Where to look for the meaning of life? Why does the question of the meaning of life, according to the philosopher, excite and torment a person? Illusory meanings of life.

I. INTRODUCTION

Does life have meaning at all, and if so, what kind of meaning? What is a sense of life? Or is life simply nonsense, a meaningless, worthless process of the natural birth, flowering, maturation, withering and death of a person, like any other organic being? Those dreams about goodness and truth, about spiritual significance and meaningfulness of life, which already from adolescence excite our soul and make us think that we were not born “for nothing”, that we are called to accomplish something great and decisive in the world and thereby to realize ourselves, to give a creative outcome to the spiritual forces dormant in us, hidden from prying eyes, but persistently demanding their discovery, forming, as it were, the true being of our “I” - are these dreams justified in any way objectively, do they have any reasonable basis, and if so, what? Or are they simply lights of blind passion, flaring up in a living being according to the natural laws of its nature, like spontaneous attractions and yearnings, with the help of which indifferent nature accomplishes through our mediation, deceiving and luring us with illusions, its meaningless, repeating task of preserving animal life in eternal monotony in generational change? The human thirst for love and happiness, tears of tenderness before beauty, the trembling thought of the bright joy that illuminates and warms life, or rather, for the first time realizing true life, is there any solid ground for this in human existence, or is this just a reflection in the inflamed human consciousness of that blind and vague passion that controls the insect, which deceives us, using us as tools for preserving the same meaningless prose of animal life and dooming us to pay with vulgarity, boredom and the languid need of the narrow for a brief dream of the highest joy and spiritual fullness, everyday, philistine existence? And the thirst for achievement, selfless service to good, the thirst for death in the name of a great and bright cause - is this something greater and more meaningful than the mysterious but meaningless force that drives a butterfly into the fire?

These, as they usually say, “damned” questions or, rather, this single question “about the meaning of life” excites and torments in the depths of the soul of every person. A person can for a while, and even for a very long time, completely forget about it, plunge headlong either into the everyday interests of today, into material concerns about preserving life, about wealth, contentment and earthly success, or into any super-personal passions and “affairs” - in politics, the struggle of parties, etc. - but life is already so arranged that even the dumbest, fattest, or spiritually asleep person cannot completely and forever brush it aside: the ineradicable fact of approaching of death and its inevitable harbingers - aging and illness, the fact of dying, transient disappearance, immersion in the irrevocable past of our entire earthly life with all the illusory significance of its interests - this fact is for every person a formidable and persistent reminder of the unresolved, put aside question of meaning of life. This question is not a “theoretical question”, not a subject of idle mental games; this question is a question of life itself, it is just as terrible, and, in fact, even much more terrible than, in dire need, the question of a piece of bread to satisfy hunger. Truly, this is a question of bread that would nourish us and water that would quench our thirst. Chekhov describes a man who, all his life living with everyday interests in a provincial town, like all other people, lied and pretended, “played a role” in “society”, was busy with “affairs”, immersed in petty intrigues and worries - and suddenly, unexpectedly , one night, wakes up with a heavy heartbeat and in a cold sweat. What's happened? Something terrible happened - life has passed, and there was no life, because there was and is no meaning in it!

And yet, the vast majority of people consider it necessary to brush aside this issue, hide from it, and find the greatest wisdom in life in such “ostrich politics.” They call this a “principled refusal” to attempt to resolve “insoluble metaphysical questions,” and they so skillfully deceive both everyone else and themselves that not only to prying eyes, but also to themselves, their torment and inescapable languor remain unnoticed, to be maybe until the hour of death. This method of instilling in oneself and others oblivion to the most important, ultimately the only important issue of life is determined, however, not only by the “ostrich policy”, the desire to close one’s eyes so as not to see the terrible truth. Apparently, the ability to “settle in life,” to obtain the benefits of life, to assert and expand one’s position in life’s struggle is inversely proportional to the attention paid to the question of the “meaning of life.” And since this skill, due to the animal nature of man and the “sound mind” defined by him, seems to be the most important and first urgent matter, then it is in his interests that this suppression of anxious bewilderment about the meaning of life is carried out into the deep depressions of unconsciousness. And the calmer, the more measured and ordered the outer life, the more it is occupied with current earthly interests and has success in their implementation, the deeper is the spiritual grave in which the question of the meaning of life is buried. Therefore, for example, we see that the average European, the typical Western European “bourgeois” (not in the economic, but in the spiritual sense of the word) seems to be no longer at all interested in this question and therefore has ceased to need religion, which alone gives an answer to it . We Russians, partly by our nature, partly, probably, by the disorder and lack of organization of our external, civil, everyday and social life, and in previous, “prosperous” times, differed from Western Europeans in that we were more tormented by the question of the meaning of life or, more precisely, they were more openly tormented by it, more admitted to their torment. However, now, looking back at our past, so recent and so distant from us, we must admit that we, too, then largely “swimmed with fat” and did not see - did not want or could not see - the true face of life, and therefore little cared about solving it.

The terrifying shock and destruction of our entire social life that took place brought us, precisely from this point of view, one most valuable benefit, despite all its bitterness: it revealed to us life, How she really is. True, in the order of philistine reflections, in terms of ordinary earthly “life wisdom” we often suffer abnormality our present life and either with boundless hatred we blame the “Bolsheviks” for it, who senselessly plunged all Russian people into the abyss of misfortune and despair, or (which, of course, is better) with bitter and useless repentance we condemn our own frivolity, negligence and blindness, with which we allowed to destroy all the foundations of a normal, happy and reasonable life in Russia. No matter how much relative truth there may be in these bitter feelings, in them, in the face of the final, genuine truth, there is also a very dangerous self-deception. Reviewing the losses of our loved ones, either directly killed or tortured by wild conditions of life, the loss of our property, our favorite work, our own premature illnesses, our current forced idleness and the meaninglessness of our entire present existence, we often think that illness, death, old age, need, the meaninglessness of life - all this was invented and first brought into life by the Bolsheviks. In fact, they did not invent this and did not bring it into life for the first time, but only significantly strengthened it, destroying that external and, from a deeper point of view, still illusory well-being that previously reigned in life. And before, people died - and they died almost always prematurely, without completing their work and senselessly by accident; and before, all the blessings of life - wealth, health, fame, social position - were shaky and unreliable; and before, the wisdom of the Russian people knew that no one should renounce the scrip and prison. What happened only seemed to remove the ghostly veil from life and showed us the naked horror of life, as it always is in itself. Just as in cinema it is possible to arbitrarily change the tempo of movement through such distortion and precisely show the true, but imperceptible nature of movement to the ordinary eye, just as through a magnifying glass you see for the first time (albeit in altered sizes) what has always been and was, but what is not visible to the naked eye is the distortion of the “normal” empirical conditions of life that has now occurred in Russia, only revealing to us the previously hidden true essence. And we, Russians, are now without anything to do or sense, without a homeland and a home, wandering in need and deprivation in foreign lands or living in our homeland as if in a foreign land, aware of all the “abnormality” from the point of view of the usual external forms of life of our current existence, at the same time, we have the right and obligation to say that it was precisely in this abnormal way of life that we first came to know the true eternal essence of life. We, homeless and homeless wanderers - but isn’t a person on earth, in a deeper sense, always a homeless and homeless wanderer? We have experienced the greatest vicissitudes of fate on ourselves, our loved ones, our being and our careers - but isn’t the very essence of fate that it is vicious? We felt the closeness and menacing reality of death - but is this only the reality of today? Among the luxurious and carefree life of the Russian court environment of the 18th century, the Russian poet exclaimed: “Where there was a table of food, there is a coffin; where cries were heard at the feasts, the gravestone faces groan and pale death looks at everyone.” We are doomed to hard, exhausting work for the sake of daily food - but wasn’t Adam, during his expulsion from paradise, already predicted and commanded: “In the sweat of your face you will eat your bread”?

