Meaningful Life By Susan Wolff

The Subjective Meaningful Life

"What do we want when we want a meaningful life? What is it that makes some lives meaningful, others less so?" (pg.1). These are questions we all ask ourselves at some point or another during our lives. We spend the majority of our lives aspiring to achieve a meaningful life, and at the same time we spend most of our lives questioning and wondering what exactly a meaningful life is. "What is it that makes some lives meaningful, others less so?" (pg.1) is also one of the first questions asked in "Meaning in Life and Why it Matters". In Susan Wolf's excerpt, "The Meanings of Lives", the author attempts to define what a “meaningful life” is. The reason I specifically chose to use the word attempt is because I
Most of us probably agree with this as soon as we read it. We imagine a large slob being a couch potato all day and grimace with disgust as we feel a sense of pride that we ourselves are not that way. But who are we to judge someone for living a sedentary life. We have no idea what they went through to get where they are today. We don't know their reasoning, and have no clue whether this lifestyle might actually have been their ideal idea of a meaningful life. I could flip Wolf's statement and ask what if someone’s goal is to not be actively engaged. What if their purpose is to meditate and find perfect zen. To do absolutely nothing. But wolf doesn't take that into consideration. She assumes theses cases she has sketched out "capture our images of meaninglessness more or less accurately, [and] provide clues to what a positive case of a meaningful life must contain" (pg.2). But they don’t, these cases capture our images of a meaningless life. Wolf states "in contrast to the Blob’s passivity, a person who lives a meaningful life must be actively engaged" (pg.2). while this is simply not true. If you think you need to be "actively engaged" to live a meaningful life that is simply your opinion. You chose to make being actively engaged a criteria of a meaningful life and you can't force that on anyone else. Just like someone might make meditation and being able to think of nothing a criteria of living a meaningful life. They might not fit the criteria of living a meaningful life by your definition, but that's what's so great about it. You find what works for you and let it work for you. A less fortunate person who has nothing might look at my life and think I’m an over consuming, North