What’s the Purpose of Life? — Part 1 Meaning of Life
To answer the question of “what’s the purpose of life”, the first thing that comes to my mind is “what’s the meaning of life”. Although there might be a similarity between the two questions, the meaning of life is easy for me to answer: Life itself has no inherent meaning. It is a gift that was freely given to me by my parents, allowing me to experience being alive in my time.
From a happy family, a newborn baby has meaning to its parents. Many things that I do in life are not just for myself, but also to bring happiness to my parents. My parents did tell me, on various occasions, that I have brought joy to their lives. Regardless of what stage of life that I am at, they are always happy to be a part of it. The joy stems from the achievements that I had since I was born, such as uttering my first word, writing [actually, drawing] the first Chinese character of my last name, going to school, learning arts and instruments such as painting and violin, good results from exams, participating competitions and so on. They celebrated every little accomplishment, appreciating my creativity and success. Fortunately, I was considered a smart kid, at least in the eyes of my parents, my classmates and my teachers. At the time when other parents were annoyed at their kids who did not have a good mark on their exam papers, this kind of worry never come to them. When other kids were stressed and envied the smart student in their class, I was one of the smartest students.
Life was easy when I was young, as there was a plan for everything. I didn’t need to ponder the purpose of my life since plans had been laid out for me. I was free to pursue my interests as long as I achieved the main goals set at various stages. I was a good child to my parents and followed the decisions they made for me. I never doubted my parents’ love and knew they always made decisions in my best interest.
Parents’ plans will run out one day when they eventually reach their limit. Even though I am still sharing almost everything I do with my parents, I forgot since when I became the decision-maker, initiator, and executor of everything in my own life. There were times that my dad mentioned in our family chat that I now have a boarder view/perspective than them, and they should let go and let me make my own decisions. I forgot since when, I specifically said to my parents that they could make comments/give advice, but the ultimate decision rests with me. I do, from time to time, seek advice from my parents, telling them about my decision-making process, sharing what I’ve done or plan to do, and sometimes, criticising their life decisions and comments that they made that I found inappropriate. Sometimes, I seek advice from them, especially when making big decisions, but most of the time, it is more about carrying on the meaning of my life vested by them, which is bringing joy to my parents and allowing their participation in my life.
The purpose of life is still a big question for me to answer, but for my mum, this is nothing. Within seconds, she could come up with a new plan/target for me, and surprisingly the plan/target is actually making perfect sense and propels me forward without me questioning myself for things that I would not have an answer to right now. It is true that in this world, there will be no one else who cares about me as much as they do, other than myself.
I will answer what’s the purpose of life in my next article.
