What Is the Meaning of Life?

One question I have is, "What is the meaning of life?" To find the answer, I've asked my Creative Think seminar participants to make a metaphor for life. Their ideas can be put into two groups: those that deal with food, and those that don't. Here is the meaning of life.

Life is like a bagel. It's delicious when it's fresh and warm, but often it's just hard. The hole is the middle is its great mystery, and yet it wouldn't be a bagel without it.

Life is like eating grapefruit. First you have to break through the skin; then it takes a couple of bites to get used to the taste, and just as you begin to enjoy it, it squirts you in the eye.

Life is like a banana. You start out green and get soft and mushy with age. Some people want to be one of the bunch while others want to be top banana. You have to take care not to slip on externals. And, finally, you you have to strip off the outer coating to get at the meat.

Life is like cooking. It all depends on what you add and how you mix it. Sometimes you follow the recipe and at other times, you're creative.

Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the picture on the front of the box to know what it's supposed to look like. Sometimes, you're not even sure if you've got all the pieces.

Life is like a maze in which you try to avoid the exit.

Life is like riding an elevator. It has a lot of ups and downs and someone is always pushing your buttons. Sometimes you get the shaft, but what really bothers you are the jerks.

Life is like a room full of open doors that close as you get older.

Life is like a puppy dog always searching for a street full of fire hydrants.

Life is like a poker game. You deal or are dealt to. It includes skill and luck. You bet, check, bluff, and raise. You learn from those you play with. Sometimes you win with a pair or lose with a full house. But whatever happens, it's best to keep on shuffling along.

What do you think life is like?

Comments

[simon]

I think these metaphors are wonderfully revealing into the character of the people who wrote them. And as such make for fascinating reading.

For me, Life is like walking around a foreign city for the first time. The more you walk, the more you experience and the more familiar it becomes. Finally you feel comfortable and at home, albeit hopelessly lost

[Thomas R. Clifford]

I think life is like diving under water.

Before the dive, our surroundings (which is our past) are familiar territory.

Once we dive into the water, we dive into the present moment...the unknown...the new...the mystery.

This where we are alive, fully present and fully aware.

Great post...thanks :-)

Thomas R. Clifford
Corporate Documentary Filmmaker

[Kent Blumberg]

Life is like a mystery novel that is written down only after you have read it.

[Roger von Oech]

Simon: Are cities you've gone to before your "past lives?"

Tom: Your metaphor focuses on the present -- which is nice. As someone who goes underwater just about every day, I can attest to the fact that when I 'm there I'm not thinking about the past or the future.

Kent: Have you ever felt like you were stuck in the same chapter for a long time, or -- even worse -- can't remember the earlier chapters?

[Kenny]

I take life as a tree.

From a small tiny seed, the earth,water,seasons and living beings play important roles in the process of it's growing. If a tree can becomes a big tree,it mated with the nature and gives birth to branches and leaves,like our children. A tree won't knows how long can it lives coz it may comes to the end if it struck by lightning or chopped off by somebody. some trees may live longer some may not, depends on how it's life style is. The end of a tree is the begin of another.Born and die,day and night is natural.

What kinda tree are you? A strong and attractive tree which turn to a wood furniture? or an ugly tree which nobody bothers and enjoy it's time on the land?

[mindblob]

Roger,
When I read your question, I hear that quote from Forrest Gump (again) :

"My Mama always said : life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get".

I somehow like this metaphor and its paradox. The choices we can make in our lives and, at the same time, the elements we can't influence or control and have to deal with. Intuition and experience being great helpers on our way through life, but still, nothing compared to our ability to adapt to new situations.

Oh boy... I'd love to attend to one of your seminars! ; )

[simon]

It's an interesting question. And I have thought about it but I have trouble getting my head around the concept of an afterlife. I believe we are born, we exist, we die, we stop existing. It's one of the reasons we have to make life as stimulating and exciting as we can

[Roger von Oech]

Kenny: Some days I feel like an oak, and other days I feel like a eucalyptus shedding debris all around.

Mindblob (Luc): I'm crunchy, how 'bout you? And sometimes a dog comes along and eats the whole box, and you have to take him to the vet to have his stomach pumped out.

Simon: Take it as it comes!

[mindblob]

Crunchy as well, Roger. If you ever come to Belgium I'll make you taste the best chocolates evvvvvvver ! ; )

[MysRee]

Life is like a roller coaster. Sometimes you wanna toss your cookies, but it's still one hell of a ride.

