take billionaires for instance. They can buy mansions, multiple yachts and private jets, but does that necessarily make them happier? I would say no.
(Gandhi was a Hindu activist who believed in change through non-violence – Image Source)
An obsession over material goods can foster an unhealthy mindset of greed and elitism. Greed is a hungry monster with a bottomless stomach – it will always yearn for more without ever being perfectly content. For example, it may mean replacing your old iPhone because a new model came out, and then throwing that out when an even newer model comes along. You may start judging others on what they have or don’t have. “Oh, why do you still have that tacky old phone?” “You buy your clothing from a thrift shop? How pitiful.” “You have to go to the food bank? Can’t afford it yourself?”
These are just examples of the condescending attitude a person can have. It stems from being privileged, but not appreciating it and realizing that others aren’t as lucky. Having more stuff does not make you better than others, but in a world that connects material wealth with success, there is a tendency to have this type of attitude.
So what does this all mean? A life of devoid of material possessions is not practical, but a life of excessive luxury comes with its own set of problems. In my opinion, the ideal life is somewhere in the middle of spectrum between extreme poverty and extreme wealth. In Buddhism, this is called the Middle Way. It’s having enough money to meet all your personal needs and live a comfortable life. This is obviously different for each person. The main idea is that having not enough money means stressing about how to make ends meet and living from paycheck-to-paycheck. While having too much money can distract a person from other important aspects to living a holistic life.
It’s fine to indulge once in a while, but there should be an awareness that a balance is needed. Money certainly plays a role in happiness, but there is more beyond that.
(The Ying and Yang is a symbol for balance and duality in Taoism – Image Source)
Is happiness the same thing as meaningfulness?
It depends on each person’s interpretation of what these terms mean. They are certainly interconnected, but there are some distinctions that can be made, and are perhaps, valuable to make. According to a study from Stanford University, 397 people were surveyed over a month about if they thought their lives were happy or meaningful.
In summary, they found that happiness stems from fulfilling your desires and getting what you want, but this had little to do with meaningfulness. While happiness comes from focusing on the present, meaningfulness comes from thinking about the past, present and future. Happiness comes from living a stress-free life, but the study suggests that meaning is found by going through struggles and challenges in your life.
For example, while raising a child is filled with stress, parents reported their lives as being more meaningful because they are focused on caring for another human being. Happiness comes from what you get, but meaningfulness comes from what you give. Lastly, self-expression and understanding your own identity was linked more to meaningfulness, but not necessarily happiness.
These ideas are meant to get you thinking about your own life and if you consider yourself to have happiness or meaning in it. I disagree with the study to some extent because I feel like happiness and meaningfulness are more connected than that. Some things can provide both meaning and happiness, such as volunteering and personal relationships. However, the point is that the study certainly reminds me of a concept I learned in Hinduism called the Four Goals of Life. To paraphrase, they are attaining sensual pleasure, material success, understanding their duty, and reaching liberation. Now, I don’t consider myself to be religious (I’m an agnostic), but the beautiful thing about religion is that their key principles can really be applied to your own life if you think about it.
Essentially, the first two goals are about enjoying life and getting a good job. To relate back to the study, this would be the happiness dimension of life. Hinduism says that it’s a natural part of life to satisfy your desires and indulge in material pleasures. However, at some point, the emphasis of materialism shifts towards one of spirituality. The third goal is discovering your duty. In other words, what is your purpose in this world? Here, we start venturing into the meaningfulness aspect of life. It is marked by a period of self-reflection and learning about what our true values are. It may be giving back to the community through volunteering. Or it may be fighting for a cause we strongly believe in. In a sense, we define our own meaning of our lives.
The final goal is reaching liberation. Liberation means something different for each person, so I intend the word to be open-ended. But in Hinduism, after going through these different stages of life, the ultimate destination is to transcend the human condition and reach eternal bliss, free from the suffering of this world. In my case, liberation would simply mean reaching a point where I am completely happy and understand the meaning of my life. This may never happen, but that’s totally fine. What matters is that I am in the process of trying to understand myself better, rather than blindly wandering through life.
The Bigger Picture
Right now, many youth are wrestling with the question “What do I want to my life?” or “What do I want to be?” Frankly, I bet that when you’re 30, you’ll still be asking the same questions. The best and worst part about life is that we can only know what’s happening right now. We can only predict what will happen in the future, but it still remains a guessing game, filled with randomness and unknown variables. You may say, once I get to university, I’ll have it all figured out. But what if you don’t?
It’s my belief that there’s no age or event where everything magically fits into place and you finally understand. It’s always a gradual learning process. It’s the same misconception that once you become a parent, raising your child will come naturally. Truthfully, no matter how many parenting books you read, being an actual parent will be different from what you expected. Similarly, I feel it’s detrimental to have an expectation that once you cross a certain threshold, such as going to university, that everything will make sense. It won’t. There’ll be challenges that you didn’t expect and even getting a degree doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll find a good job.
What now? With all this uncertainty, it’s easy to fall into a pit of pessimism. However, I feel like it is this same uncertainty that drives us to be a better person, or at the very least, search for answers. Throughout your whole life, it’s valuable to reflect on if you’re actually happy or feel like you have meaning in your day-to-day routine. What do these things mean to you? If you’re still unsure about what you want to do or what you want to be, I feel like that’s absolutely normal. Simply because if you know exactly who you are as a person, then you stop yourself from growing anymore.
(An ensō, Japanese for “circle” from Zen Buddhism – Image Source)
If the ensō is open, it symbolizes imperfection, but also room for development. This is related to the idea if wabi-sabi, a Japanese worldview that describes beauty as “imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.” Although this may sound contradictory, I think there is great wisdom to be gleaned from this. The message I want to you leave off with is to keep asking questions and search for answers, but don’t be disappointed if you don’t come to concrete conclusions. There is a part of life and yourself that isn’t meant to be completely understood. You are not perfect, you’ll eventually pass away and you may never figure everything out. Yet in Zen Buddhism, they would consider that as something beautiful. Take a moment and really let that sink in.