|1-The Meaning of Life.



                               By SparHawk




 Now this is the big question.  Of all the article subjects I could have
written about this is the unanswerable one, second only to such classics
as 'Does God exist?'.  I shall however try to give my own opinion on the
Meaning of Life - and not answer '42'.

 Everyones ideas on the Meaning of Life are different.  I think there is
no  meaning  to  it.  We are just biological creatures, not here for any
purpose at all, we just are.  We just survive.  I believe all we must do
in life is (a) Enjoy ourselves and (b) Experience everything.

 There  are of course other criteria by which we can measure life, but I
think  (a)  and  (b) above are the most important.  We could add the old
classics  'Health,  Wealth and Happiness'.  If, for example, you won the
Lottery.   Then  what would happen?  They say money can't buy everything
but it sure as hell can buy most of it.

 So  what  can  we  do?   We  can start by enjoying our youth as much as
possible.   When  we  are  older it is too late.  So we can do all those
things  that  we  can  only  do  now  while we are young.  It's no point
thinking  over  missed  oppurtunities when we are older.  This basically
comes down to those physical activities.

 How  can  we  group  experiences?   We  could  broadly divide them into
physical  and  mental  experiences, allthough some are combined (such as
hiking  around  the  world,  which  would  be both a mental and physucal
experience).   It's no point doing experiences in which you would not be
happy, because then it becomes a task, something that must be done.

 Another  important  aspect to enjoying life is not to waste time.  I am
guilty  of  this,  being lazy.  Many people are.  However sometimes it's
hard  to  find  something to fill time.  Just make it usefull.  Learning
something,  for  example.  How many things would you like to learn?  I'd
bet  theres  thousands of activities and skills you'd like to be able to
do.   Some  examples  could  include  playing  an instrument, learning a
language,  learning  to  drive, learning another computer language, just
learning an academic subject.  The list could go on easily.

 Physical  activities  though  need  time  set  aside.   Activities from
interesting  sports  such  as  abseiling, gliding, scuba diving, caving,
sailing,  parachuting need time to learn.  You don't have to think sport
as  football, rugby etc.  Theres lots of things to do.  Just again don't
do  anything  you won't enjoy.  Isn't it nicer to go home and when asked
'What  did  you  do today?' say something like 'Oh, just junped out of a
plane and did a spot of sky-diving'?

 There is one problem to all this.  It takes money.  So Wealth does come
into  it  somewhere.  For the physical side you also need to be healthy.
Hopefully  you'd enjoy these activities so Happiness rears its head.  It
transpires  then  that  Health,  Wealth  and  Happiness  are the keys to
enjoying life and experiences.

 In  summary then, the blueprint for a happy, fulfilled life could go as
follows:

    1.  Enjoy life while you can.
    2.  Do as much as possible, both mentally and physically.
    3.  Stay healthy.
    4.  Get rich!  (Which is really the key to all this).

 Is  this the end though?  What about after life?  Unless you believe in
an  afterlife  or something it would be nice to be remembered.  It seems
therefore  that  you  should  also  make some kind of lasting impression
during   your  lifetime.   Everyone  has  ambitions  which  need  to  be
fulfilled.   Do  your  utmost  to fulfill them while you can.  To make a
lasting  impression  do  some  good or become famous.  Unfortunately its
hard for the latter, but easy for the former.

 That's  it.   That's  my  ideas on the meaning of life, fulfilling your
life  and  making  the most of it.  Anyone else got any different ideas?
The appendix that follows contains some more.


Appendix:  Ideas for life.

Things to do:  Physical experiences

Drive (inc.  sports driving etc and also inc.  motorbikes) Travel widely
Act / Sing surfing sailing scuba-diving water-skiing parascending flying
(including  Gliding, Piloting planes+helicopters) parachuting sky-diving
bunjee  jumping hangliding orienteering rock-climbing archeology / metal
detecting / treasure hunting caving

Things to do:  Mental experiences

Get  rich  Learn to drive / pilot / sail Travel widely Write books Act /
Sing  Learn,  academically  or otherwise Learn a language Write software
Learn  to  play  an instrument Start in business Role playing See a live
football match / concert etc (if you haven't)

Things to do:  Lasting impressions

Write  books  Act  /  Sing  Become a celebrity Start a charity eg Animal
Sanctuary or Science/Arts foundation Start in business Invent / Discover
something