So now, through the magnifying glass of our current disasters, the very essence of life clearly appears before us in all its vicissitudes, transience, burdensomeness - in all its meaninglessness. And therefore, tormenting all people, the persistent question about the meaning of life has acquired for us, as if for the first time tasting the very essence of life and deprived of the opportunity to hide from it or cover it up with a deceptive appearance that softens its horror, a completely exceptional acuteness. It was easy not to think about this question when life, at least outwardly visible, flowed smoothly and smoothly, when - minus the relatively rare moments of tragic trials that seemed to us exceptional and abnormal - life appeared to us calm and stable, when each of us was our natural and reasonable business and, behind the many questions of the current day, behind the many living and important private affairs and questions for us, the general question about life as a whole only seemed to appear somewhere in the foggy distance and vaguely secretly worried us. Especially at a young age, when the resolution of all life issues is foreseen in the future, when the supply of vital forces requiring application, this application for the most part was found, and living conditions easily made it possible to live in dreams - only a few of us suffered acutely and intensely from the consciousness of meaninglessness life. But not so now. Having lost their homeland and with it the natural basis for work that gives at least the appearance of meaningfulness in life, and at the same time deprived of the opportunity to enjoy life in carefree youthful joy and in this spontaneous fascination with its temptations to forget about its inexorable severity, doomed to hard, exhausting and forced labor for our food, we are forced to ask ourselves the question: why live? Why pull this ridiculous and burdensome burden? What justifies our suffering? Where to find unshakable support so as not to fall under the weight of life's needs?

True, the majority of Russian people are still trying to drive away these menacing and dreary thoughts with a passionate dream about the future renewal and revival of our common Russian life. Russian people generally had the habit of living with dreams of the future; and before it seemed to them that the everyday, harsh and dull life of today was, in fact, an accidental misunderstanding, a temporary delay in the onset of true life, a languid wait, something like languor at some random train stop; but tomorrow or in a few years, in a word, in any case, everything will change soon, a true, reasonable and happy life will open; the whole meaning of life is in this future, and today does not count for life. This mood of daydreaming and its reflection on the moral will, this moral frivolity, contempt and indifference to the present and internally false, unfounded idealization of the future - this spiritual state is, after all, the last root of that moral disease that we call revolutionary and which ruined Russian life. But never, perhaps, has this spiritual state been as widespread as it is now; and it must be admitted that never before have there been so many reasons or reasons for it as now. It cannot be denied that, finally, sooner or later the day must come when Russian life will get out of the quagmire into which it has fallen and in which it is now frozen motionless; It cannot be denied that from this day onwards a time will come for us which will not only ease the personal conditions of our lives, but - what is much more important - will place us in healthier and more normal general conditions, will reveal the possibility of rational action, will revive our strengths through a new immersion of our roots into native soil.

And yet, even now this mood of transferring the question of the meaning of life from today to the expected and unknown future, expecting its solution not from the internal spiritual energy of our own will, but from unforeseen changes of fate, this is complete contempt for the present and capitulation to it for due to the dreamy idealization of the future - there is the same mental and moral illness, the same perversion of a healthy attitude towards reality and towards the tasks of one’s own life, arising from the very spiritual being of a person, as always; and the exceptional intensity of this mood only testifies to the intensity of our disease. And the circumstances of life develop in such a way that this gradually becomes clearer to us ourselves. The onset of this decisive bright day, which we have been waiting for a long time, almost tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, is delayed for many years; and the more time we wait for it, the more our hopes turned out to be illusory, the more foggy the possibility of its occurrence becomes in the future; he is moving away for us into some elusive distance, we are waiting for him not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but only “in a few years,” and no one can predict how many years we should wait for him, or why exactly and at what conditions it will come. And many are already beginning to think that this desired day, perhaps, will not come in a noticeable way, will not lay a sharp, absolute line between the hated and despised present and the bright, joyful future, but that Russian life will only be imperceptibly and gradually, perhaps a series of small shocks, straighten up and return to a more normal state. And given the complete impenetrability of the future for us, with the revealed fallacy of all the forecasts that have already repeatedly promised us the coming of this day, one cannot deny the plausibility or, at least, the possibility of such an outcome. But the mere admission of this possibility already destroys the entire spiritual position, which postpones the realization of true life until this decisive day and makes it completely dependent on it. But besides this consideration - how long, in general, should we and can wait, and is it possible to spend our lives in an inactive and meaningless, indefinitely long waiting? The older generation of Russian people is already beginning to get used to the bitter thought that it may either not live to see this day at all, or will meet it in old age, when all real life will be in the past; the younger generation is beginning to become convinced, at least, that the best years of their lives are already passing and, perhaps, will pass without a trace in such anticipation. And if we could still spend our lives not in a senseless and languid expectation of this day, but in its effective preparation, if we were given - as was the case in the previous era - the opportunity for a revolutionary actions, and not just revolutionary dreams and word debates! But even this opportunity is absent for the vast, overwhelming majority of us, and we clearly see that many of those who consider themselves to have this opportunity are mistaken precisely because, poisoned by this disease of daydreaming, they have simply forgotten how to distinguish what is genuine, serious, fruitful. case from simple word disputes, from senseless and childish storms in a glass of water. Thus, fate itself or the great superhuman forces that we dimly perceive behind blind fate wean us from this lulling but corrupting disease of dreamily transferring the question of life and its meaning into the indefinite distance of the future, from the cowardly deceptive hope that someone or something... then the outside world will decide it for us. Now most of us, if not clearly aware, then at least vaguely feel that the question of the expected revival of the homeland and the associated improvement in the fate of each of us does not at all compete with the question of how and why we should live today - in Today, which stretches out for many years and can drag on for our entire life - and thus, with the question of the eternal and absolute meaning of life, which as such does not at all obscure this, as we clearly feel, yet the most important and most urgent question. Moreover: after all, this desired "day" the future will not by itself rebuild all Russian life anew and create more reasonable conditions for it. After all, this will have to be done by the Russian people themselves, including each of us. What if, in languid waiting, we lose the entire reserve of our spiritual strength, if by that time, having uselessly spent our lives on meaningless languor and aimless vegetation, we have already lost clear ideas about good and evil, about the desired and unworthy way of life? Is it possible to renew a common life without knowing for myself, why do you even live and what eternal, objective meaning does life have in its entirety? Don’t we already see how many Russian people, having lost hope of resolving this issue, either grow dull and spiritually freeze in everyday worries about a piece of bread, or commit suicide, or, finally, die morally, out of despair becoming wasters of life, going to crimes and moral decay for the sake of self-forgetfulness in violent pleasures, the vulgarity and ephemerality of which their chilled soul itself is aware of?

No, we - namely, we, in our current situation and spiritual state - cannot escape the question of the meaning of life, and hopes are vain to replace it with any surrogates, to kill the worm of doubt sucking inside with some illusory deeds and thoughts. Our time is such - we talked about this in the book “The Collapse of Idols” - that all the idols that seduced and blinded us before are collapsing one after another, exposed in their lies, all the decorating and clouding veils over life fall down, all illusions perish on their own yourself. What remains is life, life itself in all its unsightly nakedness, with all its burdensomeness and meaninglessness, life equivalent to death and non-existence, but alien to the peace and oblivion of non-existence. That task set by God on the Sinai heights, through ancient Israel, to all people forever: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; choose life, so that you and your descendants may live” - this task is to learn to distinguish true life from life , which is death, to understand the meaning of life, which for the first time makes life life at all, that Word of God, which is the true bread of life that satisfies us - this task is precisely in our days of great catastrophes, the great punishment of God, by virtue of which all the veils are torn and we have all again “fell into the hands of the living God,” stands before us with such urgency, with such inexorably menacing obviousness that no one, having once felt it, can evade the duty of resolving it.

II. "WHAT TO DO?"

For a long time - evidence of this is the title of the famous, once famous novel by Chernyshevsky - the Russian intellectual was accustomed to posing the question about the “meaning of life” in the form of a question: “What to do”?

