Your Life On Earth: Personal Philosophy Project
Project Description: This project was designed to make each student both critically think about their life on Earth and discover their own personal philosophy, through reading, videos, and in depth discussions. Students also created questions personalized to their philosophy and beliefs such as: Does life matter? What is the bigger purpose? What is humanities’ destination as a whole? Do we have one? What is the meaning of life? Students took their own personal beliefs on the meaning of life, and collaborated frequently with other students to reshape the way that what they thought about the universe. There was no initial goal to find a definite answer to the questions asked; the only goal was to create a better sense of self and apply it by creating a project that included a written piece and a visual to go along with it. New Insights: For the course of the project, I focused on learning more about how happiness intertwine and how life’s external problems can affect a sense of purpose. I have always believed strongly that I do have a purpose on this Earth, whether I know it or not. From a young age I was taught that everyone matters equally and there is some form of a “destiny” for you, so I spent much of my young life trying to find that meaning wondering if I was ever going to get anywhere. Through the course of this project, that vision of mine slowly changed. After listening to the opinions of others, and combining the religious views of my family with my own non-religious views on purpose I decided that for all individuals alike, meaning is subjective and up for the interpretation of the individual. I now believe that a person can find meaning in this life if they want the believe that their life has meaning; if not, so be it. One short film that we watched in class that struck me particularly was the video called “Pale Blue Dot.” I found this video to be enticing because it proved how small our home planet really is, and how everything we’ve ever known good and bad has been held within that pale blue dot. After watching that video, I was able to realize how truly insignificant we are in the grand scheme of the universe; because there is so much more out there than just us. We are not the center of everything. Yet, I do not believe that should hold anyone back from finding meaning in this life while they have it. Overall, after being immersed in philosophical truth, I had never given much thought to my personal beliefs before this time. Although I wish I would have. Further Questions and Intellectual Work Left to Do My further intellectual work regarding this project will be solely individual. I believe that from this point on, answering my own questions will be up to me, even if they don’t get answered. To me, all that matters is that I gain a better understanding of what makes me human. In order to find my own meaning I know that I must bring out my full potential and discover what I love in order to find a purpose bigger than myself. |