How We Find Meaning in Life Through Love Life’s offerings such as: interests, talents, jobs, religion, or relationships are the catalysts through which we put meaning into our lives. When we find someone or something that we love or feel passionate about that puts meaning into life. It makes people feel as though they are fulfilling a want or desire, which would also lead to feeling very accomplished and happy. Finding a passion gives life a purpose. Jay Earley said it best when he wrote, “I define life purpose as a contribution to the world that uses your whole self fully and gives your life passion, fulfillment, and meaning through dedication to something larger than yourself” (Early 6). We are able to feel that we are here for a …show more content…
Collectors know exactly where they got each spoon and the story behind it. Another interest of many people is traveling. There are people that travel for pleasure and have a passion to venture outside of their city, state, and even their country. They want to discover and learn about new cultures. Many of the people who travel all of the time love having no ties and enjoy being as free as a bird. They are also finding a part of themselves and adding to their personal experiences. “Travel can help us overcome our fear of the unknown and inspire hope. Travel can also be a catalyst for personal growth and introduce us to integrative solutions for our common challenges” (Everette de la Campa 1). They are able to see the beauties of many other places. Everywhere you go it will be different in some way. The way that people live their every day lives differs from city to city, not only in different countries. From this, individuals are able to obtain an inside view of how other places in the world vary and see the differing cultures. They are able to go out and see what other places have in store for them and what they have to offer, instead of hearing about a place through TV and other people sharing their traveling experiences. They aren’t escaping anything they are only trying to find themselves, improve their view of the world, learn and understanding the surrounding parts of the world. They are being open
In her essay, “Seeing”, Annie Dillard describes that someone’s perception of the world are based on preconceived judgements and ideas. Traveling is an example that illustrates that there are many different perceptions of the world, depending on the person. When one travels, their impression will be affected by expectations of the trip. Often, if someone has an image in their head of how traveling will be, they aren’t open-minded to diversity. An individual’s perception of traveling can be affected by what people find enjoyable, their tolerance of creating intercultural relationships, and their appreciation for their own life.
It's a fundamental belief of mine that each one of us is brought upon this world with a major definite purpose in life. Everyone has a unique destiny for contributing to this world using their unique blend of talents and passions. I have no doubt that most people today work hard and stay busy with daily activities. The problem I've noticed is that many people live their lives without any sense of meaningful purpose that gives their lives passion and significance. They get caught up in the daily mechanical routines of life and they become creatures of habit rather than purpose-driven beings. Finding and shaping your major definite purpose is perhaps the most important thing that you will ever do in your life because your purpose is the driving force that spawns all the achievements that you will ever accomplish and it provides that unlimited source of motivation that drives you to achieve all the goals that you set for yourself and enables you to live life to the fullest.
Susan Wolf addresses these questions an aim to bring out the distinctive characteristics of the reasons and motives that give our lives meaning. Wolf claims that "meaningful lives are laws of active engagement and projects of worth" (Wolf, 206). Suggesting that when a person is actively engaged in anything they feel alive and life is more worth living. Nevertheless, Wolf explains that neither religion or science is sufficient for leading a meaningful life, claiming that a life of passion could corrupt the pursuit of happiness if you decide to dedicate your life to how you feel. Suggesting that working toward some goal that is substantial than yourself, can be hard work if you don 't have any passion or connection to it. According to Wolf, the subjective element is necessary for a meaningful life and arises from active engagement in some activity that one loves. In addition, the passive attachment to objectively valuable things are not sufficient for meaning. The feeling of fulfillment originates when “one is doing what one loves, or when one is engaging in activities by which one is gripped or excited” (Wolf, 207).
“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau stood behind the fact that all change is a miracle that happens in every instant. World travel has the potential to introduce an individual to the various miracles that life has to offer through aspects like culture, scenery, and language. In fact, there is a psychological concept that goes by the name of the “Big Five.” The number five refers to the five most dominant characteristics of personality: openness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Meeting new people and exposing oneself with new culture is one of is an activity that is one of the main contributors to the openness factor of personality which in turn has a domino effect on the remaining four characteristics (“5 Ways…”). That being said, by travelling the world an individual is able to become more adventurous and well rounded.
Throughout history, the progressions of mankind has given way to a perpetually globalizing world. Globalization, the “process of interaction and integration among peoples of different nations, has strengthened human ties while our race has formed societies in every corner of the globe. As our world becomes more interconnected, the resulting blend of cultures has led numerous societal features to be shared between peoples, blurring cultural division lines. Globalization’s tying binds may frustrate many modern travelers seeking unique and special travel experiences due to the standardization of destinations resulting from increasingly cozy international social relations, but continued and extensive human travel has demonstrated that the essential human urge to move is a product of our search for fulfillment in what is unfamiliar and will not be suppressed by global interconnection.
