So the meaning of human life…
This is a common question that most of us ask to ourselves at some point in our life. It's a widely discussed topic in many books (like Man’s Search for Meaning and The Myth of Sisyphus). And the answers to this question may range from "life is meaningless" to whatever answer in the opposite side of this.
One way to approach or find an answer to this question may rest in understanding the value of human life itself.
How is something valuable?
We are social beings, that's a fact, and through collectivity we assign value to things; whether something is scarce and desired by a large portion of the population, it tends to hold more value.
Is something valuable just because it is scarce and desired then?
not necessarily, something can be widely desired but not scarce, like water. If we think about it, we can acknowledge the immense value of water, without it all life on earth could cease to exist.
So now we also know that something is valuable if something else depends on it. If A depends on B, then B has value for A. In a less extreme case, if A benefits from B or derives a utility from it, B still has value for A. In general, if B is useful for A, then B has value for A.
Here I am trying to discuss the value of things in an objective and neutral way, however I must state that I'm ignoring the human complexity, and even though we are rational beings, we are emotional as well and we can assign a sentimental value to personal things, a subjective value lets say. So there may be situations where we are willing to trade off objective value (like market value) for subjective value (personal value).
Returning to the main question… What is the value of human life?
In many cases, if B serves for A, B is useful for A and has value.
So if:
B = Human life
And:
A = Life
We can attribute value to human life if it serves to life (in all forms) in some way. We are an expression of life, so an individual can find value (objective value and subjective value) in serving society as well. (Recognition is not the focus here, someone can or could've been valuable for humanity and lack this recognition, whether by decision or other circumstances).
About finding value serving to human life, in society, an individual life can be perceived and judged by others based on their actions, so this perception can be either "positive" or "negative" in some degree between this poles, and the rewards may be correlated to this judgment; since human society is complex, different groups may judge actions according to varying principles.
Value has many expressions (money is valuable, experiences and helping others are rewarding and have an intrinsic value), and may be found in different levels or circles (personal/you, community/helping others in some degree, country, global; your grade of influence).
So the personal meaning of human life may lie in discovering which form of value holds significance for us and what to do with it once we attain it. And related to the circle in which we found some expression of value attractive, we can go from just benefit ourselves to whatever point on the other side, abnegation. In short we can find meaning in finding whichever activity that fulfills us (in some way this activity will provide some kind of value for us), sounds easy, but it may be not.
Let's keep in mind that the concept of value and its importance may be only relevant for us, humans. And that we assign objective and subjective value to stuff, so if we can find a personal (subjective) meaning to our life as we discussed, then there may be and objective meaning to human life as well.
We humans are unique (each form of life is), although we are naturally limited by physics and anatomy, our intellect, willpower and desires allow us to shape our lives and even surpass the limits we initially perceive; we have the sensation of free will, maybe we do, or maybe our brain does not let us see that we are conditioned, in some way we know we are conditioned and influenced by our genes and surroundings, but let's assume we have free will.
We came from inanimate matter to single cells to higher level organization levels, to globalization. We can observe the tendency of life to perpetuate and expand itself. Many species fulfill this perpetuation throughout reproduction, but us humans have the option to achieve this perpetuation through the expression of our creativity, in different types or art and impacting other humans and the universe itself with our actions, leaving something that will last centuries after we possible die, our ideas, ideals, creations, a legacy, something meaningful.
Observing the tendency of life, it is clear that it is not logical to destroy or let life fade away…
So we have discussed finding a personal meaning of human life through searching for an expression of value in some level of society; which we can find in some activity that fulfills us.
But there may be a broad meaning of human life, the one we can deduce from the tendency of life itself:
Conserving life,
Improving life,
Expanding life.
This is what I call "The 3 pillars of humankind". The 1 and 3 are an observation of life itself, and the 2nd one an observation of human life, we have improve our quality of live over time and we also have the ability and capacity to improve the life of other species.
So perhaps the objective meaning of human life lies here, in these fundamental pillars. If someone find a personal meaning outside of them, that's valid too. Even though we are not aware of it, every human life is another chance for the spark of life itself to continue to shine in the universe.
I am fully aware that there may be other takes on the meaning of life and human life, some perspectives may converge with mine and others diverge entirely. However, this is my take at this point in my life and I don't rule out changing or refining my view in the future.
Published: Dimanche 02 Mars 23:22.
Edited and logs: At some point in the future maybe…