Previously, we asked you to think about whether or not you would want to live forever. Now, we want you to focus on your current life, and think about the following questions: Are you happy? Do you think your life is meaningful? Does the meaningfulness and the happiness go hand in hand? A lot of philosophers have explored this concept. Like Joseph explained in an earlier post, Bentham and Mill think happiness is the most important thing. Mill believes that not all pleasures are equal, and happiness the highest pleasure. On the other hand, May believes there needs to be a combination of active engagement and narrative values. Narrative values include things like spirituality, sincerity, creativity, courage, generosity and personal integrity. He thinks happiness is great, but not enough, and your heart needs to be dedicated to your project. Wolf also believes in active engagement, but puts more emphasis on successful and valuable projects.

To help you think about whether or not your life needs to be happy, meaningful or both, here is a list of movie characters who are also exploring this concept. You may relate your life to Iron Man or Sister Maria, or simply take comfort in that fact that people are trying to answer this complicated question everyday.

Iron Man
Throughout the Avengers movies and Iron Man franchise, Tony Stark, who’s alter ego is the superhero Iron Man, should be happy because he is saving the world, helping people and is a billionaire. However, he is very dark and sarcastic, and does not seem happy to the viewer. Despite having the qualities that someone like Wolf thinks is important to have a meaningful life, he is not happy. Do you think Iron Man’s life should equal happiness?

The Sound of Music
Sister Maria struggles throughout this movie to commit to her relationship with God or to her relationship with Mr. Von Trapp. She wants so badly to be a good nun, but after she takes time off and falls in love, it is clear she is not going to return to the convent. It would be interesting to see what a philosopher like May thinks of this because he believes in both active engagement, which means your heart needs to engaged in your life, and narrative values like spiritually. Maria did not have it in her heart to be a nun, but May thinks spirituality is very important. Which life do you think is more meaningful? Does Maria’s happiness with Mr. Von Trapp and his kids mean more than her relationship with God?

Eat, Pray, Love
After a divorce, Elizabeth quits her job as a successful travel writer to find herself and see the world a slower pace. She visits three different countries and lives in each one for four months. She spends time eating in Italy, finding her spiritually in India and looking for balance in Brazil. Elizabeth has a failed marriage and is not doing any work or projects other than working on herself, so many philosophers would not consider her life meaningful. However, Elizabeth finds happiness throughout her entire journey. Do you think happiness is or can be the meaning of life?

It’s A Wonderful Life
An angel visits George Bailey after he wishes he had never been born because he is poor, stuck in his small town and his house fill of kids is falling apart. George thinks his life is meaningless, but the angel, Clarence, shows him how life would be different without him. After George relives saving his brother, taking over the business for his father so his father can retire, his worried family and the affects of his loans, he realizes he has a lot to live for. George is then happy and proud of himself. Wolf would not call George’s life successful because his business is currently failing, but his past and his family make George happy. Do you think happiness is enough to outweigh the bad in your life? Or George’s?

“Do you want to live forever?” “Do you believe in Heaven?” These are heavy questions that require a lot of thought, honesty and reflection. For example, while it is unclear what happens to us when we die, if you do not have faith and believe in Heaven, you could fear missing out on it if it does exist. If you do believe in Heaven and it does not exist, you could be wasting the life you do have waiting for something that will never come. If you do not want to live forever, you might reflect on your live and realize there is something missing and that is why you do not want to be on this planet forever. If you do want to live forever, you have to consider the circumstances and how the other people in the world affect your life and decision.

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Answers to questions like these could also be affected by a lot of individual characteristics. Things like religion and gender could have an impact on your response, but I choose to explore age. It makes sense that someone 10-years-old has not put a lot of thought into the afterlife, while someone who is approaching 70 can have a well-crafted, thought out answer to questions about immortality and death.

I interviewed different people from ages 10 to 65 about what happens after we die, the possibility of Heaven and if they would want to live forever. Overall, the younger people that I interviewed were interested in the possibility of living forever and less concerned with Heaven or anything equivalent to it.

“I don’t think anything happens after we die, we’re dead,” Laura Cardi, 14, said. “It’s sad, but I just don’t think Heaven exists.”

