Exploring the meaning of life: perspectives from religion and philosophy

We are here for a specific purpose and we always want to know the actual meaning of it. We are living our Life according to the wishes and aspirations of our creator. God forbid, if we turn our face away from the Creator our life will be disastrous and there will be no meaning in it. The curiosity to know the purpose of life has always occupied our mind to think beyond our imagination. Everyone wants to know the real purpose of life and what it demands from us in return. Man’s unending task of knowing the real truth about the purpose of life takes him to the racks of books of religion and philosophy. He feels that everyone has their own perspective on this subject and all religions are on the same page that lives life according to God’s plan to get real meaning in life. We will discuss in this article what different approaches of thought culminated regarding the purpose of life.
Our purpose is to seek knowledge, help others when they are in need and enjoy our life fullest without being troubled by external forces most probably at the time of death and when some sort of problem persists in our life. Pass knowledge to others so that everyone will get benefit from it and there will be no one who will be left out. Knowledge is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world. If you possess true knowledge and have earned it after working hard for it, let others light candles from this, so that everywhere there will be illuminated by it. We must make sure that we don’t hurt anyone in our life when they need our help we should always be ready to give our hundred percent. Helping others without expecting anything in return is what the true self worth all about.
The purpose of life is to help others with utmost priority and we will truly find the meaning in life. We can know the purpose of life if we live our life according to what God has mentioned in our pious book. In the Quran, God has clearly mentioned that He created death and life in order to test which of you is best in the struggle for virtue. And He is the Almighty, All-Forgiving. So be steadfast and have faith in the oneness of Him we will surely know the purpose in life
Purpose of life is to evolve each day, every day to evolve as a better person, as a better human being and our inner soul is the best guide to make us know if we are evolving as a better person or not. In this journey of being better, and evolving as a better human, suddenly we will find the right purpose in our life. In fact, we don’t know exactly what our exact purpose is, but if we take a path of evolving, in one fine moment we will find it. It does not know the purpose and travelling towards it; rather it is travelling towards fulfilment and reaching the destination where we find our real purpose. Most of us are living with a thought that we know our purpose, and practically fooling ourselves. There are very limited numbers of people who exactly know their purpose in life and living for that purpose.
For some eating good food, having a good nap and wearing branded clothes are what they expect to be the real purpose of life and they live their lives according to this plan till they become aware of how they are wasting precious time till they last their strength and are on the verge of the death bed. The basic thing to know about the purpose of life is to know yourself. God is very kind and has given us everything. Instead of knowing him, we indulge ourselves in worldly matters. From the day, we land on this earth, we indulge on the religious lines to know how and what is our assigned job for which we have been sent for.
When we are on the verge of death, there is curiosity about whether is there any life at the end of life and we are making every effort to find the answers to the questions which so far have not been able to tell. To live a meaningful life and to know the curious equations one must turn his faith to religion and philosophy to know the deep secrets of life which have bound the human mind for centuries. Not only fame, but it is also the name which we have wanted to remember for centuries so that someone will speak on our behalf when we leave this material world. To get the real meaning of life we must strive hard and be focussed on our goals in life.
From day one we must take life as a challenge and work to know the real deep secrets of life to get to know the real meaning of life.
In philosophy, there are commonly two main philosophies when it comes to purpose and existence.
1. Existentialism is the idea that you are the master of your own life. You create your own purpose. We are not created by any supernatural being but rather exist naturally. Pre-modern existentialists like Kierkegaard, however, believed that God is responsible for our existence but giving us purpose is not in his job description.
2. Essentialism is the belief that God created us for the purpose of serving him and following his orders (i.e. Ten Commandments). We exist because of Him and for Him.
The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at [email protected]

Umar Hayat Hussain