The Meaning of Life

Ever since I was little, I have thought about the meaning of life.

I wonder when it started? I was already worrying about it when I was in elementary school.

Why are people born, die, and then repeat the cycle of being reborn?

I was a philosophical elementary school student, haha.

But I always struggled because I couldn't find an answer to the question, 'What is the meaning of repeating life and death?'

And so, I concluded that 'life is meaningless,' and by making everything meaningless, I escaped from having to put in any effort, haha.

After all, if it's meaningless, there's no point in doing anything, right? In a sense, that's rational, isn't it?✨

I believe the philosopher Kant also said that it is a 'question that should not be asked.'

After I quit my job as a civil servant and started going to counseling, I consulted about this as well.

About thinking too much about the meaning of life.

Looking back on it now, I think I have certainly stopped worrying to the point of 'suffering' like I did when I was in elementary school.

One day, I read a book by a physicist who was much smarter than me, and it said that according to current theories, 'someday, not only the Earth but this entire universe will cease to exist.'

The whole universe is going to be destroyed too? Haha.

At this point, everything is just grandly meaningless, haha.

Viktor Frankl, whom I wrote about in a previous article (a psychiatrist who was sent to a Nazi concentration camp and even lost his wife), said, 'Do not ask what the meaning of life is; you should think that you are being asked by the fact that you are alive.'

Yes, that's why I think the meaning of life is something you decide for yourself.

It doesn't have to be something big, something noble, something that gets you praised by others, and there's no need to be pessimistic about it.

This very moment, the things I thought about today, the things I disliked, the things that made me happy.
The things I ate, the time I wasted, the time I thought I used effectively.
The things I was able to put effort into, the times I was lazy.

I think all of those things are the meaning of that person's life.

Productivity, efficiency, and results might be important, but

what I am feeling right now is something only I can feel, so I believe that is exactly what the meaning of life is.

Well then, let's continue living out the meaning of life today!