[This is an excerpt of a part of the book The Theory of Mimind that I published.]
Why do I live?
Let’s think for a moment: Why do I live? There must be reasons why we live as a person or a PIR. What is it ‘to live’? If you are dead, you are a corpse, and if you are alive, then you are a living being. The living body exists and the corpse doesn’t.
Why do you exist? ‘Living’ is the most important fact here. I am myself living presently who have the memories of past experiences and knowledge. ‘Why do I exist?’, ‘Why do I live this way?’
Existence has nothing to do with how well you live. Living itself is the first priority. Then, one can purse the life of meaning and value. When you ask the above questions, some might say they live to eat, or eat to live. Eating to live and living to eat are two different matters. The former means pursuing meaning and value of existence, and the latter, living an animalistic life. Living is basic preliminary for self-actualization. Eating is necessary for existing, so eating should be for living.
Living to eat involves only the basic survival and eating to live involves pursuing meaning and value in existence. Living to eat is no different from the life of animals. You can be kept like livestock animals, being fed and offered a place to sleep.
Then, why do you want to live, become successful in your own society, or become famous? Why do you want to be rich and hold higher social status? Why do you study? Why do you live this way?
The pursuit of self-actualization is the reason why we exist as human beings. Having remembered the past experiences and knowledge, we still live and think today. As human beings, we all want to live meaningfully with value. It is not that important whether we pursue economic value, relational value or social value. One wants to live meaningfully with one’s own value. That is what everybody wants.
Woman needs meaning in her life, and then, she can pursue value. Man lives to pursue value. Human beings will continue to pursue their self-actualiztion until they die. When they stop pursing meaning and value, they do not need to exist anymore. When they lose the answer to 'Why do you live?’, it is called retirement. When you retire, you will stop pursuing self-actualization within human relationships, meaning you have been pursuing self-actualization as a PIR so far, but you will live as a person from now on until death.
You have to be able to answer this question, 'Why do you live?’ You should be able to say, ‘I live to pursue meaning and value in my own life'. This is to achieve self-actualization. I have been pursuing self-actualization and this is the life of a PIR. Even if one only seeks after wealth, one has lived a life of his or her own value. You should not criticize him or her for it. Someone else may have dedicated his or her life to the society rather than making money. It is also worthwhile. You can’t really measure or judge other people's lives. The answer to ‘Why do you live?’ only lies within you.
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