WOULD LIFE BE LESS MEANINGFUL IF IT ENDED IN DEATH?

OK KIDS PUT ON YOUR THINKING CAPS
To approach this question properly it would be helpful to define the terms that are employed. Words mean things and if we don’t understand fully the words we choose to use we become ambiguous and misunderstood.

First we define life. Life shall be understood as:

the period of time that exists between an individuals birth and death.

Death shall mean for us, the end of life. The term meaningful can be defined according to the Encarta Online Dictionary as follows:

mean·ing·ful /adjective/:

1. with meaning: having a discernible meaning
   EG “To me, that is not a meaningful expression”.
2. significant: conveying a meaning or significance that is not directly expressed
   EG “She gave me a meaningful glance”.
3. adding value to life: adding significance, meaning, or purpose to somebody’s life
   EG “I’m not claiming that we have a meaningful relationship, but we do have fun.

according to Meriam Webster:
mean•ing / noun

1. the thing one intends to convey esp. by language; also : the thing that is thus conveyed
2. AIM
3. SIGNIFICANCE; esp : implication of a hidden significance
4. CONNOTATION; also : DENOTATION

Two words are used to define meaning[ful]. They are ‘significance‘ and ‘value’. Significance/significant can be defined as follows:

Significant
Encarta:
sig·nif·i·cant / adjective ; sig·nif·i·cance /noun

1. meaningful: having or expressing a meaning
2. communicating secret meaning: having a hidden or implied meaning
   EG “a significant nod of the head”
3. momentous and influential: having a major or important effect *
   EG “A significant idea”
4. substantial: relatively large in amount
   EG “Her work was a significant contribution to the project.”

Meriam Webster:
sig•nif•i•cant / adjective

1. having meaning; esp : having a hidden or special meaning
2. having or likely to have considerable influence or effect : IMPORTANT

effect / noun
1 : MEANING, INTENT 2 : RESULT 3 : APPEARANCE 4 : INFLUENCE 5 pl : GOODS, POSSESSIONS 6 : the quality or state of being operative : OPERATION syn consequence, outcome, upshot, aftermath, issue

influence / verb
1 : to affect or alter by influence : SWAY 2 : to have an effect on the condition or development of : MODIFY

Value
Encarta:
val·ue / noun

1. monetary worth: an amount expressed in money or another medium of exchange that is thought to be a fair exchange for something
   EG “goods to the value of $500”
2. full recovered worth: the adequate or satisfactory return on or recompense for something
   EG “it’s value for money”
3. worth or importance: the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody
   EG “a ring with great sentimental value”.
4. regard highly: to regard somebody or something as important or useful
   EG “I value her as a friend”
5. MATHEMATICS numerical quantity: a numerical quantity assigned to a mathematical symbol
   EG “Pi has a value of 3.14”

Meriam Webster:
val•ue / noun:

1. a fair return or equivalent in money, goods, or services for something exchanged
2. the monetary worth of a thing; also : relative worth, utility, or importance
3. an assigned or computed numerical quantity
4. relative lightness or darkness of a color : LUMINOSITY
5. the relative length of a tone or note
6. something intrinsically valuable or desirable

So, when we use the adjective “meaningful” to describe life, we are saying life is significant. Significance, as shown in the preceding definition, implies that a thing has an ability, either hidden or overt, to influence circumstances and effect outcome.

The definition of the word “meaningful” also points out life has value. Value suggests worth. Life is meaningful to us in the sense that while we’re here, it holds some personal importance, usefulness or utility and seems, to most, to be a worthwhile or necessary pursuit.

So, when one asks,

“Would life be less meaningful if it ended in death?”

They could be asking either:

a) Would life be less valuable if it ended in death?

b) Would life be less significant if it ended in death?

CONGRATULATIONS! If you’re still with me, the heavy lifting is done let’s examine both and answer the question!

VALUE
It can be suggested that all living things, on the basest level, ‘value’ life. On a biological level, life has meaning because nature has assigned it meaning. It is within a living creatures’ natural makeup to carry out the assignments of reproduction, raising their young, finding food, shelter and a habitat safe from predators.

Additionally, some species appear reliant upon their instincts to be communal or social: pack animals for example. These intrinsic behaviors provide valuable skills
necessary for simple self-preservation, and can be found throughout nature. Mankind too is naturally predisposed towards the unconscious fulfillment of these inherent biological functions.

So in a sense, humanity’s daily fulfillment of natural biological instincts serves as a worthwhile pastime while we live life. It is a natural value held by all living things. It is no less meaningful simply because circumstance dictates life shall end in death. The fact that living creatures will eventually die makes their biological mission here on Earth even more meaningful, more urgent; if we choose to define the term meaningful as “having value”.

