The Meaning of Life

Those days, I always ask myself: What is the meaning of life? One night, I laied in my bed, thought about the past decade. I was shocked by how fast the time flies. I have graduated from university for nearing 10 years. I am now at the early 30s. I have been reading, learning, and working for 10 years. I always feel anxious about how less I know and how small I have achieved. But if I thought about it deeply, I have to admit that I am not so sure about why I should consider all of these things.

I thought about one thing when I was in the university. Someone asked me: “What do you like to do in your daily life?” I told him: “I like to do something that can help others. If I have done something that is good for other people, I would feel happy.” He may not understand it at that time, but I was serious about it. One of the most happy things I did when I was in the university is that I taught the young student the basics of programming and electronics. I still remember how happy I was when I saw the young student successfully made a small vehicle and write a simple program to control it. He felt the happiness I felt a year ago, and I felt another great joy.

After I graduated from the university, I came to Beijing and met many new friends, colleagues, and others. I started to realize how little I know, and how small I was. Helping others? Am I kidding myself? Who needs my help? I really have this thought in my mind. But in my heart I still believe that I can, and I should help others.

During the past five years, I put most of my effort into work. At the beginning, I felt happy about my work. I have a chance to use my knowledge to solve real-world problems. When I fixed a bug, helped other colleagues solve a problem, or implemented a new feature that customers need, I felt happy. Time goes by, people start talk about money, house, and car. I am not interested in these things. All of those things should be secondary, it would come automatically if I can do something helpful to others. One day, I realized that I was working just for money, and I felt lost.

I have less demands in life. The money I have now is enough for my life, I can do nothing and still survive for a long time. But as a person in the modern society, I have to take on some responsibilities. I have to consider the money stuff. I hope I can do both meaningful things and have some payments at the same time. Then I quit my job and seek for new opportunities.

Today, I thought about the same question again. What is the meaning of life? Eight billion people live on this planet, everyone is busy at something for himself, for his family, or for something else. What is the meaning of all of these things they did? Sometimes, I put myself in the universe, from a very broad perspective, and i think about Earth, the universe, time, and space. I was wondering what is outside of the universe, why life exists, and why time and space exist. It was funny, and at one moment, I even thought all of these things should be NULL, no time, no space, no everything.

But I exist, you exist, time goes by, and space is there. In the perspective of the universe, life may be meaningless, but from my own perspective, it has some meanings. Currently, I think the meaning of life has three parts:

1. Experience. We come to this world with a very small chance, not talking about change the world, I should at least have some experiences in this world. That is doing something you like, seeing the beautiful landscapes, reading and watching the masterpieces created by human beings and nature. It has no meaning whether I experience it or not for the universe, but myself, it is important. I feel happy or sad when I experience it, and that consists of my life.

2. Create. I study and learn the facts of this world. If I can create something new, it would be meaningful. It can be a a piece of code, a book, or even an article which can inspire others. Live in this chaotic world, it is easy to be distracted. I feel sad for the time I have wasted, and I hope I can take care of my attention and create something, even if it is very tiny. Creating something new may help others, but the most important part is that I have used to nature gift—my brain—to create something.

3. Help others. I always remember a saying by Will Smith: “If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” Helping others, helping others experience more, help them create something new, that is the most meaningful thing I can do in my life. No matter how small I am, I can always help others.

This is the answer of mine for the question “What is the meaning of life?” Experience, Create, and Help others. All I did and will do are driven by these three parts. I will keep thinking about this question, but for now, this is the answer goes out from my heart, without any hesitation. What is your answer? Welcome to share it with me.