Search For The Meaning Of Life

This collection of gem-like reflections distills the most popular messages theauthor has delivered, along with responses from his hearers. He describes the basic routes by which people travel on their mystical quests, including controlled breathing, quiet sitting and reciting mantras--methods that lead to states of "non-thinking" that may produce lucid, even life-transforming insights.

“Secular-minded readers seeking an alternative to The Purpose-Driven Life have an excellent starting point here.”—Publishers Weekly For readers who are serious about confronting the big issues in life—but are turned off by books which deal with them through religion, spirituality, or psychobabble, this is an honest, intelligent discussion by a philosopher that doesn't hide from the difficulties or make undeliverable promises. It aims to help the reader understand the overlooked issues behind the obvious questions, and shows how philosophy does not so much answer them as help provide us with the resources to answer them for ourselves. “Useful and provocative.”—The Wall Street Journal “Looking for a clear guide to what contemporary philosophy has to say about the meaning of life? Baggini takes us through all the plausible answers, weaving together Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill, Monty Python, and Funkadelic in an entertaining but always carefully reasoned discussion.”—Peter Singer, author of How Are We To Live “The question of the meaning of life has long been a byword for pretentious rambling. It takes some nerve to tackle it in a brisk and no-nonsense fashion.”—New Statesman

"What is the meaning of life?" Throughout history, people have spent much of their lives trying to explain how the world works and why. Initially, they seek to live better lives and thrive. Ultimately, they seek to find purpose and significance in their existence. Experience the scientific and philosophical journey billions of years in the making to answer the question that all living beings capable of rational thought will ask themselves: why are we here? Over the course of that journey, you will come to understand how humans determine their meaning and, with some of your own analysis, discover your own purpose along the way.

What does it really mean to be a grown up in today’s world? We assume that once we “get it together” with the right job, marry the right person, have children, and buy a home, all is settled and well. But adulthood presents varying levels of growth, and is rarely the respite of stability we expected. Turbulent emotional shifts can take place anywhere between the age of thirty-five and seventy when we question the choices we’ve made, realize our limitations, and feel stuck— commonly known as the “midlife crisis.” Jungian psycho-analyst James Hollis believes it is only in the second half of life that we can truly come to know who we are and thus create a life that has meaning. In Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, Hollis explores the ways we can grow and evolve to fully become ourselves when the traditional roles of adulthood aren’t quite working for us, revealing a new way of uncovering and embracing our authentic selves. Offering wisdom to anyone facing a career that no longer seems fulfilling, a long-term relationship that has shifted, or family transitions that raise issues of aging and mortality, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life provides a reassuring message and a crucial bridge across this critical passage of adult development.

Designed to guide and inspire those who may be in search of answers, this book of thoughtful quotes from eminent people around the globe, and touching photographs associated to each quote, offers insight into the deepest questions about life meaning for human kind.

“Every time I find the meaning of life, they change it.” The words of Reinhold Niebuhr provide the title and set the tone for what is a wryly humorous look at some of the great philosophical pronouncements on the most important question we can face. Daniel Klein’s philosophical journey began fifty years ago with just this conundrum; he began an undergraduate degree in philosophy at Harvard University to glean some clue as to what the answer could be. Now in his seventies, Klein looks back at the wise words of the great philosophers and considers how his own life has measured up. Told with the same brilliantly dry sense of humour that made Travels with Epicurus a Sunday Times bestseller, Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It is a pithy, dry, and eminently readable commentary on one of the most profound subjects there is.

If you take a walk in the woods on a winter morning and see the sun sparkle and glimmer in the newly fallen snow, or if you sit one morning on the pier with the one you love and watch the glowing sun rise above the sea, you may suddenly think that there are far too few moments like these in your life. Some people experience several high points like these throughout life, when the earth somehow spins the right way around just for a brief moment. You cannot force these experiences to happen, but invite them by making an effort in your life and doing your utmost in every situation. In order to do so, you need to understand the importance of making the right decision in even the smallest of situations. Self-discipline and personal energy will give you control of your life. When you sincerely do your utmost to be in control of your life, you can catch a glimpse of a major obstacle to success: your inability to understand life, the world around you and yourself.

Ecclesiastes wrestles through the themes of the world's bewildering contradictions and frustrations and the confidence that the God who sits above the sun will bring an ultimate resolution. Man finds his center, not in the world of vanity, but in the God of eternity.