What it means to be alive or the meaning of life is one of the most fundamental questions confronting us. The same quest had been approached as what is a good life by many thinkers throughout history and all over the world. I'm asking this same old question again to reexamine my priorities and perspectives in this time of many interesting and challenging issues.
There are countless number of materials on this type of questions. To make the matters more complicated, there are stages in life and each stage may have different perspectives and priorities. My questions and the efforts to answer them are personal and reflect my current stage in life. I say it is personal because many people are so overwhelmed by the pressure, stress, and misfortunes of life that it is unfair to ask them to reexamine their life.
A long, long time ago, I realized that meaning of life is what you give yourself. Whatever it may be. I have been very lucky to be able to keep that same frame of mind. The whole thing started as asking what the meaning of life is and it continued as asking questions about myself and the world around me. Asking questions itself became my meaning of life which is making me feel alive. I'm lucky because the questions continued to come, at least, so far and very very fortunate in having family and friends who understood and supported my selfish quest. I know it can be very selfish and self- absorbing to the point of irresponsibility to the loving people around you.
You want to be the best but the meaning of life is, also, finding balance, harmony, and peace. You need the critical thinking and wise insight. The critical thinking is assessing the situation clearly and correctly and wise insight means that there are always consequences to your decisions and actions.
Many critical issues are facing us in politics, economy, energy, civility, climate change, and many other areas. The cause of the problem and the solution to the problem always lie in the people. It is the decency, integrity, dignity of the people and greed, vanity, hubris, stupidity, and ugliness of the people.
Decision makers should have clear idea of what it means to be alive so that the decisions have a long lasting values and trust. This may not apply to the politics right now because it has become a game, a cheap game. Playing the political,or economic, game may make them feel alive. But my question is not asked in the spirit of playing a game but in the spirit of what is better for the common humanity. And at the personal level, it is still possible. We, all of us, can still strive for a life solidly based on what it means to be alive. At this moment, individual is in ascendency over traditional organizations. When each individual finds wisdom and peace, the effectiveness and benefit of the organizations may come naturally.