Additionally, It is also assumed that tourists travel for pleasure, “that cannot be found within the life-space and how this makes traveling worthwhile” (Cohen, 93). This is connected to tourists because, it is assumed that tourists travel to get-away from the stressors of their own lives, perhaps have a mini-break away from work or from the chaos within their own lives. It is assumed that tourists with a family, wants to travel and enjoy bonding time with family to create new memorable memories that one may not be-able to create in their own town and/or city. Or, it is assumed that young travelers want a romantic get-away to get hitched, or
Throwing oneself into an entirely different culture for a few weeks a year, is one of the most intellectually gratifying things I have come to experience. It exposed me to the fact that there is more to life than meets the eye. Accepting its complexity is almost as important as understanding what makes it complex. My visits to Poland have opened my one dimensional mindset, and allowed for more complicated reasoning. Traveling also forces an individual into strange situations they are unaccustomed to, and shows that not everything can be learned in a classroom. It teaches politics, economy, history, geography and less general things such as the ability to explore, grow, and make mistakes. They are left with the satisfaction of doing things they never knew they could
It is the experience of being that brings reality to life and allows life to be.
Travelling is important as it can remove the unintended prejudice that individuals carry out rashly. Sometimes, people unconsciously treat others differently solely based on their own beliefs. Since their judgement is based only on opinion, therefore it may be inaccurate to use when addressing the persons around them. However, exploring the world may lessen your tendency to be prejudice as you will gain detailed insights to the way others think, the way others see, and the way others live. Thus, this will allow you to not make foolhardy assumptions when being in contact with a society or community as you will be more knowledgeable to understand why they are the way they are. Removing prejudice from our lifestyle is very important to us as open-thinkers as we often make many mistakes in the treatment of other human beings. Prejudice is an undesirable trait to possess because
Love has many different meanings to different people. For a child, love is what he or she feels for his mommy and daddy. To teenage boy, love is what he should feel for his girlfriend of the moment, only because she says she loves him. But as we get older and "wiser," love becomes more and more confusing. Along with poets and philosophers, people have been trying to answer that age-old question for centuries: What is love?
After working for 3 years, I was burnt out at work and wanted to rediscover myself and I could only think of travelling. But I always had this feeling that something is wrong. Neither I’d the money nor intention of wanderlust. I was just lost or maybe I want freedom of expression without being ending up in jail. I don’t know it yet. But one thing was sure and that was: I want to experience the world through the eyes of others. Living the lives of others or living with them provides you a window to enter their lives. I have always believed that travel breaks you free. My mind was conditioned to travel. I had changed almost a dozen schools by the time I completed my graduation. Oh boy!
One can love a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and friends, strangers, pets, the sunlight on a warm evening, reflecting through a prism, held by fishing line stuck to a little suction cup to a dusty window. You can love food from cake to roast beef, even those tiny individual candy bars that are never enough but just give you a taste of chocolate before you pop in the second one. One is able to love the feeling of carpet between toes or the tension in a hammocks string when you lay in that 'u' position swinging delightfully with each motion of your body. We can declare love for sounds coming from a stereo, love for that particular sound wave in coordination with other
Life has no meaning if you don't have the urge to wake up the next morning to see the next day. Many people live their lives unhappy since they have no purpose or meaning to fulfill or satisfy their needs. Purpose to me is something to live for and something to look forward to in life. Without purpose and meaning in life there is no point of living at all. Recently in the existentialism unit we’ve been reading, I learned that without a passion to live, one’s life means nothing and is a waste of a soul. Based on the previous books I’ve read, I learned I am happy because I have things to look forward to in life and to wake up the next morning to enjoy the new day. Three elements that give me purpose and meaning in my life are my family, my
Setting priorities by knowing themselves through doing or action will help define purpose in one’s life. For example, A purpose can be found in the necessary things people do, like cooking for their loved ones, a purpose can be in someone’s career, personal activities, and providing for their family. A good place to start finding what a person believe is to ask oneself what an individual believe the meaning of life is: “The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self” (Albert Einstein). Purpose in life can change at different points. A purpose may be discovered at this very moment in someone’s life. In months or years from now, life may be different and be served by a new sense of purpose. For instance, life’s purpose may have everything to do with getting established in