27 Mar The answer to the question : “what is the meaning of life?” !
Yet if life does have a meaning, it is surely not of this contemplative kind. The meaning of life is less a proposition than a practice. It is not an esoteric truth, but a certain form of life. As such, it can only really be known in the living. Perhaps this is what Wittgenstein had in mind when he observed in the Tractatus that ‘We feel that even if all possible scientifi c questions be answered, 94 The Meaning of Life then problems of life have still not been touched at all. Of course there is then no question left, and just this is the answer. The solution of the problem of life is seen in the vanishing of this problem’ (6.52, 6.251)
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The meaning of life is not a solution to a problem, but a matter of living in a certain way. It is not metaphysical, but ethical. It is not something separate from life, but what makes it worth living – which is to say, a certain quality, depth, abundance, and intensity of life. In this sense, the meaning of life is life itself, seen in a certain way.
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This kind of activity is known as agape-, or love, and has nothing to do with erotic or even affectionate feelings. The command to love is purely impersonal: the prototype of it is loving strangers, not those you desire or admire. It is a practice or way of life, not a state of mind. It has no connection with warm glows or personal intimacies. Is love, then, the meaning of life? It has certainly been the favourite candidate of a number of astute observers, not least of artists. Love resembles happiness in that it seems to be a baseline term, an end in itself.
Excerpts from the book: THE MEANING OF LIFE by Terry Eagleton
SOURCE : fabian.ca
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