Introduction
The
questions why I exist and why I have to be moral are two questions that are
related. The first question refers to
the reason why we are here in the first place and what we are here for? The
second question is about life management. How do we manage our life? We have to
be moral is our way of living our life. But it also raises another question of
why we have to be moral? What is it for?
Those are existential questions that are related to our life. These
questions are essential to put meaning to our life. Reflecting those questions
every day would give our life a sense of direction. Without asking those
questions in our life would lead to truncated life. These are the questions
that we need to answer in this simple paper.
The Purpose and Meaning of
Life
The meaning of life is a philosophical
question concerning the significance of the existence in general. It can also be
expressed in different forms, such as "Why are we here?", "What
is life all about?", and "What is the purpose of existence?" It
has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific and theological
speculation throughout history. There have been a large number of proposed
answers to these questions from many different cultural and theological
backgrounds (Wikipedia). But before I give the answer based on cultural and
theological purpose of life, let me give you my own perspective on life, the
purpose of life.
The
question why I am here is existential question and essential question. This
question has been my question to myself, why I am here. This question has been
my question since I was in elementary and up to now. Have I found the answer?
Yes, somehow. When I was in elementary I raised that question. Because of that
question, I worked and studied and the reason for that is for my future and now
I have that future that I dream before which is that I become a priest, a
professor, and a vice president for finance. So, somehow partially the question
has been answered. But the same question is still ringing in me, why I am here.
What am I looking for again? What future that I am after? Is life simply to
work and earn a living and enjoy life? If my life’s purpose is simply to earn a
living, then I do not need to work harder and harder again, just enjoy the
things that I have. My daily activity would be only to earn money, I do not
need to involve in any other activities like social activities, charity work
and other activities. What am I looking for in those involvements? The answer
is that we are here not only to answer our individual needs but also social
needs. I am individual and social being. The two have different needs. Working
for money is our way of answering individual needs so that we can have freedom
and happiness by enjoying the things that we can afford. Involving ourselves in
social activities, charity work and other activities related to the improvement
of the life of others, the community is our way of answering our needs as a
social being. By balancing the two aspects with its specific needs, we can find
our meaning and purpose of life. Life is not only for ourselves but also for
others. We are created not alone but as a community, meaning I am also
depending on others for my existence and others are depending on me for their
existence. The reason why I choose certain career, it is not only based on
economic reason which is selfish and individualistic but it is the way how
involve myself in society to fulfill the meaning of myself as a social
being.
Some say that life is as it is.
Life has a purpose but the purpose of life is life itself. Therefore life is
non purposive. Because for them, the purpose is at the end of life but life has
no end. Well, that’s the way how they look at life. However such opinion fails
to answer the basic question about our involvement in this world, why I involve
in many social activities of the society.
Cultural and
Theological Purpose of Life
Since we are raised in
different culture and religion, our view of life is also influenced by our
culture and religion. Different cultures and religions have different views of
life. It is also nice if we also adopt our view of life based on our culture or
religion. Therefore, we would like to see in the following section the views of
different culture and religion on the purpose of life.
Christianity
Christianity has its roots and
shares much of its beliefs from the teachings of Jesus Christ as presented in
the New Testament. Life's ultimate purpose
in Christianity is to reach eternal salvation through the grace of God and
intercession of Christ. The New Testament speaks of God wanting to have a
relationship with humans both in this life and the life to come, which can
happen only if one's sins are forgiven (John 3:16–21; 2 Peter 3:9). God is not
the God of the dead but of the living. However, in order to achieve it, man and
woman need to have faith in God and doing what God commands man and woman to do.
We came from God and at the end we all will go back to God. However it is not
guaranteed that faith in God alone will assure the salvation but doing what is
good to others are necessary to attain salvation (Wikipedia).
In the Christian view, humankind
was made in the image of God and perfect. Since he/she is made in the image of
God, then as a consequence of that man and woman are called to be perfect just
like God is perfect. Therefore, sins are considered as a violation of that
image. It is in this line of view; Christians have to be good and holy.
Pursuing holiness would be his fundamental call and doing what is pleasing to
God is his main duty. Building up good relationship with God is important as
indicated in Ephesians, 2:8-9 that " For by grace you have been saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, that no one should boast." A recent alternative Christian theological
discourse interprets Jesus as revealing that the purpose of life is to elevate
our compassionate response to human suffering (Tom, 2012). It means that faith
alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by charitable actions to help those
who suffer around us.
