The other day, I was reading the book Sophie’s World written by Jostein Gaarder, and I came across a beautiful passage quoted from a Spanish dramatist named Calderon de la Barca. In a play called Life Is a Dream, which he wrote circa 1600, he asks, “What is life? A madness. What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story, and the greatest good is little enough, for all life is a dream…” (Gaarder, p. 226).
Reading this made me ponder about everything in life: every year, every month, every day and every moment. If someone were to ask me, “Sarah, what is life?” I don’t think I would have an answer.
Life to me is many things, which sounds cliché, but it’s an answer that I will stick to every time. Life is getting out of bed and going to university to become the person I want to be. Life is talking to my friends and enjoying their company. Life is meeting new people and seeing the world from their point of view. Life is listening to music while taking a leisurely walk on a sunny day. Life seems real when I have things to do and places to be.
However, life seems unreal when I sit in silence and don’t do anything. It seems unreal when there is silence at all. It seems to me that words act as a driving force in life, giving meaning to all things. It’s easy to understand things that are assigned meaning, even if sometimes, the meanings we give don’t fully capture the true essence and nature of those things.
This doesn’t necessarily suggest that meaning ruins the beauty or purpose of material or non-material entities, rather, that meaning places the entity within a conceptual box, limiting its capacity to go beyond. For example, most people asked to think of the color baby blue are likely to think of one single, exact color. They won’t think there should be any ambiguity or gray area, and likely believe the shade they choose is the “right” color.
The beauty of life lies in its ability to transcend meaning. Perhaps, then, the best answer would be that life is meaningless. People go through many different experiences and have different belief systems, making them perceive life differently, and life’s meaninglessness creates an objective standpoint for everyone. Philosophical questions are always intriguing, especially ones that shed light on the mysteries of life. While it is a simple question at first glance — what is life? — it can make one wonder about the more profound, complex, and even spiritual meanings that may linger beneath the surface.
Source: A quote from Jostein Gaarder’s “Sophie’s World.”