The meaning of life is a question that many people have wondered about since human existence. The life we live should have meaning, but if it does what is that meaning. The meaning of life is most likely not a definition, but a form of life. The meaning of life can be seen as living life a certain way that fulfills the function of life. The overall goal of almost all humans is to be happy and experience love. However, experiencing happiness and love would require a certain way of thinking and looking about the daily routines of life to make the experience of life meaningful. For happiness and love to be considered the goals in shaping the way we live, it is important to define what happiness and love is. Eagleton in the book The Meaning of
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Much of life can be seen as a cycle of the same tedious work, problems, obstacles that lead nowhere near the flourishing of life. When facing the world through the daily routine of life, the way you think will shape your happiness. In Wallace’s “Kenyon Commencement Address” he gives a powerful speech to graduating seniors on the options they can choose on how to live. Wallace states in his speech that learning how to think “means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience” (Wallace 3). Constructing meaning from our experience is extremely important, as life can be extremely routine, boring, and frustrating. We have a default setting to believe that life is only about us and other people are just in the way. We think of ourselves first because that is the point of view we experience. However, Wallace says in his speech that “if you 've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred” (Wallace 4). If you choose to focus on yourself and view all other people as just in the way, it will lead to life that lacks satisfaction and happiness. However, we have the freedom to choose a life that involves caring for others and making the sacrifice for others in our everyday life through awareness and attention to the outside world is the way we can experience love. The way we choose what to worship will affect if we can find true happiness and love in
Much of life can be seen as a cycle of the same tedious work, problems, obstacles that lead nowhere near the flourishing of life. When facing the world through the daily routine of life, the way you think will shape your happiness. In Wallace’s “Kenyon Commencement Address” he gives a powerful speech to graduating seniors on the options they can choose on how to live. Wallace states in his speech that learning how to think “means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience” (Wallace 3). Constructing meaning from our experience is extremely important, as life can be extremely routine, boring, and frustrating. We have a default setting to believe that life is only about us and other people are just in the way. We think of ourselves first because that is the point of view we experience. However, Wallace says in his speech that “if you 've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred” (Wallace 4). If you choose to focus on yourself and view all other people as just in the way, it will lead to life that lacks satisfaction and happiness. However, we have the freedom to choose a life that involves caring for others and making the sacrifice for others in our everyday life through awareness and attention to the outside world is the way we can experience love. The way we choose what to worship will affect if we can find true happiness and love in