What Is Life?

When someone asks what life is, there are answers of all colors. But most of them are presented as irrevocable affirmations, there is no way around it, it is like that. Each person sees and experiences it in a completely different way, because the circumstances of each one are completely different from those of the others.

Different definitions about life

Defining life is a claim as old as human thought. One of the first thinkers to do it was Aristotle, who discovered that it is not an easy task. Well, the philosopher fell into a circularity by appealing that life is what living beings possess. More than two millennia later, we still have doubts about this concept.

If we turn to current dictionaries, we run into the same problem as Aristotle. For example, the Royal Spanish Academy defines life as the “substantial internal force or activity, through which the being that possesses it works”, while the Cambridge English dictionary defines life as “the quality that makes people, animals and plants different from objects, substances and things that are dead ”. In other words, life is what living beings have.

For its part, depending on the discipline of study, there are various concepts about life. One of the most relevant is that of biology where the ability of humans, plants and animals to be born, later develop or grow, reproduce and finally die is considered. However, there is no agreed definition of life among biologists.

That said, we can take the perspective that the notion of life does not exist. But, many thinkers say that it is not necessary either. For example, the philosopher of biology Carlos Mariscal:

Some phrases about life

Below I would like to share with you some of the answers that I have found on the Internet about this question. These are completely different views, some perhaps complementary, others radically opposite:

• It is a delicate balance between making good decisions and avoiding dangers.
• It is trusting our feelings, facing challenges, finding happiness, cherishing memories, and learning from the past.
• It is something so short that if you spoil it, it ends faster.

• It’s like the couch from the Simpsons; you never know what will happen.
• It is an adventure: live it, feel it, love it, laugh, cry, play, win, lose, stumble, but always get up and keep going.
• It is living in the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what will happen next.
• It is a torture chamber, from which we will only come out dead.
• It is knowing how to hold the umbrella when it rains.

These are just a few sentences by way of example, since I already anticipated that definitions of what existence is can be as many as there are people, and that is what it is about. Because the person who believes that it is torture is not wrong, because if that is what he thinks, if that is what he believes, that is what it is for him. If for another it is to endure the downpours that fall, that will be their life.

My definition of life

And it is that if I had to say my definition of what life is, it would be: “it is what you want it to be”, neither more nor less. Because although we are all human beings, we do not all see the same thing, even if we are next to each other.

Let’s take an example. Two people see a very affectionate dog, one of them believes that he is simply a very docile dog, while the other may think that he has suffered some abuse and therefore reacts that way. Both of them may be right, or perhaps neither of them is. Each person sees reality, what happens and what happens to him in his own way.

Choose your own dream

And if life is a dream, wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to choose what to dream? It is clear that one who has a dream life never thinks that existence is enduring sorrow, torture or slander. Think that life is the best gift you could have received.

On the contrary, whoever lives constant misfortunes will believe that it is not worth it. And do not confuse economic wealth with happiness, as there are many happy “poor” and many unhappy millionaires. Life is what we think it is, and the more we expect from it, the more it will give us.

Now take some time to think about what existence is to you. Because life can take different courses but we are the ones who choose how to face them. Of course, we will always have problems to face, but … will this mark the path that we are going to travel from now on?

We can choose to feel victims or take problems as challenges to improve, grow and appreciate life in a much more intense way. Let us not live mired in suffering, believing that we are doomed. Let’s enjoy.