Looking into those ideas
presented above, definitely the purpose of life is life after life. But that
life after life cannot be achieved without following God’s will which is
reflected in Jesus’ teaching and doing charitable work to eliminate human sufferings.
Thus doing good is only instrument to achieve eternal life and it is not the
end. Thus the meaning of life is gained through doing what is pleasing to God
and the purpose of life is achieved by doing what is pleasing to God.
Islam
For Muslims, the ultimate
purpose of life is also eternal salvation, the same as Christians. The means to
achieve such objective is through worshiping God and living the Al Qur’an as a
divine guidelines as instructed by the prophet Mohammad. Earthly life
determines one’s after life. The conduct of life, the faithfulness to God and
living the Qur’an in daily life is determining factor to enter Paradise
(Jannah) or Hell (Jahanam) More than that, all muslims, not only believing in
God and His revelations, but also his angles, his messengers. Thus faith in God
by following the Qur’an and believing in angels will lead all Muslims to face
Judgment day (Qur’an, 2:285) and 4:136).
The Qur'an describes the purpose
of creation as follows: "Blessed be he in whose hand is the kingdom, he is
powerful over all things, who created death and life that he might examine
which of you is best in deeds, and he is the almighty, the forgiving"
(Qur'an 67:1–2) and "And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except
that they should be obedient (to Allah)." (Qur'an 51:56). Obedience
testifies to the oneness of God, his
lordship, his names, and his attributes. Terrenal life is a test; how one acts
(behaves) determines whether one's soul goes to Jannat (Heaven) or to Jahannam
(Hell). However on the day of Judgement the final decision is of Allah alone.] Allah may cover up short comings and
allow some people to go to heaven even though they may have some sins in the
record (Baha Abdul, 2013 as cited by Wkipedia).
Confucianism
It is far different with the
teachings of Christianity and Islam about the purpose of life. The two
religion, there is an ultimate end or purpose of life which is eternal
salvation. The Confucianism would not see that ultimate end. For them the
ultimate meaning of life is gained through living harmoniously with others.
This kind of relationship can be achieved by balancing the Yin and Yang or
negative and positive. Nonetheless, Confucianists see a goal in achieving
virtue through strong relationships and reasoning as well as minimizing the
negative. For Confucianists, there is no life after life, there is only one
life which is here on earth. The ultimate meaning of life is here in the human existence.
Supernaturalism
Life is depending not on this
world but on the supernatural world. There are two views that are looking at
the meaning of life from different views which are supernaturalists and
naturalists. Super naturalists always
contradict with the view of naturalists. Supernaturalism theories are views
that meaning in life must be constituted by a certain relationship with a
spiritual realm. The meaning of life is achieved through building up a good
relationship with God and it renders meaningless if one fails to establish a
good relationship with God. In contrast, naturalist theories are views that
meaning can obtain in a world as known solely by science. Here, although
meaning could accrue from a divine realm, certain ways of living in a purely
physical universe would be sufficient for it (Williams 1999; Audi 2005).
Supernaturalists are focusing
their attention, activities in relation to God. God is their center of life and
center of their being. The supernatulists form connection with God (understood
to be a spiritual person who is all-knowing, all-good, and all-powerful and who
is the ground of the physical universe) to constitute meaning in life, even if
one lacks a soul (construed as an immortal, spiritual substance). In the case
that there is no God, the supernaturalists believe in the existing of souls and
putting it into a certain state to be what makes life meaningful, even if God
does not exist. Of course, many supernaturalists believe that certain
relationships with God and a soul are jointly necessary and sufficient for a
significant existence. The most widely held and influential God-based account
of meaning in life is that one's existence is more significant, the better one
fulfills a purpose God has assigned. The familiar idea is that God has a plan
for the universe and that one's life is meaningful to the degree that one helps
God realize this plan, perhaps in the particular way God wants one to do so
(Affolter 2007). ). Fulfilling God's purpose by choice is the sole source of
meaning, with the existence of an afterlife not necessary for it (Brown 1971;
Levine 1987; Cottingham 2003). If a person failed to do what God intends him to
do with his life, then, on the current view, his life would be meaningless. In
short, the supernaturalists make their life meaningful not by committing
themselves to social activities but rendering their life to God or soul by
establishing a harmonious relationship with them.
