The Quest for 'ultimate' Meaning

The loss of life's meaning is a product of individual fulfillment and materialism. The latter merely defined as the theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life. The actor-turned-governor of the State of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, makes an important statement about what has become known as the 'Meaning of Life':

For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is

not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up,

to achieve, to conquer. (http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/thearticles

/meaningoflife)

We are constantly under the command of economic forces and our unconscious, yet, simultaneously, we live in a world that presents us with endless choices: our "infinite"

wants versus a "finite" world. Surely, our obsession with individuality and self-interest further leads us to a vague perception of life and its purpose. For life to have meaning, one must cease the relentless pursuit of self-gratification, for it is in the act of sharing beliefs and embracing the divine commonalities of the human race that the meaning of life resides.

First and foremost, faith, an archetype of belief, cannot be passive for it is an active, and most importantly a unifying protest against a world which elevates greed and ego above altruism. "The single greatest protest against such a universe is monotheism" ("History of Violence"), declares Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. It is this very belief in a singular divine-existence that lays the foundation for Judaism and Islam. Many of the Jewish thinkers, such as Maimonides, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Saadiah Gaon al-Fayyumi and Abraham Ibn Daud, wrote in Arabic and were heavily influenced by the work of early Muslim thinkers ("History of Violence"). Maimonides, for example, was highly inspired by the metaphysics of Abu Nasr al-Farabi and Ibn Sina; Ibn Gabirol leaned towards Ibn Arabi and the Sufis of Andalusia ("History of Violence"). While these Muslim thinkers worked in the Islamic idiom, they saw their thought in universal terms. How we treat ourselves determines how we treat all others. That is why they deliberately based their ethics on a humanism that was universal. Those, aforementioned, great Jewish thinkers share this position with their Muslim counterparts regarding humanitarianism:

Don't take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people;

rather, love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:18)

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowman. That is the entire Law;

all the rest is commentary." (Babylonian Talmud, Sabbath 31a)

Similarly, Christianity implies, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). Likewise, Buddhism asserts, "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." (Udana-Varga 5, 18) "Consider others as yourself." (Dhammapada 10.1). Thus banishing all forms of selfishness, personal fulfillment and materialistic values artificially imposed on life. Sacks told us in an earlier book, "The Dignity of Difference", that "religions can be commensurable provided they give up their individual claims to exclusivity" (http://mostlyfiction.com/world/divakaruni.htm). Religions, he has argued, should move forward to a notion of universal Truth, "far superior than any belief alone", but which they all partly share in their own ways. Vaclav Havel refers to this as, "[The] purposeful search for common principles" (639), for it is, when one seeks this "common spiritual and moral minimum" (639), he seeks the true purpose of life.

Moreover, every religion confirming the existence of God, believes that there is divine justice. For Sacks, the author of "To Heal a Fractured World", faith and justice are a united whole. But we need to differentiate between divine justice - "justice from the perspective of one who knows all, sees all, and considers all: universe as a whole, time as a whole" -and our own humble efforts (www.americamagazine.org/SundayScripture.cfm?articletypeid=40&textID=2650&issueID=415). Trapped in time and space, it is rather impossible to apprehend such divine perspective. Instead, one can conceptualize this system of justice - that is compatible with human limitations and capabilities, a system interpreted in terms of human deeds. Such divine constitution is retributive: disputes are settled by right rather than might, and more importantly it is distributive: the means of existence are rationed equally. Thus, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam; all contemplate 'deeds' and faith as two sides of the same coin: it is through deeds that one express faith. It is the mutual belief in this heavenly constitution that unites us and adds meaning to life and makes meaning real in the lives of others and the world.

Furthermore, it is the good deeds of ordinary people that confirms our humanity and makes life meaningful. In Azerbaijan, a young woman declares, "My understanding of the meaning of life has totally changed" since she resided in the United States. Surprisingly, she reports that this is partly because after experiencing America's "freedom of speech and belief and the respect for law and government . . . I started to read the Quran and came to my religion and understanding of it only in the U.S., not in my country" ("Not all Muslims hate America"). At the same time, touched by "how the American people care about and help" others, she vowed to "do my best to have an open and big heart and help those who need it" ("Not all Muslims hate America"). Today she is a Muslim with democratic ideals who has thrown herself into the work of securing rights for children. Hence, we cannot impose on our lives a "meaningfulness" that we have not ourselves built into it, as Darwin claims, "The meaning of life is inside our lives, not outside them" (www.darwin-literature.com/l_quotes.html). Our true philosophy of life is whatever we choose to do from one moment to another. If we regularly behave