100 Lessons on the Meaning of Life
in 100 Words or Less
by Roger Horberry
Copyright 2011 Visual Aid Publishing Limited
Published by Visual Aid Publishing Limited at Smashwords
Table of Contents
10. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Existentialism
Existentialism established itself in the wake of WWII and suggests the meaning of life is to make our own meaning. Life, existentialist thinkers like Sartre pronounced through a haze of Gauloises smoke, is about self-determination—God can’t help; only you can decide how to live. That’s a distinctly mixed blessing; freedom is scary stuff, and ultimately means each of us is alone in an empty universe. For existentialists it’s not about the meaning of life, but the meaninglessness of life. It’s easy to see how this caught the mood post-1945 and inspired a thousand art house movies.
Christianity
According to the Gospel of St. John, the meaning of life is simple: to seek divine salvation through the grace of God and intercession of Christ. We were created as perfect beings, but after that unfortunate incident with the apple and the serpent, things went downhill. But not to worry, when we accept Jesus we remove the barrier sin creates between man and God, and in effect get a second chance at salvation (hence the whole “he died that we might live” thing). So for Christians the meaning of life is clear: Believe, be reborn in Christ, and be saved.
Epicureanism
For Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher who died in 270 BC, the meaning of life was to attain tranquillity through the pursuit of simple pleasures. Unfortunately, poor Epicurus was slandered from day one. He was accused of advocating indulgence when all he was really interested in was reducing pain. For Epicurus, good and evil were linked to pleasure and pain, so living a good life inevitably meant experiencing pleasure—a subtlety lost on his critics. In fact, Epicurus explicitly warned against overindulgence as it often leads to pain, a fact anyone who has endured a thumping hangover will confirm.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroaster (sometimes spelled Zarathustra) was a prophet who lived somewhere between the 18th and 10th century BC in what is now Iran. The religion and philosophy that takes his name—Zoroastrianism—influenced early Judaism and through it Christianity and Islam (the three so-called “Abrahamic religions”). It’s not hard to see the connection: Zoroastrianism is basically monotheistic, it believes humanity possesses free will, and that we’re locked in a titanic struggle between good and evil. For Zoroaster, the meaning of life was to take an active role in this eternal conflict, enabling truth and order to overcome falsehood and disorder.
Nihilism
Nihilism, a school of thought dating from the 19th century, states that nothing is of value and even the highest morals are worthless as they only create false ideals. Friedrich Nietzsche approvingly described it as “emptying existence of meaning,” so for nihilists the meaning of life is meaningless—God is dead and nothing matters. That’s not quite as unremittingly negative as it sounds: In the 20th century Albert Camus offered a glimmer of hope with his description of “heroic nihilists” living with “secular saintliness” in the face of the world’s indifference. Nevertheless, nihilism remains one of philosophy’s darker strands.
Pragmatism
As its name suggests, Pragmatism is a no-frills philosophy that makes a virtue of expediency. Emerging in the late 19th century, pragmatism claims something can only be true if it works, and that the real meaning of an idea is the consequence of accepting it. For pragmatic philosophers like William James and George Santayana, a practical understanding of life was infinitely more important than searching for impractical abstract truths. This suggests that the meaning of life is about arriving at a personal understanding that works for you, rather than seeking some possibly nonexistent ultimate insight—all good, practical stuff.
Judaism
In the Judaic worldview the meaning of life is to serve the One True God and prepare for the world to come, elevating oneself spiritually by working to connect with the divine. So for observant Jews the meaning of life is straightforward: Use this world to get ready for the next. Simeon the Righteous, a Jewish contemporary of Jesus, came to this orderly conclusion about the meaning of life: “The world stands on three things: the Torah, worship, and acts of loving kindness.” The Kabbalah—Judaism’s mystical tradition—takes an altogether more esoteric view, but that’s another lesson.
Hinduism
Emerging from the mists of the Vedic period around 1,000 BC, Hinduism is more a broad category of belief than a neatly unified religion. It suggests the meaning of life is to undertake karma (good deeds) as a way of breaking free from samsara (the endless cycle of rebirth) and so achieve moksha (release from reincarnation). Karma is distinct from the western idea of fate. As individuals we have free will and can influence our destiny—if we sow goodness, we’ll reap goodness (and vice versa). By practicing dharma (correct living) we work toward moksha, so our individual actions matter.
Shinto
Shinto is the native religion of Japan that dates back around 1,500 years into Japan’s shamanic past. The word “Shinto” means “the divine crossroad where the spirit chooses its way.” Choice implies free will, which in turn suggests that living is a creative process. So the meaning of life is to overcome death by making the right choices while we’re alive. Rather appealingly, Shinto sees death as a form of pollution and life as an opportunity for the divine spirit to cleanse itself through self-development. Suffering in life is really the suffering of our spirit as it struggles for purity.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
According to Deep Thought, a supercomputer that ruminated on “The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything” for seven-and-a-half-million years, the answer—famously—is 42. When asked to explain, Deep Thought concedes the real problem is no one knows the Ultimate Question, and proposes building an even bigger computer to sort that out. That computer is the Earth, which unfortunately is demolished five minutes before delivering its answer. Later it’s revealed that the Ultimate Answer and Ultimate Question cannot exist in the same universe, which is no help at all.