What's the purpose of life? This is another good question. It doesn't seem to bother other species much, but it bothers human beings quite a bit. The British philosopher Bertrand Russell presented this question simply and brilliantly. It's in three parts, and it's worth reading twice: "Is man what he seems to the astronomer, a tiny lump of impure carbon and water crawling impotently on a small and unimportant planet? Or is he what he appears to Hamlet? Is he perhaps both at once?"
Russell's three questions capture some of the core puzzles of Western - though not necessarily Eastern - philosophy. Is life essentially accidental and meaningless, or is it as profound and mysterious as Shakespeare's great tragic hero believed it to be?
From "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson; page 59
Russell's three questions capture some of the core puzzles of Western - though not necessarily Eastern - philosophy. Is life essentially accidental and meaningless, or is it as profound and mysterious as Shakespeare's great tragic hero believed it to be?
From "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson; page 59
