Verified Document

The Meaning Of Life Essay

Related Topics:

Life

A number of literary, philosophical, psychological, religious and other writers are of the view that the subject of 'the meaning of life' forms one among the most central issues experienced by people. Tolstoy (Rowlands) claims that science is unable to provide assistance in this regard. While it can describe what life is, it is incapable of describing its meaning. It is able to explain the things in this world and what's possible; however, it is unable to explain their meaning and importance. Tolstoy states that faith provides an answer to this question. Hence, he asserts that irrespective of the answers provided by faith, it accords the finiteness of humanity's existence a sense of infiniteness, which fails to get vanquished under conditions of death, afflictions, and hardship (Tolstoy). As a result, faith alone provides the possibility and meaning of life. One may describe faith as knowledge regarding life's meaning, as a result of which humanity endures rather than perish.

Faith is of two forms: specific and generic. The latter apparently implies the notion that all will be fine. However, one must consider the extent of truth behind the statement that the adoption of faith's generic form simply means asking oneself what life means. Or does it merely deal with not considering the question at all? Have the hopelessly optimistic resolved this question? This does not appear possible....
That it arises from a successful resolution of the problem appears highly unlikely.
But, in the end, Tolstoy depends on a relatively specific version of faith, based on the argument that everything will be fine as the dots can be filled by a number of methods. Nevertheless, all entail a feel of infiniteness, which may assume numerous forms, some of which are (irrespective of the way we word the question): "How am I supposed to live?" to which the answer would be "In accordance to the Divine Law"; "What is the real end outcome of my life?", to which the answer would be "Eternal bliss or torture"; and "What meaning doesn't get destroyed with death?", to which the answer is - "Paradise and union with God"' (Rowlands).

What's challenging about the above explanation of life's meaning is: it is impossible to successfully oppose Tolstoy by raising the following arguments: 'How can we be sure of the presence of a Lord who has established for humanity a purpose in life?' 'How can we be sure of the existence of an afterlife?' Tolstoy would simply state that it is faith. Attempts at persuading Tolstoy to believe he's mistaken will fail as one simply cannot raise objections against the man's faith -- he would truly not care if one did (Rowlands). Is it possible to…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Life Imprisonment in the United Kingdom Life
Words: 2038 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Life Imprisonment in the United Kingdom Life imprisonment is the most severe punishment in relation to critical or serious criminal activities in countries that do not have death penalty. Life imprisonment in the United Kingdom falls under two categories with unique meanings depending on the severity of the criminal activity: life imprisonment and whole-life sentence. In this research, the focus will be on the examination of the essence of life imprisonment

Lives of Female Saints in
Words: 1365 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Women identified their Christ Jesus who was food during mass as the redemption of humanity. The women believed reaching spirituality was through food, since naturally they were food from their ability to breastfeed. The Medieval women associated the breast as seen in Holy mother, Mary's own breastfeeding as a Eucharistic feeding of the soul. The painting also indicates that to the Female saints of the Middle Ages, prayer was an important

Life of Jesus, Critically Examined Penned in
Words: 1385 Length: 5 Document Type: Book Report

Life of Jesus, Critically Examined Penned in the tumultuous year of 1835, during an era defined by dogmatic religious intolerance and institutionalized adherence to the edicts of the church, David Friedrich Strauss' The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined represents an astonishingly bold assault on the complacency of Christianity, one which compels readers to challenge their own conception of faith. A respected theologian with a philosophical yearning to comprehend the world around

Life Transition a Well Balanced
Words: 1632 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

In this mix, the therapist will have to identify what the client's view of the situation is. If it reflects reality, the humanist-existentialist. If not, the other solution-based approach may be the best. If this author were the therapist, it would be prudent to see if the entire family unit could be engaged for family therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy might be necessary for dysfunctional behaviors on the part of the

Life Span Development Life-Span Development:
Words: 580 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Discussion Every one goes through many stages in life beginning at the time of conception, throughout life, and finally in death. Human development is important to psychologists because it can provide insight about a person and the stage he or she may be experiencing in life based on age-related changes in behavior, emotions, personality, and thought processes (Boyd & Bee, 2009). The interest of changes throughout a person's life, from childhood

Life of Buddha
Words: 1109 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Life of the Buddha: � What was the Buddha's name? How else do Buddhists refer to him? His name is Siddhartha Gautama and he is often referred to as the 'awakened' or 'enlightened' one. � What are the circumstances in which the Buddha grew up? Siddhartha was born in 563 B.C. He lived in a place called Lumbini and then was raised in Kapilavashtha, Sakya Kingdom's capital. During this time, Northern India was made

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now