Question: "What to do?" can, of course, be put in very different senses. It has the most definite and reasonable meaning - one might say, the only completely reasonable meaning that allows for an exact answer - when it means finding ways or facilities to some goal already recognized in advance and indisputable for the questioner. You can ask what you need to do to improve your health, or to earn a living income, or to be successful in society, etc. And, moreover, the most fruitful formulation of the question is when it has maximum specificity; then it can often be answered by one single and completely reasonable answer. So, of course, instead of the general question: “What should I do to be healthy?” It is more fruitful to pose the question the way we pose it during a consultation with a doctor: “What do I need to do at my age, with such and such a past, with such and such a lifestyle and the general condition of the body, in order to recover from such and such a specific illness? " And all similar questions should be formulated according to this model. It is easier to find the answer, and the answer will be more accurate, if the question is about the means of achieving health, material well-being, success in love, etc. is posed in a completely concrete form, in which all the particular, individual properties of the questioner himself, and the surrounding environment are taken into account, and if - most importantly - the very goal of his aspiration is not something vaguely general, like health or wealth at all, but something quite specific - the cure of a given disease, earnings in a certain profession, etc. We, in fact, ask ourselves such questions: “What should I do in this case in order to achieve this specific goal” every day, and every step of our practical life is the result of resolving one of them. There is no basis for discussing the meaning and legality of the question “What to do?” in such a completely concrete and at the same time rational-business form.

But, of course, this meaning of the question has nothing more than a verbal expression, common with that painful, requiring a fundamental solution and at the same time for the most part not finding its meaning, in which this question is posed when for the questioner himself it is identical with the question about the meaning of his life. Then this is, first of all, a question not about a means to achieve a certain goal, but a question about the very purpose of life and activity. But even in such a formulation, the question can again be posed in different, and, moreover, significantly different from each other, meanings. Thus, at a young age, the question inevitably arises of choosing one or another life path from the many opportunities that open up here. "What should I do?" it means then: what special life work, what profession should I choose, or how can I correctly determine my vocation. "What should I do?" - by this we mean here questions of the following order: “Should I enter, for example, a higher educational institution or immediately become a figure in practical life, learn a craft, start trading, enter the service? And in the first case - which “faculty” should I Should I prepare myself to become a doctor, or an engineer, or an agronomist, etc. Of course, a correct and accurate answer to this question is only possible here if we take into account all the specific conditions of the person asking the question (his inclinations and abilities, his health, his willpower, etc.) and the external conditions of his life (his material security, the comparative difficulty - in a given country and at a given time - of each of the different paths, the relative profitability of a particular profession, again at a given time and in a given place, etc.) But the main thing is that even the fundamental possibility of a definite and correct answer to the question is given only if the questioner is already clear about the final goal of his aspiration, the highest and most important value of life for him. He must first of all check himself and decide to himself what is most important to him in this choice, what, in fact, motives he is guided by - whether, when choosing a profession and life path, he is looking, first of all, for material security or fame and a prominent social position, or satisfying the internal - and in this case, what exactly - needs of one’s personality. Thus, it turns out that here too we are only seemingly solving the question of the purpose of our life, but in fact we are only discussing different means or paths to some goal, which is either already known or should be known to us; and, consequently, questions of this order also go away, as purely business and rational questions about the means to a certain goal, to the category of questions mentioned above, although here the question is not about the expediency of a separate, single step or action, but about the expediency of a general definition of constants conditions and constant circle of life and activity.

In the precise sense, the question “What should I do?” with the meaning: “what should I strive for?”, “What life goal should I set for myself?” arises when the questioner is unclear about the very content of the highest, final, everything else determining goal and value of life. But here, too, very significant differences in the meaning of the question are still possible. At any individual posing the question: "What to me, NN, personally do, what goal or value should I choose for myself as defining my life?" it is tacitly assumed that there is a certain complex hierarchy of goals and values ​​and an innate hierarchy of personalities corresponding to it; and we are talking about the fact that everyone ( and first of all - I) got to the proper place in this system, found in this polyphonic choir the appropriate his personality the right voice. The question in this case comes down to a question of self-knowledge, to an understanding of what I am actually called to, what role in the world as a whole I have intended to me nature or providence. Without a doubt, what remains here is the presence of the hierarchy of goals or values ​​and a general idea of ​​its content generally.

Only now have we approached, by rejecting all other meanings of the question “What to do?”, to its meaning in which it directly conceals within itself the question of the meaning of life. When I ask a question not about what me personally to do (at least in the highest, just indicated sense, which of the life goals or values ​​to recognize for oneself as defining and most important), but about what needs to be done at all or all people, then I mean bewilderment directly related to the question of the meaning of life. Life, as it directly flows, determined by elemental forces, is meaningless; what needs to be done, how to improve life so that it becomes meaningful- that's what the confusion comes down to here. What is the only thing common to all people? case, by which life is comprehended and through participation in which, therefore, my life first acquires meaning?

This is what the typical Russian meaning of the question “What to do?” comes down to. Even more precisely, it means: “What should I and others do to to save the world and thereby justify your life for the first time?” At the heart of this question lies a number of premises that we could express something like this: the world in its immediate, empirical existence and flow is meaningless; he dies from suffering, deprivation, moral evil - selfishness, hatred, injustice; any simple participation in the life of the world, in the sense of simply becoming part of the elemental forces, the collision of which determines its course, is participation in meaningless chaos, due to which the participant’s own life is only a meaningless set of blind and painful external accidents; but man is called together transform peace and save him, to arrange him so that his highest goal is truly realized in him. And the question is how to find the work (the work common to all people) that will bring about the salvation of the world. In a word, “what to do” here means: “How to remake the world in order to realize absolute truth and absolute meaning in it?”

Russian people suffer from the meaninglessness of life. He acutely feels that if he simply “lives like everyone else” - eats, drinks, gets married, works to support his family, even has fun with ordinary earthly joys, he lives in a foggy, meaningless whirlpool, like a chip carried away by the passage of time, and in front of the inevitable end of life does not know why he lived in the world. He feels with his whole being that he must not “just live,” but live for something. But it is precisely the typical Russian intellectual who thinks that “to live for something” means to live for participation in some great common cause that improves the world and leads it to final salvation. He just doesn’t know what this unique thing, common to all people, is, and In this sense asks: “What should I do?”

For the vast majority of Russian intellectuals of the past era - starting from the 60s, partly even from the 40s of the last century until the disaster of 1917 - the question was: “What to do?” in this sense, he received one, quite definite answer: to improve the political and social conditions of life of the people, to eliminate that socio-political system, from the imperfections of which the world is perishing, and to introduce a new system that would ensure the reign of truth and happiness on earth and thereby bring true meaning to life . And a significant part of Russian people of this type firmly believed that with the revolutionary collapse of the old order and the establishment of a new, democratic and socialist order, this goal of life would be achieved immediately and forever. They achieved this goal with the greatest persistence, passion and dedication, without looking back they crippled both their own and other people’s lives - and achieved! And when the goal was achieved, the old order was overthrown, socialism was firmly implemented, then it turned out that not only the world was not saved, not only life did not become meaningful, but in place of the previous, although from an absolute point of view meaningless, but relatively established and organized life , which gave at least the opportunity to seek something better, complete and utter nonsense ensued, a chaos of blood, hatred, evil and absurdity - life like a living hell. Now many, in complete analogy with the past and only having changed the content of the political ideal, believe that the salvation of the world lies in the “overthrow of the Bolsheviks”, in the establishment of old social forms, which now, after their loss, seem deeply meaningful, returning life to its lost meaning; the struggle for the restoration of past forms of life, be it the recent past of the political power of the Russian Empire, be it the ancient past, the ideal of “Holy Rus'”, as it seems to have been realized in the era of the Muscovite kingdom, or, in general and more broadly speaking, the implementation of some, sanctified by long-standing traditions , reasonable socio-political forms of life become the only thing that makes sense of life, the general answer to the question: “What to do?”

