To ask the question, “What does it really mean
to be alive?” is an intensely existential
question that is not to be confused with tired old
questions such as, “What is the purpose of
life?” or even, “What is the meaning of
Life?” We should be able to see that a question
like “What is the purpose of life?” is not the
question, “What is the purpose of my life?”
Surely we do not as real individuals necessarily
share the same purposes, desires, drives or
values. The same is true of the question “What
is the meaning of (human) Life?” Such a question
is, again in no way the same as, “What is the
meaning of my life?” The issue of meaning would
have to apply to different levels of human
understanding, perception and ability to grow in
maturity. No one can understand meanings beyond
their level of understanding. My life is both
individually unique and on a certain level of
consciousness. Therefore there can be no general
answer to the question “What does it really mean
to be alive?” which would apply to all
individuals on all levels of understanding and
which assumes that human beings should buy that
answer as one who converts to a religion or
identifies with someone else’s philosophy.
Hence, here we can echo Husserl’s idea that each
of us must answer the question directly in
ourselves as a kind of Cartesian Meditation. J.
Krishnamurti also says the same thing, which is
that each of us must see for ourselves as direct
perception and deep self-insight what Life is
really about for us as Human Beings. So, the
purpose of my article here today is not to provide
an answer, but rather to explore how we can
proceed most effectively to look into the
incredible mystery of our being alive. The quality
and depth of the inquiry is therefore infinitely
more significant than arriving at some
dogmatically Final Answer-Set called “My
Philosophy of Life”. If you or I have a
finalized, crystallized and rigid “Philosophy of
Life”, our learning process as individual,
existential human beings has dead-ended, stopped,
in what Richard Rorty calls our Final Vocabulary,
and we can’t have that, can we(?)
How fully and intensely and truly alive are you?
What is it in your Being that actually feels most
threatened by Death? How fully, intensely and
authentically have you asked yourself these kind
of questions? Do you ask just with your brain, or
your whole being? To ask with your whole being is
not merely the dry, abstract and logical or
analytic inquiry that your physical brain can
perform. This is the difference between a mere
intellectual question and a total question. An
intellectual question is arid, fruitless and only
wants to impress others with what you have read
and chewed on with your head. A total question has
an existential force you feel in your breath; it
opens your nostrils more fully, so to say, to the
smells of the Earth all around you outdoors, but
also includes your emotions, your concerns and
your intellectual powers, your ability to think in
an original, creative way.
How does the question, “What does it really mean
to be alive?” actually strike you? Does it hit
you hard where it counts or is it just some
postmodern existentialist question of some
philosopher who has written some article you were
slightly interested in? To really directly and
personally ask yourself such a question in your
entire being can become a deep revolution of your
whole approach to life rather than a mere clever
exercise of your cognitive system of your brain
where you merely compare what is said here with
other things you have read and form some
conclusion about where it fits with conclusions,
with beliefs or disbeliefs that you tend to defend
with arguments. Do you understand this issue? Of
course, our question, “What does it really mean
to be alive?” is not for everyone. No! It is
only for extremely intelligent and mature human
beings who can read Heidegger, Krishnamurti,
Rajneesh, Wu Wei Wu or Heraclitus with equal joy
of deep stimulation. This inquiry is total, so it
is certainly not for stupid Christians or
superficial Eliminative Materialists or exclusive
members of some esoteric tradition.
Whatever your degree of engagement with our
question of Being Alive, what would make the
question even more alive and real for you than it
is at present? Please look into that. You will not
regret it. It is in fact the way the original
philosophers of Ancient Greece got started. Those
ancient philosophers where more alive and real
than the present brain-in-a-jar mediocrities.
Nothing less is a true renewal of genuine
thinking-within-Being. Nothing less is a truly
fresh re-beginning.
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