SIGNIFICANCE
When we are asked to consider the meaning of life, I believe that we are referring to the other sense of the word, that is significance. Significance suggests something that is unseen, implied and akin to mission. It alleges purpose. Although a person is quite free to view life in the limited terms of value or worth, I believe the proper question is:

“Would life be less significant if it ended in death?”

MY POSITION is this question is leading. It implies as a matter of fact that life actually holds significance. I would argue that life, including human life, is void of classifiable meaning beyond biological worth, particularly if we view it in terms of the grandiose definition of ‘significance’ previously offered:

“…momentous and influential: having a major or important effect “

“…. having or likely to have considerable influence or effect “

Human life is positively impotent in its ability to exercise momentous, important effect or considerable influence on its own existence. Indeed, we can mold nature and shape the physical world to suit us. We have medicines and technologies that can cheat the reaper. We are able to write sonnets, philosophize, run marathons and walk on the moon. I congratulate humanity for its achievements but I also say “…so what”? The great and growing litany of humanity’s accomplishments hardly changes the fact that we exert no influence or control over the eventual outcome, which is death.

The truth is, we can barely struggle with the problems of keeping alive here on this Earth. Our own struggles with daily existence show there is nothing significant about humanity. We are a flickering flame in a dark, tenebrous void, left to work things out on our own.

One might still be tempted to point out man-kinds intellect to show he is in fact a unique and noble creature with a meaningful life. The vast majority of mankind compromises its intellect and forfeits rational thinking, further sinking into insignificance by rote acceptance of pat,
pre-thought out, one size fits all solutions offered up by most social,governmental or ecclesiastical institutions.

What truly makes life less meaningful is our continued adherence to the pre-fabricated, fatuous explanations of the church. We are no more rational than any other beast that walks the earth if we betray our rationality for a faith.

Human life is certainly viewed by the faithful as being either “momentous, influential or noble” in some way. We would like to believe that what we do here on earth has some cosmic relevance or is part of some grand plan instituted by a Divine, Omniscient and Omipotent Creator. Here’s the problem: simply because we want to believe something doesn’t make it so.

I can quite realistically conjure in my mind an image of a perfectly believable unicorn. That doesn’t mean it actually exists.

So the same can be said for our perceived significance in the cosmos. A religious zealots’ search for meaning is found in observance of dogma. He willfully chooses to give up reason and become the dupe in this search for meaning, dedicating his life to the fatuous, unfounded teachings of charlatans. Life’s lack of meaning presents us with a void. Organized religion steps in, like an uninvited salesman, to give life a meaning. This void is now filled by prayers, offerings and other required metaphysical calisthenics.

As this continues, it diminishes man’s inherent capacity to find whatever subjective, real, personal and truly honest joy there might be to have while we experience this thing called life. But religion does, after all, give his life a ’meaning’. All he had to give up to find this meaning was his free-will and rational nature. It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning. Reason would then have a chance to rule.

Additionally, to suggest that life has to have significance, underscores the arrogance of man and the self primacy he places on his own existence. Like tail-fins on a Cadillac, just because we exist doesn’t mean we have to have a meaningful existence. Upon hearing this, some individuals might say that this bleak scenario, this meaningless void which we find ourselves would invite most of mankind to just kill themselves, since our existence doesn’t have any real significance, what is the point?

Mankind has a nasty habit of wanting to neatly pigeon-hole everything. black, white; straight, gay; Jew, gentile; liberal, conservative; us, them; and so on. This tendency to class, categorize and explain away anything and everything in his life eventually must extend to that life itself. Whether or not his categorizations are accurate, he feels he’s done his job if he can reduce things down to a societal stereotype. Never mind that his attempts to stratify, clarify and identify his existence are beyond the bounds of science and human reason. Identifying the nature of ones existence is not as easy as slapping together some hierarchical chain.

I regret there may be those out there who would want to kill themselves at the prospect of having a ‘meaningless’ life. Albert Camus, the 20th century existential writer, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus points out:

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether or not life is worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.”

If there’s any meaning at all to life it’s what our own individual free will chooses to subjectively assign to it. Just as it would be intellectually dishonest to believe the tenets of a particular faith without examining them closely, so too would this dishonesty encompass a life lived by the standards set by the mob, the herd, the masses. To do this, you wouldn’t really be living your life, you would simply be trying to fit in, to pigeon hole yourself, in a sense.

Once we realize that it is within ourselves to honestly choose what our lives mean, we can then assign whatever meaning best suits us, even in spite of death.