Along with this Russian spiritual type, there is another, essentially, however, related to it. For him, the question “What to do” receives the answer: “Moral improvement.” The world can and must be saved, its meaninglessness can be replaced with meaningfulness, if every person tries to live not by blind passions, but “reasonably”, in accordance with the moral ideal. A typical example of this mentality is Tolstoyanism, which is partially and unconsciously professed or to which many Russian people are inclined, even outside the “Tolstovites” proper. The “work” that is here to save the world is no longer external political and social work, much less violent revolutionary activity, but internal educational work on oneself and others. But its immediate goal is the same: introducing into the world a new general order, new relationships between people and ways of life that “save” the world; and often these orders are thought of with purely outwardly empirical content: vegetarianism, agricultural labor, etc. But even with the deepest and most subtle understanding of this “business”, namely as the internal work of moral improvement, the general prerequisites of the mentality are the same: the matter remains precisely a “business”, i.e. according to human design and human forces, a systematic world reform is being carried out, freeing the world from evil and thereby making life meaningful.

It would be possible to point out some other, possible and actually occurring variants of this mentality, but for our purpose this is not essential. What is important for us here is not consideration and resolution of the question “What to do?” in the sense intended here, not an assessment of different possible answers on it, but to understand the meaning and value of the question itself. And in it all the different answer options converge. All of them are based on the immediate conviction that there is such a single, great, common case, which will save the world and participation in which for the first time gives meaning to the individual’s life. To what extent can such a formulation of the question be recognized as the correct path to finding the meaning of life?

At its core, despite all its perversity and spiritual insufficiency (to the clarification of which we will now turn), there is undoubtedly a deep and true, albeit vague, religious feeling. By its unconscious roots it is connected with the Christian hope of “a new heaven and a new earth.” She correctly recognizes the fact of the meaninglessness of life in its current state, and righteously cannot come to terms with it; despite this factual meaninglessness, she, believing in the possibility of finding the meaning of life or realizing it, thereby testifies to her, albeit unconscious, belief in principles and forces higher than this meaningless empirical life. But, not being aware of its necessary prerequisites, it contains a number of contradictions in its conscious beliefs and leads to a significant distortion of a healthy, truly grounded attitude towards life.

First of all, this belief in the meaning of life, gained through participation in a great common cause that must save the world, is not justified. In fact, what is the belief in this based on? possibilities saving the world? If life, as it directly is, is completely meaningless, then where can the strength for internal self-correction, for the destruction of this meaninglessness come from? It is obvious that in the totality of the forces involved in the implementation of world salvation, this mentality presupposes some new, different principle, alien to the empirical nature of life, which invades it and corrects it. But where can this beginning come from, and what is its own essence? This beginning is here - consciously or unconsciously - Human, his striving for perfection, for the ideal, the moral forces of good living in him; in the face of this mentality we are dealing with obvious or hidden humanism. But what is a person and what significance does he have in the world? What ensures the possibility of human progress, gradual - and perhaps sudden - achievement of perfection? What are the guarantees that human ideas about goodness and perfection truth, and that the moral efforts defined by these ideas will triumph over all the forces of evil, chaos and blind passions? Let us not forget that throughout its history humanity has strived for this perfection, devoted itself passionately to the dream of it, and to a certain extent its entire history is nothing more than the search for this perfection; and yet now we see that this quest was a blind wandering, that it has so far failed, and immediate elemental life in all its meaninglessness has turned out to be undefeated. How can we be sure that exactly We Will we turn out to be happier or smarter than all our ancestors, that we will correctly identify a life-saving task and have success in its implementation? Especially our era, after the striking tragic failure of the cherished aspirations of many Russian generations to save Russia, and through it the whole world, with the help of the democratic revolution and socialism, has received such an impressive lesson in this regard that, it would seem, from now on it is natural for us to become more cautious and skeptical in building and implementing plans to save the world. And besides, the very reasons for this tragic collapse of our past dreams are now quite clear to us, if we want to carefully think about them: they lie not only in the fallacy of the intended plan salvation, and above all in the unsuitability of the very human material of the “saviors” (whether they were the leaders of the movement, or the masses who believed in them and began to realize the imaginary truth and destroy evil): these “saviors,” as we now see, exaggerated immeasurably in their blind hatred, the evil of the past, the evil of all the empirical, already realized, life that surrounded them and just as immensely exaggerated, in their blind pride, their own mental and moral powers; and the very fallacy of the plan of salvation they outlined ultimately stemmed from this moral their blindness. The proud saviors of the world, who opposed themselves and their aspirations, as the highest rational and good principle, to the evil and chaos of all real life, turned out to be themselves a manifestation and product - and, moreover, one of the worst - of this most evil and chaotic Russian reality; all the evil that has accumulated in Russian life - hatred and inattention to people, bitterness of resentment, frivolity and moral laxity, ignorance and gullibility, the spirit of disgusting tyranny, disrespect for law and truth - was reflected precisely in themselves, who imagined themselves to be the highest, as if they had come from another world, the saviors of Russia from evil and suffering. What guarantees do we have now that we will not again find ourselves in the pitiful and tragic role of saviors who themselves are hopelessly captivated and poisoned by the evil and nonsense from which they want to save others. But regardless of this terrible lesson, which, it would seem, should have taught us some kind of significant reform not only in content our moral and social ideal, but also in the very structure our moral attitude to life - the simple requirement of a logical sequence of thoughts forces us to seek an answer to the question: on what is our faith based in the rationality and victoriousness of the forces that defeat the meaninglessness of life, if these forces themselves belong to the composition of this same life? Or, in other words: is it possible to believe that life itself, full of evil, by some internal process of self-purification and self-overcoming, with the help of forces growing from itself, will save itself, that the world's nonsense in the person of man will defeat itself and implant in itself the kingdom of truth and meaning?

But let us leave aside even for now this alarming question, which clearly requires a negative answer. Let us assume that the dream of universal salvation, of the establishment of the kingdom of goodness, reason and truth in the world is feasible through human forces, and that we can now participate in its preparation. Then the question arises: does the coming advent of this ideal and our participation in its implementation free us from the meaninglessness of life, does the coming advent of this ideal and our participation in its implementation give meaning to our lives? Someday in the future - no matter how distant or near - all people will be happy, kind and reasonable; well, and the entire innumerable series of human generations who have already gone to the grave, and we ourselves, living now, before the onset of this state - For what did they all live or live? To prepare for this coming bliss? So be it. But they themselves will no longer be its participants, their life has passed or is passing without direct participation in it - how is it justified or meaningful? Is it really possible to recognize the meaningful role of manure, which serves as fertilizer and thereby contributes to the future harvest? A person who uses manure for this purpose for myself, of course, acts intelligently, but a person as manure can hardly feel satisfied and his existence meaningful. After all, if we believe in the meaning of our life or want to find it, then this in any case means - which we will return to in more detail below - that we expect to find some kind of meaning in our life. to herself an inherent, absolute end or value, and not merely a means to something else. The life of a slave slave, of course, is meaningful for the slave owner, who uses him like draft cattle, as a tool for his enrichment; But, What's up, for the slave himself, the bearer and subject of living self-awareness, it is obviously absolutely meaningless, because it is entirely devoted to serving a goal that itself is not part of this life and does not participate in it. And if nature or world history uses us as slaves to accumulate the wealth of its chosen ones - future human generations, then our own life is also devoid of meaning.