Life is like a jar of jalapeños. What you do today may come back to burn your ass tomorrow!

[XinZhi]

my English is not perfect but I try my best and here it goes:

Life is like a mirror, it reflects you based on the type of "decision" you made everyday.
We give our life a meaning, its definiton, and direction through personal choice. wheter you choose to stay at home doing noting or go travel around the world. Its all up to YOU but you do need to remember that the mirror will always reflects accrodingly to your type of act. Ying and Yang. Cause and effect. Be wise and prudent. Dont do stupid things. That's all what I have to say for now...

[cameo]

Life is a metaphor.

or more precisely in this case since you're actually using analogy:

Life is like an analogy.

[jjjejejejejejje]

You guys should put in more metaphors!

[Me]

Life is like a box a chocolates; you never know what your gonna get

[Pha Choua Thao]

'THE PURPOSE OF LIFE'

THE ROAD IN front of the house went down to the sea, weaving its way past many small shops, great flats, garages, temples, and a dusty, neglected garden. When it reached the sea, the road be- came a big thoroughfare, with taxis, rattling buses, and all the noise of a modem city. Leading off this thoroughfare there was a peaceful, sheltered avenue overhung with huge rain-trees, but in the morning and evening it was busy with cars on their way to a smart club, with its golf course and lovely gardens. As I walked along this avenue there were various types of beggars lying on the pavement; they were not noisy, and did not even stretch out their hands to the passer-by. A girl about ten years old was lying with her head on a tin can, resting with wide open eyes; she was dirty, with matted hair, but she smiled as I smiled at her. Further along, a little girl, hardly three, came forward with outstretched hand and an enchanting smile. The mother was watching from behind a nearby tree. I took the outstretched hand and we walked together for a few paces, returning her to her mother. As I had no coin, I returned with one the next day, but the little girl would not take it, she wanted to play; so we played, and the coin was given to the mother. Whenever I walked along that avenue the little girl was always there, with a shy smile and bright eyes.
Opposite the entrance to the fashionable club a beggar was seated on the ground; he was covered with a filthy gunnysack, and his matted hair was full of dust. Some days, as I went by, he would be lying down, his head in the dust, his naked body covered with the gunnysack; on other days he would be sitting up, perfectly still, looking without seeing, with the massive rain-tree over him. One evening there was gaiety at the club; it was all lit up, and sparkling cars full of laughing people were driving in, tooting their horns. From the clubhouse came light music loud and airfilling. Many policemen were at the entrance, where a large crowd had gathered to watch the smartly-dressed and well fed people pass by in their cars. The beggar had turned his back on all this. One man was offering him something to eat, and another a cigarette but he silently refused both without making a movement. He was slowly dying, day by day, and the people passed by.
Those rain-trees were massive against the darkening sky, and of fantastic shape. They had very small leaves, but their branches seemed huge, and they had a strange majesty and aloofness in that overcrowded city of noise and pain. But the sea was there, everlastingly in motion, restless and infinite. There were white sails, mere specks in that infinitude, and on the dancing waters the moon made a path of silver. The rich beauty of the earth, the distant stars, and deathless humanity. Immeasurable vastness seemed to cover all things.
He was a youngish man, and had come from the other side of the country, a tiresome journey. He had taken a vow not to marry till he had found the meaning and purpose of life. Determined and aggressive, he worked in some office from which he had taken leave for a certain period to try to find the answer to his search. He had a busy and argumentative mind, and was so taken up with his own and other people's answers that he would hardly listen. His words could not come fast enough, and he quoted endlessly what the philosophers and teachers had said concerning the purpose of life. He was tormented and deeply anxious.
"Without knowing the purpose of life, my very existence has no meaning, and all my action is destructive. I earn a livelihood just to carry on; I suffer, and death awaits me. This is the way of life but what is the purpose of it all? I do not know. I have been to the learned, and to the various gurus; some say one thing, some another. What do you say?"
Are you asking in order to compare what is said here with what has been said elsewhere?
"Yes. Then I can choose, and my choice will depend on what I consider to be true."
Do you think that the understanding of what is true is a matter of personal opinion and dependent on choice? Through choice will you discover what is true?
"How else can one find the real if not through discrimination, through choice? I shall listen to you very carefully, and if what you say appeals to me, I shall reject what the others have said and pattern my life after the goal you have set. I am most earnest in my desire to find out what is the true purpose of life."
