The meaning of life. That is the topic everyone wants an answer for, and what everyone seems to have an answer for.
I used to think the love of God, or a significant other was the only thing that really filled the holes, making us complete. But over the past few years, I've begun to re-evaluate that belief.
Perhaps the meaning of life is to realize that from the very beginning, when we appear from the womb, that we are complete.
What I mean is that even from the moment we're born, we have no needs, wants, or desires. Now I know what you're thinking. "Infants need care, nutrition, and attention." Sure, these things are necessary for survival, but being complete does not necessarily incorporate survival.
So here is where my idea comes in. I think we go through our lives, creating situations, quests, and tasks for ourselves to fill these voids in which we have created for ourselves. The only true purpose for humans is to actually realize that we are complete, to break free of the illusions. It would take our entire lives to come to this realization. Life has to be lived to its fullest before we can realize that it was unnecessary for anything but the realization that where we have arrived is indeed exactly where we started. It's an interesting paradox. We are complete from the beginning, and find ourselves unable to cope with that reality
...And thus it continues. Wars, capitalism, religion, politics... When a person is stripped of all worldly belongings, he/she is left with one thing, themselves. When you think of it, a person is theoretically capable of sustaining life without the aid of worldly possesions (Yes, I know this is highly unlikely in the real world, but lets be hypothetical for a moment). A person can enter and exit this life without knowing love, beliefs, religion, the capital of Alaska, or even how to feed themselves like "humans."
I am directed to one case in where an uneducated farmer's daughter concieved a baby girl. Her father strictly said "I don't wanna hear no baby crying, and I sure as hell don't wanna see it." He allowed her to keep the baby in the attic. The mother brought her food daily. Other than that, there was little or no interaction with the child. She did not develop language skills, could only communicate in gutteral grunts, and ate like a dog, lapping the food up with her tongue. The authorities finally found the girl around age 7 or 8. She was passed around foster homes for a while till she died at age 11. There was little progress made with her, but caretakers did manage to get some basic physical communication out of her. There was little or no progress made with vocal communication. The girl died, having not been influenced for 8 of her 11 years by the outside world. She lived in the attic, content because she didn't know any better. She was complete, and did not need the outside world to make it so. My point is, anything we do in this world is just wasting time till either we A)Realize our completion, or B) Die trying. We need nothing in this world, and anything we do detracts from our ultimate goal.
So what impetus is there to continue after realizing such a thing? Well, there really would be no point in continuing. Perhaps that is why people who have lived a full life die peacefully. They are absolutely sure that they are complete, and always have been.
But then again, what do I know? I'm just a newbie.
Thanks to Jim Lindsay for the discussion that led to this post