The nihilist Bazarov, in Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons,” quite consistently says: “Why do I care that a man will be happy when I myself become a mug?” But not only that our life remains meaningless - although, of course, for us this is the most important thing; but also all life in general, and therefore, even the lives of the future participants in the bliss of the “saved” world, also remains meaningless because of this, and the world is not at all “saved” by this triumph, sometime in the future, of an ideal state. There is some kind of monstrous injustice that conscience and reason cannot reconcile with, in such an uneven distribution of good and evil, reason and nonsense, between living participants in different world eras - an injustice that makes life as a whole meaningless. Why should some suffer and die in darkness, while others, their future successors, enjoy the light of goodness and happiness? For what the world is like that pointless is it arranged that the realization of truth must be preceded in it by a long period of untruth, and an innumerable number of people are doomed to spend their entire lives in this purgatory, in this tediously long “preparatory class” of humanity? Until we answer this question "For what", the world remains meaningless, and therefore its future bliss itself is meaningless. Yes, it will be bliss only for those participants who are blind, like animals, and can enjoy the present, forgetting about their connection with the past, just as animal people can enjoy now; for thinking beings, this is precisely why it will not be bliss, since it will be poisoned by unquenchable grief about past evil and past suffering, insoluble bewilderment about their meaning.

So the dilemma is inexorable. One of two things: or life in general has the meaning- then it must have it at every moment, for every generation of people and for every living person, now, now - completely independent of all its possible changes and its supposed improvement in the future, since this future is only the future and all past and present life do not participate in it; or this is not the case, and life, our present life, is meaningless - and then there is no salvation from meaninglessness, and all the future bliss of the world does not redeem and is not able to redeem it; and therefore our own aspiration towards this future, our mental anticipation of it and effective participation in its implementation does not save us from it.

In other words: when thinking about life and its intended meaning, we must inevitably recognize life as whole. All world life as a whole and our own short life - not as a random fragment, but as something, despite its brevity and fragmentation, merged into unity with all world life - this dual unity of my “I” and the world must be recognized as timeless and comprehensive a whole, and about this whole we ask: does it “make sense” and what is its meaning? Therefore, the world's meaning, the meaning of life, can never be realized in time, or generally confined to any time. He or There is- once and for all! Or already him No- and then too - once and for all!

And now we are brought back to our first doubt about the feasibility of saving the world by man, and we can merge it with the second into one common negative result. The world cannot change itself, he cannot, so to speak, crawl out of his own skin or - like Baron Munchausen - pull himself by the hair from the swamp, which, in addition, here belongs to him, so he drowns in the swamp only because this swamp is hidden in himself. And therefore man, as a part and accomplice of world life, cannot do any such thing. "affairs", which would save him and give meaning to his life. “The meaning of life” - whether it exists in reality or not - must be thought of in any case as a certain eternal Start; everything that happens in time, everything that arises and disappears, being a part and fragment of life as a whole, thus cannot in any way justify its meaning. Every thing a person does is something derived from a person, his life, his spiritual nature; meaning human life, in any case, must be something on which a person relies, which serves as a single, unchanging, absolutely durable the basis of it being. All the affairs of man and humanity - both those that he himself considers great, and those in which he sees his only and greatest work - are insignificant and vain if he himself is insignificant, if his life essentially has no meaning, if he is not rooted in some reasonable soil that exceeds him and was not created by him. And therefore, although the meaning of life - if there is one! - and comprehends human affairs, and can inspire a person to truly great deeds, but, on the contrary, no deed can comprehend human life in itself. Look for the missing meaning of life in some in fact, in accomplishing something, means falling into the illusion that a person himself can create the meaning of his life, immeasurably exaggerating the significance of some, necessarily private and limited, essentially always powerless human deed. In fact, this means cowardly and thoughtlessly hiding from the consciousness of the meaninglessness of life, drowning this consciousness in the bustle of essentially equally meaningless worries and troubles. Whether a person worries about wealth, fame, love, a piece of bread for himself for tomorrow, or whether he worries about the happiness and salvation of all mankind, his life is equally meaningless; only in the latter case is a false illusion, artificial self-deception added to the general meaninglessness. To search The meaning of life - not to mention finding it - you must first of all stop, concentrate and not “fuss” about anything. Contrary to all current assessments and human opinions not doing here it is really more important than the most important and beneficial deed, for not being blinded by any human deed, freedom from it, is the first (albeit far from sufficient) condition for searching for the meaning of life.

So we see that replacing the question about the meaning of life with the question: “What should I do to save the world and thereby make sense of my life?” contains an unacceptable substitution of the primary, rooted in the very being of a person, search for an unshakable soil for one’s life with a desire based on pride and illusion to remake life and give it meaning with one’s own human strength. To the main, perplexed and sad question of this mentality: “When will the real day come, the day of the triumph of truth and reason on earth, the day of the final death of all earthly disorder, chaos and nonsense” - and for the sober wisdom of life, looking directly at the world and giving the exact report in its empirical nature, and for a deep and meaningful religious consciousness that understands the incompatibility of the spiritual depths of being within the limits of empirical earthly life - there is only one, sober, calm and reasonable answer, destroying all the immature dreaminess and romantic sensitivity of the question itself: “Within the limits of this the world—its longed-for super-peaceful transformation— never". No matter what a person does and what he manages to achieve, no matter what technical, social, mental improvements he makes into his life, but fundamentally, in the face of the question of the meaning of life, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be no different from yesterday and today . Meaningless randomness will always reign in this world, man will always be a powerless blade of grass, which can be ruined by the earthly heat and an earthly storm, his life will always be a short fragment, which cannot contain the spiritual fullness that is desired and comprehends life, and always evil, stupidity and blind passion will reign on earth. And to the questions: “What to do to stop this condition, to remake the world in a better way” - there is also only one calm and reasonable answer: "Nothing, because this plan exceeds human strength."

Only when you realize with complete clarity and meaningfulness the obviousness of this answer, the very question “What to do?” changes its meaning and acquires a new, now legitimate meaning. “What to do” then no longer means: “How can I remake the world in order to save it,” but: “How can I live myself, so as not to drown and die in this chaos of life.” In other words, the only religiously justified and non-illusory formulation of the question “What to do?” comes down not to the question of how I can save the world, but to the question of how I can join the beginning, which is the key to saving life. It is noteworthy that the Gospel more than once poses the question: “What to do,” precisely in this latter sense. And the answers given to it constantly emphasize that the “work” that can lead to the goal here has nothing to do with any “activity”, with any external human affairs, but comes down entirely to the “work” of internal rebirth man through self-denial, repentance and faith. Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles it is reported that in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost, the Jews, having heard the divinely inspired speech of the Apostle Peter, “said to Peter and the other Apostles: what should we do, men and brothers?" Peter said to them: "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:37-38). Repentance and baptism and, as its fruit, the acquisition of the gift of the Holy Spirit are defined here as the only necessary human “work.” And that this “work” has really achieved its goal , saved those who committed it - this is immediately narrated further: “and so those who willingly accepted his word were baptized... And they constantly continued in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers... All the believers were together and had everything in common... And every day they continued with one accord in the temple and, breaking bread from house to house, ate food with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and being favored by all the people"(Acts 2.41-47). But absolutely also the Savior himself, in response to the question addressed to him: “What must we do to do the works of God?”, gave the answer: "Behold, it is the work of God that you believe in him whom He sent"(Ev. John 6.28-29). To the tempting question of the lawyer: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”, Christ answers with a reminder of two eternal commandments: love for God and love for neighbor; "do so, and you will live" (Luke 10.25-28). Love for God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind, and the resulting love for your neighbor - this is the only "work" that saves life. For the rich young man the same question: “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ, having first recalled the commandments prohibiting evil deeds and commanding love for one’s neighbor, says: “You lack one thing: go, sell everything you have, and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross" (Heb. Mark 10.17-21, cf. Matt. 19.16-21). It is possible to think that the rich young man was saddened by this answer not only because he felt sorry for the large estate, but also because that he expected to receive an indication of a “work” that he could do himself, with his own strength and, perhaps, with the help of his property, and was saddened to learn that the only “work” commanded to him was to have treasure in heaven and follow In any case, here too the Word of God impressively notes the vanity of all human affairs and sees the only truly necessary and saving work for man in self-denial and faith.

