2005 Idea Contest Essays

The reason we live is relevant to the existence of purpose. Without purpose is without life, and without life is without purpose. Why would life exist if there were no reason? The creation of time and life is also the creation of purpose. Time was made so that life...

“Your purpose in life” when do we find out what that is, or do we ever find out? We can imagine, we can set our own goals and we can make it happen if we choose. In the last couple of months my friends and I have lost some people very close to us. One, especially...

What is the meaning of life? I could probably quote a half dozen or so answers from different religious faiths and philosophical schools if that were the question, however, the question I am addressing is one of a much more complex, personal, and intuitive nature:...

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, a similar question was brought up, but stated as a search for our “proper function”. Aristotle said that our proper function was characteristic to man, and not universal for all forms of life. The function of vegetation and plants is...

Identity is an essential piece of living. Identity tells us who we are, gives us people to identify with, and in the best of cases, gives us a sense of pride in who we are. But what if one day your identity was inverted, and you had to accept a new one? What would you...

Look up at the stars one night, marvel at their complex beauty. You will see infinity in the form of distant lights that shine with through with such radiance. It is inevitable that this scene will not move you to ask questions about the nature and purpose of life....

Life is like music. Music is rooted deep within every culture because of its ability to represent every aspect of life. It is a unique art that can express every human emotion. Music flows as life does; melodies, rhythms, harmonies, and dynamic shifts, are all...

Since the day I was born, I've been on this long, mystical journey through life. I'm still only a teenager, and have many a year to go, but I know I have a purpose in this home we call Earth. What would be the point in living if we didn't have a purpose? I know I have...

In our current society of misleading media influences, many often live according to what they are told is right, rather than by a personal definition of virtue. While many of us tend to live a life in which we accept the truths put forth by society, what we should...

“Nobody likes me.” Who hasn’t felt like this at some point? The words echo Nietzsche’s self-pity, but a dying man, filled with disappointment, did not speak them. A six-year old girl did. The words sum up every fundamental need found in humans. We all need to feel...

Every human being was put on earth for a reason. Man has the capability to do great things, both helpful and harmful. Personally, I choose to trust in the innate kindness of people that enables them to work for the good of all. In this present day and age of wars,...

Rarely have I felt such clarity and focus. It is an undivided, organic wholeness, when I know at the core of my being that this is me at my greatest. However, being at my greatest is not simply for the sake of being great, but for what that expression yields and the...

A starfish doesn’t have a brain but can flip its stomach inside out. All polar bears are left handed, the octopus’s pupil is a rectangle, shrimp’s hearts are in their heads, woman blink twice as much as men, Saturn would float in water, lobsters bleed blue, and a...

Since the beginnings of humanity, people have always been concerned about their purpose in life. Some people think that we are alive to worship God, others think that it is because God created us and forgot us. So, Is our goal in life just to eat, drink, reproduce,...

…To let sun reach its long fingers down and wrap me around each day, so I don’t pass by willow branches that will someday break or things that make me laugh. To lye on the kitchen floor and let myself fall through with the other things from the garden, just to become...