What is the meaning of life?

And other questions to ponder on your tea break... Tell me, what is your answer?

A good while back I received a curious note from a stranger named James, inviting me to be part of a project he had begun a few years before, when he was living in a caravan feeling down on his luck. James had started wondering what the point of everything was, and on a whim (and inspired by a similar project by Will Durant from the 1930s) started writing letters to all kinds of people - astronauts, prime ministers, artists, neuroscientists and so on - asking them one question: What is the meaning of life?

He was writing to me to ask if I’d like to offer my own response. To be honest, James had me at ‘letters’. I went for a very long walk, thought of my answer, sent it off, and forgot all about it.

The other day there was a knock at my door, and the postman handed me a yellow padded envelope, heavy with the weight of a hardback filled with substantial ideas. The Meaning of Life: Letters from Extraordinary People and their Answer to Life’s Biggest Question had been published, and James had sent me a copy. It was a solid, important-looking tome, covered in the names of famous people who had also responded to James’s invitation. Ahh, he sent me a copy as a consolation prize for not having made the cut, that doubting voice in my head was quick to say, but I gladly received it anyway, always happy for book mail.

I turned to the Contents page to see who else James had managed to intrigue with his question. It listed all the contributors, starting with Scientists & Environmentalists (like Dr Jane Goodall, astronaut Helen Sharman, and founder of The Eden Project, Sir Tim Smit), and including people from all backgrounds including Survivors & Campaigners (like Simon Weston, Sir Terry Waite and Chris Moon), Athletes & Adventurers (such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Sir Ranulph Fiennes), Artists & Entertainers (like Joan Armatrading and Glastonbury founder Sir Michael Eavis), Political, Religious & Business Leaders (including a prime minister, a former Archbishop and an American President) and so on.

I was curious about the Writers section of course, having been asked to submit something but not actually expecting my name to be there. And just as I had expected, it wasn’t. But the names of some of my favourites were, including the likes of Pico Iyer, Jodi Picoult, Rupi Kaur, Dame Hilary Mantel and co-founder of Lonely Planet Tony Wheeler, so I poured myself a cup of tea and sat down to read.

Hours went by as I witnessed all these minds reflecting on their lives, and trying to extract words to articulate what it all means. I made notes, stuck Post-It Notes on the pages, and then, when I got to page 352, I spat out my tea.

There was my name, and the piece I had written all that time ago, and sent off to James, grateful for the opportunity to ponder this magnificent question. But my piece wasn’t in the Writers section, which was why I had missed it. It was in the Thinkers, Philosophers and Futurists section. I was floored. Since my late teens I have been fascinated by philosophy, drawn to the work of deep thinkers, and I spend much of my time pondering what will become of this world, but in all that time I have never given such a label to myself. I kind of like it.

But if writing and philosophising and thinking – about the past, present and future – has led me to realise one thing, it’s that the labels we cling to, or covet, or parade around, really are of no consequence in the grand scheme of things.

Sometimes the wearing and owning of a label helps us step forward in the direction of our dreams, giving us an identity to hold on to (to steady ourselves as we step into the unknown, perhaps).

Sometimes it helps others to get a sense of what we have done with our lives, what we enjoy, or have experience at, and that can be a doorway.

Sometimes the label gives a sense of meaning to our individual lives, but it is wholly unconnected to the meaning of life itself.

Any identity is a construct of the ego, just as fear is. I always think that if claiming a specific identity helps you make time for it, and draws others towards you in a meaningful way, then sure, wear your badge with pride. I happily say that I am a writer - and now I might even describe myself as a thinker, a philosopher or a futurist (thank you James!) - But we don’t really need any label at all.

We just need to do the thing – to write, to create, to sing, to connect, to philosophise, to love, to live fully, pondering questions like this, while we can.