Semyon Frank

Introduction.

Great philosophers - such as Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Diogenes and many others - had clear ideas about what kind of life is “best” (and therefore most meaningful) and, as a rule, associated the meaning of life with the concept of good. That is, in their understanding, a person should live for the benefit of other people. He must leave a contribution behind.

From my point of view, people who have brought significant benefit to the lives of others are writers such as Pushkin, Lermontov, Bulgakov and many others, these are scientists such as Einstein, Pavlov, Demikhov, Hippocrates and others. But this does not mean that we are ordinary people and are not at all great minds and do not bring benefit to others.

The question “about the meaning of life” worries and torments in the depths of the soul of every person. A person can completely forget about it for a while, plunge headlong into worries, into work, into material worries about preserving life, about wealth. I think there is no clear answer to this question, but there are many different opinions. And their abundance is explained by the fact that different people pursue different goals in their lives.

In my essay, I will consider different opinions about the meaning of life on Earth, and in conclusion I will write what the meaning of life is for me.

The meaning of human existence.

The ancient Greek philosopher and encyclopedist Aristotle, for example, believed that the goal of all human actions is happiness (eudaimonia), which consists in the realization of the essence of man. For a person whose essence is the soul, happiness lies in thinking and knowing. Spiritual work thus takes precedence over physical work. Scientific activity and artistic pursuits are the so-called dianoetic virtues, which are achieved through the subordination of passions to reason.

To some extent, I agree with Aristotle, because indeed each of us lives life in search of happiness, and most importantly, when you are happy internally. But on the other hand, when you completely devote yourself to art or a low-income science and you don’t have money for normal clothes, good food, and because of this you will begin to feel like an outcast and you will become lonely. Is this happiness? Some will say no, but for others it is truly joy and the meaning of existence.

The 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer defined human life as a manifestation of a certain world will: it seems to people that they are acting of their own free will, but in fact they are driven by someone else's will. Being unconscious, the world will is absolutely indifferent to its creations - people who are abandoned by it to the mercy of random circumstances. According to Schopenhauer, life is a hell in which a fool pursues pleasures and comes to disappointment, and a wise man, on the contrary, tries to avoid troubles through self-restraint - a wisely living person realizes the inevitability of disasters, and therefore curbs his passions and sets a limit to his desires. Human life, according to Schopenhauer, is a constant struggle with death, constant suffering, and all efforts to free oneself from suffering only lead to the fact that one suffering is replaced by another, while the satisfaction of basic life needs only results in satiety and boredom.

And in the interpretation of Schopenhauer's life, there is some truth. Our life is a constant struggle for survival, and in the modern world these are absolutely “fights without rules for a place in the sun.” And if you don’t want to fight and become nobody, then she will crush you. Even if we reduce desires to a minimum (to have somewhere to sleep and eat) and come to terms with suffering, then what is life? It’s pure and simple to live in this world as a person on whom people will wipe their feet. No, in my opinion this is not the meaning of life at all!

Speaking about the meaning of human life and death, Sartre wrote: “If we must die, then our life has no meaning, because its problems remain unresolved and the very meaning of the problems remains uncertain... Everything that exists is born without a reason, continues in weakness and dies by accident... Absurd that we were born, it is absurd that we will die.”

We can say that according to Sartre there is no meaning to life, because sooner or later we will all die. I completely disagree with him, because if you follow his worldview, then why live at all? It’s easier to commit suicide, but that’s not true. After all, every person holds on to a thin thread that keeps him in this world, even if his existence in this world is disgusting. We all know very well about such a category of people as homeless people (people without a fixed place of residence). Many were once wealthy people, but they went bankrupt or were deceived, and everyone paid for their gullibility, and there are many other reasons why they fell into such a life. And every day for them is a lot of problems, trials, torments. Some cannot stand it and still leave this world (with their own help), but others find the strength to live on. Personally, I believe that a person can say goodbye to life only if he does not see the meaning in it.

Ludwig Wittgenstein things in personal life may have meaning (importance), but life itself has no meaning different from these things. In this context, one's personal life is said to have meaning (importance to oneself or others) in the form of the events that happen throughout that life and the results of that life in terms of achievements, inheritance, family, etc.

Indeed, to some extent this is true. Our life is important for our loved ones, for those people who love us. There may be only a few of them, but we are aware that in this world we are needed by someone, we are important to someone. And for the sake of these people we live, feeling needed.

It seems to me that it is also worth turning to religion to find the meaning of life. Because it is often assumed that religion is a response to the human need to stop feeling confused or afraid of death (and the accompanying desire not to die). By defining the world beyond life (the spiritual world), these needs are "satisfied" by providing meaning, purpose and hope for our (otherwise meaningless, aimless and finite) lives.

I would like to look at it from the point of view of some religions.

And I want to start with Christianity. The meaning of life is to save the soul. Only God is an independent being; everything exists and is comprehended only in continuous connection with the Creator. However, not everything in this world makes sense - there are senseless, irrational actions. An example of such an act is, for example, the betrayal of Judas or his suicide. Thus, Christianity teaches that one act can make a whole life meaningless. The meaning of life is God's plan for man, and it is different for different people. It can be seen only by washing away the adhering dirt of lies and sin, but it cannot be “invented.”

“The frog saw a buffalo and said: “I want to become a buffalo too!” She sulked and sulked and finally burst. After all, God made some a frog and some a buffalo. And what did the frog do: he wanted to become a buffalo! Well, it burst! Let everyone rejoice in what the Creator made him.” (Words by Elder Paisius of the Holy Mountain).

The meaning of the earthly stage of life is the acquisition of personal immortality, which is possible only through personal participation in the sacrifice of Christ and the fact of His resurrection, as if “through Christ.”

Faith gives us the meaning of life, the goal, the dream of a happy afterlife. It may be difficult and bad for us now, but after death, at that hour and moment when it was assigned to us by fate, we will find eternal paradise. Everyone in this world has their own test. Everyone finds their own meaning. And everyone should remember about “spiritual purity.”

From the point of view of Judaism: the meaning of any person’s life is to serve the Creator, even in the most everyday affairs - when a person eats, sleeps, satisfies natural needs, performs marital duty - he must do this with the thought that he is taking care of the body - in order to to be able to serve the Creator with complete dedication.

The meaning of human life is to contribute to the establishment of the kingdom of the Most High over the world, the revelation of its light to all peoples of the world.

Not everyone will see the meaning of existence only in constant service to God, when every moment you first of all think not about yourself, but about the fact that you should get married, raise a bunch of children, only because God commanded so.

From the point of view of Islam: a special relationship between man and God - “surrendering oneself to God”, “submission to God”; Followers of Islam are Muslims, that is, “devotees.” The meaning of a Muslim’s life is to worship the Almighty: “I did not create jinn and people so that they would bring Me any benefit, but only so that they would worship Me. But worship benefits them.”

Religions are written rules, if you live by them, if you are submissive to God and fate, it means that you have the meaning of life.

The meaning of life for modern man

Modern society, of course, does not impose the meaning of life on its members and this is the individual choice of each person. At the same time, modern society offers an attractive goal that can fill a person’s life with meaning and give him strength.

The meaning of life for a modern person is self-improvement, raising worthy children who should surpass their parents, and the development of this world as a whole. The goal is to transform a person from a “cog”, an object of application of external forces, into a creator, demiurge, builder of the world.

Any person integrated into modern society is a creator of the future, a participant in the development of our world, and in the future, a participant in the creation of a new Universe. And it doesn’t matter where and who we work for - moving the economy forward in a private company or teaching children at school - his work and contribution are needed for development.

The awareness of this fills life with meaning and makes you do your job well and conscientiously - for the benefit of yourself, other people and society. This allows you to realize your own significance and the common goal that Modern people set for themselves, and to feel involved in the highest achievements of humanity. And just feeling like a bearer of a progressive Future is already important.