Sir, before going any further, is it not important to ask your- self if you are capable of seeking out the true? This is suggested with respect, and not in a derogatory spirit. Is truth a matter of opinion, of pleasure, of gratification? You say that you will accept what appeals to you, which means that you are not interested in truth, but are after that which you find most gratifying. You are prepared to go through pain, through compulsion, in order to gain that which in the end is pleasurable. You are seeking pleasure, not truth. Truth must be something beyond like and dislike, must it not? Humility must be the beginning of all search.
"That is why I have come to you, sir. I am really seeking; I look to the teachers to tell me what is true, and I shall follow them in a humble and contrite spirit."
To follow is to deny humility. You follow because you desire to succeed, to gain an end. An ambitious man however subtle and hidden his ambition, is never humble. To pursue authority and set it up as a guide is to destroy insight, understanding. The pursuit of an ideal prevents humility, for the ideal is the glorification of the self, the ego. How can he who in different ways gives importance to the `me', ever be humble? Without humility, reality can never be.
"But my whole concern in coming here is to find out what is the true purpose of life."
If one may be permitted to say so, you are just caught up in an idea, and it is becoming a fixation. This is something of which one has to be constantly watchful. Wanting to know the true purpose of life, you have read many philosophers and sought out many teachers. Some say this, some say that, and you want to know the truth. Now, do you want to know the truth of what they say, or the truth of your own inquiry?
"When you ask a straight question like that, I feel rather hesitant in my reply. There are people who have studied and experienced more than I ever can, and it would be absurd conceit on my part to discard what they say, which may help me to uncover the significance of life. But each one speaks according to his own experience and understanding, and they sometimes contradict each other. The Marxists say one thing, and the religious people say something quite different. Please help me to find the truth in all this."
To see the false as the false, and the truth in the false, and the true as the true, is not easy. To perceive clearly, there must be freedom from desire, which twists and conditions the mind. You are so eager to find the true significance of life that your very eagerness becomes a hindrance to the understanding of your own inquiry. You want to know the truth of what you have read and of what your teachers have said, do you not?
"Yes, most definitely."
Then you must be able to find out for yourself what is true in all these statements. Your mind must be capable of direct perception; if it is not, it will be lost in the jungle of ideas, opinions and beliefs. If your mind has not the capacity to see what is true, you will be like a driven leaf. So what is important is not the conclusions and assertions of others, whoever they be, but for you to have insight into what is true. Is this not most essential?
"I think it is, but how am I going to have this gift?"
Understanding is not a gift reserved for the few, but it comes to those who are earnest in their self-knowledge. Comparison does not bring about understanding; comparison is another form of distraction, as judgment is evasion. For the truth to be, the mind must be without comparison, without evaluation. When the mind is comparing, evaluating, it is not quiet, it is occupied. An occupied mind is incapable of clear and simple perception.
"Does it mean, then, that I must strip myself of all the values that I have built up, the knowledge that I have gathered?"
Must not the mind be free to discover? Does knowledge, information - the conclusions and experiences of oneself and others, this vast accumulated burden of memory - bring freedom? Is there freedom as long as there is the censor who is judging, condemning, comparing? The mind is never quiet if it is always acquiring and calculating; and must not the mind be still for truth to be?
"I see that, but aren't you asking too much of a simple and ignorant mind like mine?"
Are you simple and ignorant? If you really were, it would be a great delight to begin with true inquiry; but unfortunately you are not. Wisdom and truth come to a man who truly says, "I am ignorant I do not know". The simple, the innocent, not those who are burdened with knowledge, will see the light, for they are humble.
"I want only one thing, to know the true purpose of life, and you shower me with things that are beyond me. Can you not please tell me in simple words what is the true significance of life?"
Sir, you must begin very near to go far. You want the immense without seeing what is close by. You want to know the significance of life. Life has no beginning and no end; it is both death and life; it is the green leaf, and the withered leaf that is driven by the wind; it is love and its immeasurable beauty, the sorrow of solitude and the bliss of aloneness. It cannot be measured, nor can the mind discover it.

[cody]

Life is a Turd

You have your rough days
you have your smooth days

[TenTenTwo.com]

Life is like a sausage and tobacco factory.

Which makes no sense at all.

[mavadotar]

Life is like Ikea.

You have to make it yourself, any instructions you get don't make any sense, and besides, you don't have all of the pieces they show, so you just gotta put it together your own damn way.

[Dude]

Life can suck my ass.

[Paul Bagshaw]

Meaning of life?
To love and be loved.
Nov.1 2005