Here are a couple of snippets from the book showing that of course, there is no single right answer:

Neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth, The Meaning of Life p.64

I’ve come to think of consciousness as a precondition for meaning. An argument can be made that without consciousness, nothing would matter at all. Meaning, purpose and fulfilment can take many forms against this backdrop. The Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia best captures what I have in mind here. Eudaimonia means living well, flourishing, doing what is worth doing. It is not about pleasure or hedonic satisfaction, nor is it about selfless sacrifice for some greater good. it involves realising one’s potential through cultivating virtues such as reason, courage and wisdom.

Pico Iyer, The Meaning of Life p.112

Silence taught me, in other words, much as writing does, that the meaning of life comes in the sharing of it with others… the meaning comes when you leave yourself behind and reach out towards everybody else.

Professor Lord Robert Winston, The Meaning of Life p.76

I really do not understand what you mean by the ‘meaning of life’. To my mind life is a four-letter word and has a meaning, which is quite specific. But to talk about it in this kind of way argues some existential or philosophical meaning, which I have to admit I find somewhat pointless.

Astronaut Helen Sharman, The Meaning of Life p.25

…I can explain my thoughts very simply because in my view there is no meaning of life. We are temporary accumulations of various arrangements of the chemical elements of which we are composed, the ordered outcome of a series of reactions of an increasingly complex web of interactions. We can depate what is life itself (animals, plants, bacteria. viruses, ecosystems, the Earth, even - it depends on what the definer of the term wants to include) but as far as I can see, there is no intended purpose of life in general; life just happens.

As an aside, one of my favourite answers to this question was not found in this book at all (much as I recommend it), but was shared as a passing comment by a hospice nurse who cared for my mother. She was looking at the photo bunting strung up around my mother’s bed. Smiling at a picture of Mum and her youngest grandson in huge shades and fake fur coats courtesy of a Snapchat filter, she said, ‘I think the meaning of life is to get to the end having been loved, and everyone you love knowing that you loved them.’

‘I absolutely agree,’ my mum replied.

Which brings me to my contribution. You can find what I wrote below (at the end of this post). I would love to hear your response to the question What is the meaning of life? And perhaps to these related questions: Is there such a thing (i.e. does life even have a meaning)? Does it even matter? What is the difference between the meaning of life itself, and having meaning in your own life? If so which matters more to you? Which is the more interesting question for you?

Do take some time to contemplate these things and then come back and share, if you like. And if you like the idea of reading thoughtful letters from all those other people, do take a look at The Meaning of Life.

Beth Xx

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AND FINALLY, WHAT DO I THINK IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?

My response, as shared in The Meaning of Life: Letters from Extraordinary People and their Answer to Life’s Biggest Question by James Bailey (Robinson) p.352-3

The meaning of (the word) ‘life’ is, literally, to be alive. To experience the animation of breath and the growth that comes with constant change up until the moment of death. But of course when we ask this question of meaning we are asking ‘What is the point?’ to which ‘breathing’ is not a satisfactory answer, even if it is often a useful solution in any challenging life situation. In terms of the point of life as a human being l can’t help thinking it is to sense and know our role in the web of everything, and contribute to that web in some way.

In recent years, as a kind of midlife malaise has collided with devastating loss in my life, I have thought deeply about what it means to have ‘success’ as a human. I have realised that I have carried a misbelief about ‘success’ for most of my life, and have only recently come to understand that actually success has nothing to do with your outer life and what other people think of you. Rather, it’s about the richness of your inner life, and the way you show up in the world with love and consideration for others. It’s about the joy, beauty and wonder that you find in the world, and how you share that through the way that you live.

I can’t help but think that this is, in some way, connected to the meaning of life. Perhaps the meaning is the experience of being alive, the purpose is what we do with that experience as part of the wider ecosystem of life, past, present and future, and the point is to be awake to all of it, before it all vanishes, in full awareness that it will. – Beth Kempton

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Photo credits: Title + Images 3 + 4 Holly Bobbins Photography. Other images Beth Kempton.