“The question “about the meaning of life” worries and torments in the depths of the soul of every person. A person can for a while, and even for a very long time, completely forget about it, plunge headlong either into the everyday interests of today, into material concerns about preserving life, about wealth, contentment and earthly success, or into any super-personal passions and “affairs” - in politics, the struggle of parties, etc. - but life is already so arranged that even the dumbest, fattest or spiritually asleep person cannot completely and forever brush it aside. This question is not a “theoretical question”, not a subject of idle mental games; this question is a question of life itself, it is just as terrible - and, in fact, even much more terrible than, in dire need, the question of a piece of bread to satisfy hunger. Truly, this is a question of bread that would nourish us, and water that would quench our thirst."

(c) S.L. Frank,
major Russian philosopher, religious thinker and psychologist.

Nowadays, the main issue of human life is lost among the mass of secondary tasks, such as ensuring life activity: being fed, shod, clothed, with a roof over your head; as well as the goals that the current system of life offers: to be successful, “useful to society,” etc.

Why did it happen that the main question of life was pushed into the background?

I propose to look at the surrounding reality from this point of view:

1. The current way of life of a social person is similar to the principle of “life” of a thing, an object. Any thing is created for specific purposes: a tape recorder in order to listen to audio recordings; refrigerator for storing food; a car for driving and transporting necessary things; etc. Things are created for people. Any control mechanisms, be it politics, security or anything else, are also created for people. A person is not a thing, I am deeply convinced that a person was not born in order to use things or manage some processes, such as, for example: politics, selling cell phones, creating new works of music or painting, etc.

2. Now let's take a look at how people live. I asked the question about the meaning of life to some people, I heard conversations and beliefs about this issue from many people. A lot of people say that the meaning of their life is in a certain business, for example, they say: “Everyone has their own purpose, my purpose is to create music” - or to be a politician, a manager at a factory, or do some other thing that is not really are, in my opinion, the true meaning of life. I repeat, a person cannot be born for a certain “cause of life”, then there would be a natural mark on the forehead from birth “I am a musician” or “I am a salesman.” But this is not and cannot be. Truly, a person does not know his purpose, the meaning of life, but he does not try to understand this question, to get an answer - that is the problem.

3. The social environment or the way of modern life, the goals and objectives that are set for a person, have somehow changed the values ​​of life, down to the everyday level. But the most important thing, in my opinion, the most catastrophic consequence of this way of life is that the main question of every person’s life is pushed very far away. The main principle becomes the accumulation of material wealth, power over other people and “amenities” as the maximum obtaining of pleasure in almost any way, including immoral, and simply inhuman, means. But all these values ​​of social life do not answer the main question of a person, and therefore a “social person” will not be truly happy until he understands this and finds the answer to the main question of life.

Further, modern philosophy and other sciences, scientists and thinkers do not provide an answer to the most important question of life. However, there are several people in the world who are called “Awakened” or “Enlightened”, but simply sages, who say that there is an answer to this question. I personally know such a person, moreover, I believe him, but this does not matter.

The important thing is that the “awakened”, various philosophies and other sources speak with one voice - “Know yourself!” I consider this direction to be the most important for me, because... I don't find anything more important. How did I come to this? The search for an answer to the question of the meaning of my life led me to the conclusion that I do not know who I really am. After all, we all talk about ourselves, we say: “I want”, “I do”, “I see”, etc., but I still can’t find the one I call “I”. All I can talk about is my body, my feelings, sensations, thoughts, desires, etc., but I can’t say anything about myself specifically. Based on logical thinking, the question “Who am I?” more primary than the question of the meaning of life, because life for me exists only when I, strictly speaking, live. After all, if I am gone, then, apparently, there cannot be a question about the meaning of life, because... there will be no life itself. In fact, even when I am fast asleep, I wake up and cannot say “I lived.”

So I see the question "Who am I?" the most important, fundamental thing in the life of a person as such.

So why do I want to create this so-called “new environment”? – The fact is that going against society, relatively speaking, makes no sense – why? This is unrealistic, and there is no point in it, I’m not going to convince a lot of people - let them decide for themselves what is more important to them and how to live their lives. And because in the social environment there are other goals, objectives and values, in general: the activities of social life are not aimed at resolving such issues, then the need arises to create a society, a “new environment” in which values ​​will still be put in place - the main question, then , he will be in charge! In other words, I want to create an environment of people where the question of self-knowledge and the meaning of life comes first.

Many might say that there are already a lot of such places, implying different teachings or religions. I do not belong to any religion or philosophy. And I don’t want the “new environment” to be built on any religion or philosophy; I’m interested in a society that will be built on self-knowledge and objective truth. What attracts me most is what the “awakened” Ramana Maharshi and Sergey Rubtsov say - they speak very specifically, without fluff - and they say that you don’t need to bow to anyone, you need to know yourself and then everything will fall into place. That is why I am betting on the “path” that they talk and write about, because... it seems the most realistic to me.

Alexander Vasiliev
Project "NEW ENVIRONMENT"

3 Mar 2012 | Sergey Belorusov

- One famous psychologist said that if a person is interested in the meaning of life, it means he is sick. Do you agree?

In general, I am not very sure that a psychologist is a competent adviser regarding the meaning of life. Moreover, if the specialist helping you begins to behave as if there is a small oracle built into him that unmistakably determines this meaning, then it is best to bow out and move away from such communication.

The functions of a psychotherapist are less fateful. But. A good psychologist will walk with you part of the way to acquire not, of course, an exhaustive, but a situational meaning of what has been sent down to teach you, the state of circumstances in which you find yourself today.

And I’ll answer the question with the traditional saying of my teacher Father Adrian van Kaam - “Yes and no”... :-) He, a priest and a psychologist, looked at phenomena from a binocular perspective... :-)

So why yes? Because they don’t think about the meaning of life in routine, they don’t think when involved in something significant, they don’t think about it in the danger of battle. Thought encounters the search for the meaning of life in pauses, voluntary or forced. What forces us to pause in the daily flow of life? Most often, when something knocks us out of life: stress, fatigue, suffering. Yes, in a situation of illness, the likelihood of thinking about what’s what is higher than in our everyday life.

No - because in such a formulation of the question, the assertion that the search for the meaning of life is latently revealed is a symptom of pathology - mental or physical. Let's think about this. To elaborate on your question: is the search for the meaning of life a pathology and if this is not the case, then with what frequency is this kind of reflection natural and useful?

Human existence is largely determined by cyclicality. We inhale and exhale air, our heart muscle contracts and tenses. These rhythms are related as 1:1. The wake/sleep cycle is determined by a 3:1 ratio. The possibility of conception in women is a cycle of 5:1. Based on these approximate ratios, let us ask ourselves how often we should look for this very meaning, and how much time we should spend following the established one, such as, for example, following the example of M. Prokhorov in his pre-election interview:

“Do you think a person has an immortal soul?
- I haven’t decided this question for myself yet. I live an active life, I think about it a lot, but I don’t have an answer to this question yet.”

It seems that the proportion of time intervals when to look for that meaning, and when to cool down to it, is unusually variable. It can be 6:1 - the sixth day of the week to the Lord or 10:1 based on the principle of tithing, or even less often - 50:1 - jubilee years..:-).However, undoubtedly, we should return ourselves to this. Otherwise, we cease to be human . After all, animals don’t worry about the meaning of life... :-) And for angels - it has already been determined. We are somewhere in the middle... :-)

To push thoughts about the meaning of life to the periphery of consciousness means to slide into the animal nature within oneself or to start playing robot. There are also advantages here: - life is much more trouble-free without such thoughts. Once, at the age of 14, while in a reflexive search, I asked a friend: “What is the meaning of life, Tolik?” “And just live,” he answered. By the way, in our dialogue we discovered another good purpose for these kinds of questions - they significantly bring those talking about them closer together. It is the meanings that cement associations of people: from sports fan clubs to monastic orders. “Do you think,” I continue the communication that unites us, “that this issue should be postponed until we become completely independent?” - Yeah.