The
Purpose of Moral Life
Morality would simply means exhibiting goodness or correctness of character
and behavior or conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior;
virtuous. The question
here is “why
should I be moral?”
Is it simply to maintain harmony that I have to be honest, I have to love one
another that I have to help one another? As Ronald, A. Lindsay (2010) said that
morality helps to provide security to members of the community, create stability, ameliorate harmful conditions,
foster trust, and facilitate cooperation in achieving shared or complementary
goals. In short, it enables us to live together and, while doing so,
improve the conditions under which we live. If that’s the case, then the
individualists would simply argue that we do not need harmony but what we need
only is to pursue our individual needs, whatever it takes. According to
existentialism, each man and each woman creates the essence (meaning) of his and her life;
life is not determined by a supernatural god or an earthly authority, one is
free. As such, one's ethical prime directives are action, freedom,
and decision. Then competition and
conflict are just natural consequences of the exercise of individual freedom
and war is just a consequence of the competitions and conflict of interest. The
strongest is the winner and the weakest is the loser. It has been the case
anyway and people are not afraid of it. People have been living in such
situation around the globe in one way or another. Now the question is still
puzzling my mind about the compelling reason for someone to be moral. What is
it?
According
to Aristotle the purpose of moral life is to achieve the Highest Good which is
desirable for its own sake. This involves achieving eudaemonia which can be
translated as happiness, well-being, flourishing, and excellence. These are the
highest good that everyone is looking for and after achieving these highest
good, people are no longer looking for other higher than that. It is final
state that each one is dreaming for. For Aristotle, the highest good can be
achieved through necessary steps. He describes a sequence of necessary steps in order to
achieve this: righteous actions, often done under the influence of teachers,
allow the development of the right habit which in turn can allow the development of a good stable character
in which the habits are voluntary, and this in turn gives a chance of achieving
eudaimonia (Thieman, 1998).
For Aristotle, to be happy is to be virtuous. A person who acts morally will
attain happiness.
But the question remains: what kind of happiness? Is it
temporary happiness or lasting happiness? We can be happy today but tomorrow we
are not happy anymore. People can follow different ways to achieve such
happiness, be it moral or immoral. Is that a kind of happiness that we are
pursuing? It seems to me that religion has offered us a deepest reason why we
need to be moral which is for our eternal happiness or eternal salvation. Doing
what is moral to others, practicing moral virtuous is a way of gaining, not
only temporary happiness but also eternal happiness. Eternal happiness is
achieved when a person is united with his/her creator. Eternal unification with
God is given to those who have conducted their life according to what their God
tells them as indicated in
their bible as moral guide.
Conclusion
Based
on what we have presented in this paper, we can conclude that there is no
common agreement to the meaning and purpose of moral life. Each group has
different opinion about the meaning and purpose of moral of life. The purpose of life or the meaning of life can
be achieved through our involvement in society since we are not only individual
being but also as a social being. Religions would say that the meaning of life
can achieved through obedience to God’s commandment or following the will of
God which is reflected in the their bible. Another group particularly existentialists
would gain the meaning or purpose of life by living his freedom. The same with
the purpose of moral life, different groups have different purpose. But it boils
down to happiness, be it temporary happiness or eternal happiness.
References
Affolter, J. 2007. “Human Nature
as God's Purpose”, Religious Studies,
Stanford university Press
Bahá, Abdu'l. 2013. Commentary on
the Islamic Tradition, I was a Hidden Treasure. Bahá'í Studies Bulletin.
Retrieved 3 August 2013.
Brown, D., 1971, “Process
Philosophy and the Question of Life's Meaning”, Religious
Studies. Stanford University Press
Cottingham, J. 2003. On the Meaning of Life,
London: Routledge.Ellin, J., 1995. Morality and the Meaning of Life, Ft. Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace
Levine, M., 1987, “What Does
Death Have to Do with the Meaning of Life?” Religious Studies,
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Ronald, F. Thiemann
& William Carl Placher. 1998. Why Are We Here?:
Everyday Questions and the Christian Life. Continuum International
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Ronald, A. Lindsay. 2010. The Purpose of Moral Life. http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/what_is_the_purpose_of_morality/
Drake-Brockman, Tom. 2012. Christian
Humanism: the compassionate theology of a Jew called Jesus. http://christianhumanism.webs.com/
Williams, G. 1999. “Kant and the
Question of Meaning”, the Philosophical Forum. Stanford University Press
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