What about the meaning ?

The meaning of life...
What an embarrassing question ;~}
Wittgenstein would probably have said that this is a question without an answer.
But for some of us it's like a little wound, we cannot let it be...

My view is anyway that there are no meaning outside of this life. If there are a meaning it's inherent in life...
It's in your actions and in your speech and even in your thoughts.
And of course your actions and thoughts always include an object; other people, animals, things and so on.... You interact all the time..... Perhaps just with your own breath. And when you interact you influence your surroundings.

Terry Eagleton, member of the British Academy, suggests agape as answer to the title of his book; "The meaning of Life." And he sees it in the metaphor of a jazz-orchestra. The jazz-orchestra is, at it's best, a group with a lot of freedom for the members. You have to give space for your fellow musicians to join in and to improvise. He concludes; in this view meaningfulness is close to meaninglessness.

But anyway he means that the way this orchestra plays is an act act of Agape, not of Eros, in the latter you want to own your fellow being, be one with her or him and exclude others.
Eros includes sex, but Agape includes compassion, also for your self... And you give yourself and other people space to flourish.

We are already too many people on this planet, so I guess we need more compassion and less sex ;~]

As I partly works with mentally retarded people, I have many opportunities to show my compassion....
And that is very healthy even for my self, they often give a lot back to me. You don't have to be intelligent to show compassion. "Just" to be happy is a kind of compassion that can help other people. A happy being seldom hurts other beings.

Eros  includes pleasure which ends soon.

So if you want to be more happy in the long run, it is probably better to use your compassion, even towards nature and  animals.

Leonardo da Vinci used to buy captured birds in the markets, open their cages and set them free.
He gave them space in a very concrete way....
He was even a vegetarian, a forerunner even in that aspect.

In his paintings you can see traces of his compassion, there is a lot of space around the people in portraits and they always seem to keep some secrets for themselves...

And here you can watch the jazz-orchestra I am listening to right now:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVR2JFPZhMs I'm sure Terry Eagleton would like this. And when I listen to this music, and when I see that the musicians enjoy the playing, it is for sure moments of meaningfulness...

File:Leonardo da Vinci 020.jpg

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