So, when we mature, the question of meaning begins to itch. After all, growing up means taking responsibility for yourself and your loved ones. But here you should discipline yourself and not ask it too often. The high amplitude of its actualization is the lot of either depressed neurotics or saints. And the virtues of meekness, patience, obedience and gratitude will prevent us from becoming obsessed with constantly obsessively returning to his decision.

How can you avoid asking yourself this question too often if you need an answer right now? If you don’t have the strength to get out of bed, go to work, etc. just like that, without understanding why?

Well, let's differentiate: there is a question about the meaning of life and there is an answer. The question should only arise in a few situations and the answer to it has the function of:

a) clarifications
b) consolation
c) inspiration

With a correctly structured life, we can assume that in general one answer to this question is enough, and, having solved it for ourselves once, then we slide by the inertia of the correct answer without losing energy along the icy slide of life... The need for a new question with a new answer arises only if we got caught on something in their path. And since everything both inside and outside of us is by no means smooth, this question will arise. And the correctness of the answer to it is determined by how long the inspiration from answering it lasts.

And further. The nature of us created is wise. Not all of our actions are motivated by meaning. After all, there are actions that we decide to do out of habit, out of pity, out of love, out of a desire for satisfaction, out of a sense of duty. The list of motivating reasons is long and cannot always be reduced to the ultimate meaning of existence.

- Where to look for the meaning of life and where you definitely shouldn’t look for it? How would you respond to a patient, an ordinary person?

Well, a simple person would hardly ask about the meaning of life... :-)

So, to begin with, I would give him homework - google everything that ancient Greek philosophers wrote about this and bring me an abstract... :-) In which everything that they put at the forefront: pleasure, knowledge, etc., and why this is not suitable for the questioner.

Then I would offer my interpretation. And she's next. One of the pillars of civilization, Gautama Buddha, spoke the “first noble truth” - “Everything in the world is suffering.” Exactly 25 centuries later, the outstanding psychologist Viktor Frankl substantiated “The meaning of suffering is to become different.” Having superimposed these hammered formulas on top of each other, we get: “The meaning of life is in becoming different.” Taking a closer look, we find confirmation of this in nature. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The egg produces a chick. We become aware of ourselves soon after leaving our mother's womb.

Every day we can become a little different. The main thing is to move in the right direction. For Christians, it is simple - each of us is created with a task and the resources necessary to complete it. Find these resources within yourself and identify the right vector of movement. The final goal is to reach the final point for this stage of life, at which you coincide with the Creator’s expectations of you and from you.

- And how can you understand what kind of resources you have and what task this is if nothing is clear and you have no strength for anything?

Let's say there is no strength to act. But do you have the strength to think? If none are found, it is better to just sleep. If you’re thinking about hunting, then let’s go...

First of all, let us find ourselves in time and place. Why are we not among the Mayan civilization? Why aren't there penguins in Antarctica? Why and what am I reflected in the mirror today? And why don’t I really like myself there?

What's stopping me from dyeing my hair green? That it won't be me. Then which of mine is truly mine? What would I like it to be? It can be - well, let's say, if I set myself the goal of earning a million dollars and devote all my strength to it, I probably can. As a last resort, I will sell the kidney. By the way, how much are they now? No, I won't sell it. I don’t really need that lam. But if I wanted to, I would.

So - I can. What do I want? No, really, what do I want? It’s unlikely to be an island in the Caribbean archipelago... Yeah, well, I need a job, and not just stupid work. but to have fun. What could she be like? Am I ready for it or am my qualifications low? Whatever is on the shelf is there, dusty. Yeah, a book on what interests me. Here is my task for the next hour. After it I will become smarter, which means I will become different.

What I want, albeit a little lazy, reflects my resources, something given to me. The fact that I approached this at this hour filled the day with meaning, I became a little different when I woke up sluggishly this morning. Tomorrow I'll do something else. The main thing is that today was not in vain. For what - gratitude Up...

You say: “Here, I need a job, and not just stupidly work hard. but to have fun. What could she be like? What to do if there is no such option?

It is not possible for a healthy person to want nothing.

Happens to someone who is dead tired. Then relax until you realize - yeah, that was a thrill, to have such a blast doing nothing. So, now I want... And the desire is caught.

It happens to someone who is anxious - I can’t want anything, everything is blocked by fear. Then you need to take yourself to a specialist who knows how to remove the bridle of anxiety with a kind word or medicine.

It happens to a sated person - they say, he got drunk, ate, fell in love - nothing more is needed. Then, probably, questions about the meaning of life will not arise. While you lie there, digest... Soon you want anything, then whistle...

Well, let's say it happens. You are healthy and with sluggish horror you realize that you don’t have the “itching thing of your life.” What to do?

Answer: but you, by the will of fate, are not on a desert island. Your existence is a mutual dance with those around you. Try to understand with words or movements what people who are significant to you expect from you: bosses and subordinates, parents and children, spouses and friends. Just ask, or let them know that you don’t mind hearing their opinion about yourself, and you’ll get something like this in response - it’ll take a long time to sort it out. You yourself won’t be glad that you started this sociological question about yourself, but you asked for it... :-)

Now the meanings of your life will come to you from outside. Systematize them and reject them one by one. Is there anything left that is acceptable to you?

Let's assume that the friend's advice turned out to be the least objectionable. Should I push myself there as much as I can? Is any meaning in life better than no meaning?

No. Only that meaning of life is correct at the current turn of your life, which comes from within you. Any adherence to what is proposed from the outside is an imitation, a distortion of the truth. The meaning of meaning, that is, a friend’s interpretations, is only material that should be tested against the standards of one’s own prudence. You can only subscribe to something for which you will answer without regretting your signature.

Sometimes the lack of meaning in life is that meaning itself. In any case, you can honestly identify with the early St. Petersburg punk “Automatic Satisfiers”: “I don’t know why I live, so go ahead and go with it.” Confessing your ignorance sometimes makes you wise. Or holy fools. And which of them is higher will be revealed in Eternity.

Let's go back. You should not direct yourself anywhere on the advice of anyone. Any imitation of the meaning of life is worse than admitting its (temporary) absence.

How can we live without the (yet) unfound meaning of life? Isn't the meaning of life what gives us the strength to live day after day?

Today, while reading a book on the train to work, I came across a wise phrase from the historian V. Klyuchevsky: “Life is not about living, but about feeling that you are living.” I quoted this to the second patient who came in grief on the 9th day after the death of her husband. She obviously felt better.

Let's listen. It is not the awareness of meaning that gives us the strength to live day after day. Man, for the most part, is not a creature to live solely by awareness of meaning. He is half sensual. And this feeling of life is unmistakably true.

Morning warmth of the hearth. The frosty breath of leaving the house. Overcoming the path. Meeting of friends. A stranger's smile. Late for the tram and an unexpected place on it with the opportunity to look at an interesting book. Welcome to a place where you are welcome. Inspiration to do something that didn’t exist before, that you will bring into the world today. A soulful smoke break with a cheerfully relaxed discussion of what happened. Extreme effort in exciting work. The feeling that the day was not in vain. A delicious dinner with your family admiring you. Words of gratitude Up for this day, which is by no means meaningless. A gentle slip into sleep with anticipation of a better tomorrow.

Isn't this the meaning of today? The simplest of the passing series of time allotted to us here. And we’ll think about tomorrow tomorrow... :-)

And in conclusion of your questions, let me ask you one: is there any point in searching for the meaning of life? Or why did this search process arouse your interest? And answer it yourself - the unique fascination of the search for the meaning of life lies in its elusiveness. And I believe that the One who invites us on the path of search carefully periodically hides it from us, encouraging us to take a few steps forward and upward. So the process is more important here than the result. Just because there is no limit ahead...

HTML code for a website or blog