POSITIVE THINKING AND THE MEANING OF LIFE, by MARCUS FREESTONE, is an interesting book. It deals with one of the most popular topics of contemporary interest, if the proliferation of titles is something to go by. Author begins by examining the process of decision making, and the roles played by our conscious and subconscious brains. How can brain act in conjunction with the patterns we perceive, both real and imaginary, are then discussed. After describing some more esoteric aspects exclusively of of humans, like the ability of our brain to hold two polar opposite, totally contradictory thoughts at once, author goes into another popular aspect of our thinking. The sentence “You're either with us or against us”, exemplify it, which can be mentioned as one of the biggest problems facing us today. Our propensity to reach conclusions.
The book ends with an interesting observation. "There are only two things in the universe – physical matter and abstract metaphysical concepts... mind and consciousness themselves are unnecessary metaphysical abstractions. Existence, or the universe, is neither meaningful nor meaningless, it just is. Meaning, purpose, coincidence, reason are all metaphysical concepts we have invented. WHY questions are null and void, things just are... Therefore, there is no meaning of life. Life is merely our word for the state we find ourselves in."
I am not able to say that the book provides anything like a final answer. But, it triggered my thought. Just like quantum theory which introduces the element of chance in all things of the physical world, the book I think is introducing such concepts to the living world. The author surely has some points.
The book ends with an interesting observation. "There are only two things in the universe – physical matter and abstract metaphysical concepts... mind and consciousness themselves are unnecessary metaphysical abstractions. Existence, or the universe, is neither meaningful nor meaningless, it just is. Meaning, purpose, coincidence, reason are all metaphysical concepts we have invented. WHY questions are null and void, things just are... Therefore, there is no meaning of life. Life is merely our word for the state we find ourselves in."
I am not able to say that the book provides anything like a final answer. But, it triggered my thought. Just like quantum theory which introduces the element of chance in all things of the physical world, the book I think is introducing such concepts to the living world. The author surely has some points.
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