What does life mean to you?

Vinita Dawra Nangia
17 February 2013, 08:41 AM IST

Is it a dream or a nightmare? Is life meaningful or meaningless? Planned or an accident? Some interesting thoughts…

Life is like a book; if you don't travel, meet people or enjoy its varied experiences, you have read but one page of it," said a friend. "I have always thought of life as a dream," said another. "All that we experience and live through is but a dream". "Or a nightmare…," piped up the third.

This exchange had me turn to social networking for more responses, and I wasn't disappointed. The debate got deeper and richer on Facebook. Here are some nuggets. For Anil Kumar, life is "a journey full of dreams and nightmares; meaningful and meaningless moments." Vinod Dhir calls it "a blessing of God … a journey with ups and downs that you enjoy as they come." Sakshi Bhardwaj says, "Life is neither a dream, nor a nightmare. It is reality – it is what I make it!" Surabhi Awasthi calls life "a journey which has planning, accidents, dreams, nightmares, meanings, emotions and feelings."

"No, no, no," said Jyotirmaya Sharma across continents. "Life just IS. Full stop. We overload meaning and significance to life. Do we ever ask a dog or a cat if their lives have any significance?" Sri Velagalketi agrees, "Life is not a serious phenomenon. If we take it seriously, we will go on missing it!" Khuman L Rathod says there is no meaning to life per se. It is an empty canvas that we can fill up as we please.

Interesting to realise each of us has our own confident take on this question that has been the topic of much scientific, theological and philosophical debate over the ages. For Plato, the meaning of life was to attain the highest form of knowledge. For Aristotle, life's objective was to attain the "highest good". Epicureans defined it as a seeking of modest pleasures and freedom from fear. Nihilism suggests that life is without objective meaning. For pragmatic philosophers, a practical understanding is far more important than seeking abstract truths of life. Existentialists opine that each of us creates the essence of our lives. Absurdist philosophy finds disharmony between our search for meaning and the meaninglessness of the universe! And Confucianism suggests that we can realise the ultimate meaning of life in ordinary human existence.

And that is perhaps what I was trying to do with this exercise – discover what we ordinary human beings think of life, as we go along our everyday living. What does life mean to most of us, apart from the philosophical, scientific or theological discussions? Do we pause to think about the purpose of living? Or should we even do so? Are we overloading meaning and significance to life? Or are we not ascribing it enough significance? Difficult to figure out, particularly if one decides to consult the vastness of material available from thinkers, theologians and scientific minds, not to talk of poets and writers.

Hence, let us rely on our instinct and experience. Most agree that we want to be happy. Then comes the need for fulfillment and contentment, which will come from a feeling of self-esteem. This leads to the quest for spiritual benevolence and exaltation, which may be defined as the ultimate goal.

Back to Facebook, Debasish Roy defines life as "getting closer and closer towards the paramatma through external and self-realisation through deeds and knowledge". To Nivedita Abraham, life is "a purpose"; to Indoo Seth, it is "a gift", to Nirmala Singh "a shagun, a blessing". To Mandvi Sharma, it is "a climb to the highest mountain", with all its exhilarations and tough moments. Bidisa Sarkar says life is "a cradle of joys and sorrows". Krishna Subramanian looks at life as "a chance to make a difference" while Girish Mahadevan says "life is a series of open-ended questions". Birinder Ahuja says, "Life is our destiny planned by God. The script is His!"

To me, life is a beautiful learning experience, and to a great extent, it is what we make of it. It is a package with its attendant high and low points. If the high points help us gain self-esteem and happiness, the low ones too help speed our journey to self-actualisation by making us introspect. Nobody knows for sure whether there is life after death, or rebirth. So, if the only known truth is the one life in our possession, we should live it to the hilt – as best as we can in the most conscionable manner."