It feels rather foolish to inquire on the question on the meaning of life with a preconceived pessimistic notion that it is meaningless. This thought could be identified as modern, contemporary even. It does manage an answer however- in a way- laying it’s base on the insignificance of human existence. The bleak, gray, rather empty streets of France after the world wars on which I find myself make me say this. But adhering to this fancy today, seems rather unjustified. I call it a fancy for it has become one in today’s world, the society that we live in, where now it is hardly a temptation to acquire knowledge for its sake. The other side of the same coin would be to be seen as an intellectual, which is a sheer folly. I’m tempted to decry our age as the least conscious of this substantial thought, least conscious of life in its all essence, to have a fat layer of ignorance sit on the questions imposed by life- but somehow I infer on the thought I feel inconsiderate, perhaps a little ignorant. Perhaps the seriousness of the thought hasn’t been lost. It may be just well distributed- not just in today’s age, but throughout history- so that it has become normal.
Philosophy brings these substantial questions of life to inquiry. The metaphysical questions such as ‘does god exist’ or ‘is there life after death’, the empirical questions- of reality, of the suffering, concepts of morality and rationality, etcetera, or the question with which we started, the existential question of meaning of life- is in its true essence, philosophy. Have we not grown ignorant to the suffering that exists around us? To the lessons of history? This age may just be too young then to be shaken up and reminded to reinquire. It is not as if suffering has ever ceased to exist. It has always been varying it’s intensity, its focal points- but as far as we are from it’s impact, we are ignorant. The twentieth century saw the World Wars and many wars of Independence- of freedom, the Great Depression which brought the entire Europe and America to the streets begging for bread. We are far away from that today. But is the entire humanity? Aren’t the ideal utopias actually dystopias in reality?
Politics are an indispensable part of life. A child of philosophical thought itself. Functioning of a state, virtues of a leader, ethical issues, structure of communities- all are philosophical inquiries. Politics is a child of Philosophy. However we think we stay unaffected by it, it is there- controlling us. But there we talk about society- the entire race. All individuals have a world of their own, made by their choices and actions, their outlooks and perceptions. And it is these individual worlds of us, probably, that make us unaware from time to time of the outer world- for which world is real who is to say? Do not misjudge me when I portray life in its mundane shadow- but hear me out- aren’t all our actions carried out, consciously or unconsciously, striving for happiness and avoiding pain and suffering? What is it for man wishes to renounce and retire from life as we know it, trying to find his true self- his oneness? Then if the world's a stage, we merely players, isn’t Philosophy the soul of the script? So rather seeing this script as meaningness (it cannot be, for its meaning is in its meaninglessness), perhaps it would be appropriate to announce it absurd. Who is the writer, if there’s any? Or is it like improv? Aren’t we all under the realm of philosophy, if not students? Then be it be world peace or an individual’s endeavor of peace- both are subject matters of philosophy. And be it the suffrage in the world, an individual endeavour of avoidance of pain, it is under the inquiry of philosophy.
Let's move on to science. A person who has suffered memory loss would find himself wanting to know where he is. He would have no recognition of his surroundings, would be terrified and feel lost. When we talk of the first man, would his condition be similar? But man hadn’t fallen from heavens- poor Eve wasn’t lured into eating the apple by Satan which angered the God, it is a biblical story- but a mere animal, descended from primates as some genus of homo, before becoming what we are today- by the process of evolution. So then a human being- the animal- wouldn’t have been any more or less terrified of the world when it first came to life than a child born today is. This is what science teaches us. It provides this age’s rationale. This particular theory belongs to the topic of evolution. The theory of multiverse belongs to physics and to its much complicated branches- but before anything, these were thoughts, products of the human intellect and wonder, what man captured by his senses and wondered… The cro magnon, when had its stomach filled (survival before anything), lay under the blanket of stars, wondering what life is- might just be man’s first steps into the realm of philosophy.
It is a human tendency to let our thoughts wander with naivety and cluelessness, but Philosophy is systematization of that thought, it is a logical discipline. True philosophy is a systematic body of principles and applications, not static- for it is not the word of god but intellectual toil of man, susceptible to change and modifications. It functions with deep inquiry, critical reasoning and rational argumentation on all the fundamental questions of life and beyond. I do not say what science is today is all philosophy, but science is yet a child of philosophy, in the pursuit of wonder, of the inquiry and the answers. Not so long ago, all the possible questions of science were of philosophy, and even today in the broader sense philosophical. Consider the presocratics. The earliest of the known western philosophers, Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes lived during the 6th to 4th BCE in Greece and inferred on the nature of the world- the element from which the world has arised. Thales held water as the primary stuff from which the world has arised, Anaximenes air, whereas Anaximander said it is much primitive than the opposites. Heraclitus asserted that the essence of all things is fire. Now fire, air or water certainly do not appear to be the urstoff at first sight, and in order to reach at such a conclusion, they went beyond appearance and perception to thought… Although they hadn’t derived their urstoff through scientific or experimental methods, but purely by speculative reasoning- and so they are even considered as pre-scientists, and a place in the history of philosophy.
Indian philosophical systems are sometimes wrongly considered as identical with religions. Religion for a good amount of time in human history provided man with security- by bringing people together and building communities- yes- but more importantly, by making sense of the world and providing answers of what was unknown to man. With the rise of science in the 19th century brought the Victorian dilemma, with new scientific discoveries christian faith was under scrutiny… That was about 150 years ago. But till today, religion holds its roots strong. Say why a belief so strongly upheld by humanity for thousands of years till today, which provides man with security, understanding and virtuous path of life be disregarded? Maybe the tree has grown so much that somehow the roots have been forgotten. A true religion’s foundation is its philosophy. It is the teachings of virtue and harmony, imbibing it in conduct, of faith in the absolute truth. All true religious texts are works of philosophy to be foremost,
making religion a part of the realm.
In my trifles sometimes I think the day we find the ultimate truth, God per say, the universe will be destroyed. The fundamental questions- if we haven’t found answers to these questions yet what guarantees we are ever to find them? Even in our humdrum lives, we tend to look up to the skies and wonder about our significance of existence. And perhaps we are born too early in time to answer these questions, to attain the absolute truth. And perhaps we are born too early in time to solve these questions, to attain the absolute truth. Our entire lifetime may seem as one random line of one random page of a novel which begins even before the beginning of time. If we are closer to the beginning, or the end, we could never know. Trying to make sense of the entire novel through that one line is impossible, and unsurprisingly life gets declared as
absurd… meaningless.
But at least to begin an inquiry we need to read a few lines front or back- but remember! Here the book is a metaphor for life, and when we live in the present, we are currently the last written line of the book! The book certainly hasn’t ended, may even run for another billions of years. The option remains therefore, is to move on to the past. And it is the history of Philosophy, the umbrella of all thought, which records man’s search for the truth, for the meaning which gives us the privilege to study the thought of all great thinkers throughout history, who concerned themselves with this philosophical inquiry, which shall make us infer on the questions posed by life, may it be the fundamental nature of reality, knowledge, existence, reason, and morality and rationality. With this study of this history, we’d be merely saving our time (!), analysing and introspection of different ideologies and perspectives, rather beginning from scratch. It is not a personal endeavour but of all humanity, and by studying and contributing even if the significance of one syllable, is humanity a little closer to the ultimate reality. The philosophical endeavor of man is the experimental proof to which life is the problem. The history of Philosophy needs to be studied to understand and explore this human endeavor, to relish the absurd of life.
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