Channel Button

There are 40 articles on this title. You are reading the article ranked and rated #22 by Helium's members.

Arts & Humanities   >

Meaning of Life

Get a Widget for this title

The quest for truth and the meaning of life

by johalin

The quest for truth as the meaning of life is only one of a number of quests or meanings which life vouchsafes its human beings. I personally - or perhaps one should say 'universally' - have made the quest for truth and, I believe, achievement of it the meaning or purpose of my existence, thereby enriching my life. But those with a metaphysical bent, who are more likely to be divinely male and classless, are always up against the other types that life throws up from out the pluralistic chaos and manifoldness of her will. There are people who get their purpose from knowledge and are arguably physical and more likely to be male on masculine rather than divine terms; others who get it from strength and are more likely to be chemical and female on feminine as opposed to diabolic terms; yet others whose raison d'etre would appear to be the pursuit of beauty from a metachemical disposition the opposite of their chemical counterparts. Truth is airy, knowledge vegetative, strength watery, and beauty fiery. I say nothing of their respective upended gender counterparts, who will be more against the corresponding gender virtue, or freedom, in sensuality or in sensibility than strictly of the virtue, whether heathen or christian, superheathen or superchristian, that reigns over them. But the Beautiful and the True are incompatible, as, to a lesser extent, are the Strong and the Knowledgeable. If life were only one thing, say meaning achieved through Truth, it would be a lot different from how it is, and doubtless anyone who seriously entertains the prospect of or hope for 'Kingdom Come', as a society governed by godly criteria, would approve of a life governed by Truth. But then not only the Strong, but the Beautiful and the Knowledgeable would have to have been defeated and consigned to the proverbial rubbish heap of history. Some task! I fear that gender and class rivalry, with conflicting meanings and virtues, will persist in the world for some time yet, and the world will continue, in consequence, to be a place which defies a single meaning because it is by nature heterogeneous and more disposed, if truth be told, to phenomenal virtues like strength and knowledge than to their noumenal counterparts. Otherworldly virtues like Truth, whose raison d'etre, as a godly thing, is Joy, its heavenly reward, have always been against 'the world', and can only emerge to any appreciable extent at the expense not only of 'the world' but of those netherworldly forces, like beauty and love, which normally prevail over it.

Learn more about this author, johalin.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

The quest for truth and the meaning of life

  • 1 of 40

    by S E Garrett

    Our quest to understand the Truth and Meaning of life begins before we even learn to walk; it's natural for us to propel

    read more

  • 2 of 40

    by Lakshmi Swami

    QUEST FOR TRUTH AND MEANING OF LIFE

    Truth is God and god is love. The quest for truth has been on for centuries. People

    read more

  • 3 of 40

    by Edward Moses

    LIFE'S TRUTH

    "This above all, to thine own self be true;

    And it must follow, as the night the day,

    Thou canst not then be

    read more

  • 4 of 40

    by Payyan

    Meaning of Life

    The answer to the question in the title may vary depending on the subject and the seeker's angle and view

    read more

  • 5 of 40

    by Bill White

    Hooked up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while today. And I'm very glad we had lunch together. You know, the lessons life

    read more

View All Articles on:
The quest for truth and the meaning of life

Add your voice

Know something about The quest for truth and the meaning of life?
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Is the concept of freedom overrated?

Click for your side.

171851

Featured Partner

Dogs Deserve Better

Dogs Deserve Better has partnered with Helium, giving you the chance to write for a cause. Browse Dogs Deserve B...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA