The Purpose of Life
Have you ever thought about it? I bet you do. It is probably the only question that all humanity has in common. Read until the end for the answer. Disclaimer: This is my personal view of society, feel free if you have a different opinion and we can discuss it together.
Instinctively, every animal wants to survive and they will do everything to keep it that way. They want their species to survive. If you think about it, we all do things to keep us alive.
A lion will, if necessary, eat one out of three lion cub just so the other two have more opportunity to go on living. A hamster will bite you if you touch their newborn babies. A kangaroo will carry out her son until the joey — kangaroo’s baby — is ready to emerge to the world.
As mammals tend to have a smaller rate of reproduction compared to other class of Animalia, this protective behavior could be found on almost every parent. Other animals like seahorse can eject more than 1000 babies at a time, but after that, the babies are on their own.
Would you imagine, if every animal has a tendency to survive, how a complex-minded creature like humans will do to survive?
Unconsciously, we wanted to date beautiful people so that our children are good-looking. We hoped that it will be easier for them to find jobs and put security in their life.
Women love to see strong men because they can protect them while they’re vulnerable (pregnant). Men love to see women with 45-degree arched buttocks and wide hips because their chance to survive labor is higher than women without those features.
Human instincts for survival have taken over their perspective of life with the result of these stereotypes emerging.
And love? Love is just a chemical reaction inside our brain to stay with our partner, to raise children together — for the children to have a better chance to survive.
However, humans have come a long way in this survival journey. For now, the best way to avoid extinction is probably not to make more babies anymore but to have a better quality of life. The human population is not going to zero anytime soon so many people have started to enjoy life as it is.
As we move to a more civilized society, we did not judge a person only by his/her looks. As we move to a more prosperous society, we can find any jobs that we like, we are not bounded to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer or any profession that our parents like to brag about. As we move to a more digitalized society, we are able to perform more analytical tasks. But more importantly, we are able to enjoy life.
That is thanks to our parents and our grandparents who worked hard, but that is also why millennials, in my opinion, couldn’t be blamed for their behavior today — scrolling Instagram, watching Netflix and Youtube, be a travel blogger, etc, because things have changed. Do you think today is a better life? I would argue that compared to a century ago, where we have war, famine, plague, and death — even if it’s still a problem today — we are having a better life.
So what is the purpose of life?
I don’t know.
Because today,
you can decide your purpose.
You can decide your ways of living.
You can decide what you want to believe.
You can decide what you want to be.
Therefore, the question we supposed to ask is “what is my purpose of life?”. As long as it doesn’t harm others, you’re free to choose and you already won the game of life.
Cheers, mate!