While Cardi does not believe there is anything after this life, she would consider sticking around forever under a few conditions. “I would definitely live forever if I didn’t age and no one around me aged. I don’t think everyone should be immortal, but if I don’t get a disease or hit by a car, I shouldn’t die from old age or just because it’s ‘time.’”

Cardi’s view on life is unique. She’s so content with the life she’s living that she would live it forever if the world let her. Even younger than Cardi, 10-year-old Faith Heffron would also live forever.

“I don’t know… I guess. Yeah, why not?” Heffron, who was giggling and thought talking about death seemed awkward, said about whether or not she would want to live forever. “I believe in Heaven because my parents do, but if I got to live forever, I could go everywhere and do everything that I want to.”

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Heffron presents a good point. If you are alive forever, then you do not have to worry about running out of time. However, as 18-year-old MaryKate Boylan pointed out, if you know you’re going to live forever, the risk, and therefore the excitement, of life is gone.

“I feel like if I knew I was going to live forever I wouldn’t take any risks or live on the edge because I would have the weight of knowing I’ll have to live with it forever,” she said. “At least we know now we can be risky and rebellious because everyone is going to be gone at some point, so why not live to the fullest in this moment.”

Something that Boylan and 22-year-old Claire Hale, who initially thought living forever would be great because she has a lot of different career aspirations, can agree on is the idea of Heaven is a place “with no fear and no evil.”

“I think it would be so cool to live forever like the Cullens in Twilight,” Hale said with a smile. “It sounds silly, but thinking about traveling to different places, getting different educations and starting different careers would be great. I’m indecisive, so knowing I could be a doctor for 50 years, then a horseback rider for another 50, and then traveling the world for another 50 would give me comfort.”

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After bringing up the idea of Heaven, Hale’s face dropped. “I just realized if I live forever, then I never get to go to Heaven. I believe that Heaven is a place without problems and drama. It’s just bliss, and you feel so loved by God and everyone who came before you. Now, I don’t want to live forever.”

Hale was the only person who changed her mind after our discussion. It’s possible that because Hale is at a transition in her life, preparing for graduation, applying to medical school and giving up on her dream of working with horses, she grasped onto the idea of being immortal and not having to make permanent decisions.

31-year-old Katie Esler had her own vision of Heaven, even though she does not believe it exists.

“When I think of ‘heaven’ I imagine a completely different world than we are in now, but with the ability to still watch over those that are still living in today’s world. It’s a nice thought, however, I do not think it exists,” she explained.

Esler continued to say she did not want to live forever because it takes away from the idea of accomplishing goals.

“I would not be motivated to do the things on my bucket list that I want to do at some point in my life,” she said. “If I think about living forever, its hard to picture completing certain milestones in life such as going to college, getting married, having kids, retiring, etc.”

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Similar to Boylan, 18, Esler, thinks living forever would affect how she lives her life and does not think there are circumstances that would make it possible or desirable.

On the other hand, 49-year-old Debbie Baunchalk who already accomplished everything on Esler’s list of basic life goals besides retirement, would live forever if her family got to stick around as well.

“I would want to live forever if I had my husband, my heath and my kids,” she said. “But because I know that is not the case, I take comfort in the fact that my soul goes onto Heaven and I can look over my family until they join me.”

65-year-old Robert Isabella agrees. “I would love to live forever but only if I was healthy and my family was with me with an unlimited supply of money. Living with a debilitating disease i.e. Cancer or Alzheimer’s, or being broke is not really living in my book,” he explained.

Isabella changed his tune a bit with the idea of Heaven. He would like to continue his life with his family and funds, but if there was less conflict (and annoyances like traffic) and more happiness (days off), he would like to “try it out.”

“If there definitely were a ‘Heaven’ type of place, I would like to try it out. After all it’s supposed to be the ultimate place to be so, why not? Especially if there is no work or traffic…” he said with a smirk.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery from these interviews, is the youngest, Heffron and Cardi, and the oldest, Baunchalk and Isabella, people I talked to would want to live forever.

Both Baunchalk and Isabella have children and a spouse, and made sure to mention them in almost every answer. I think the idea of living forever takes on a new meaning when you think about being around for your child’s entire existence, and having a partner to live forever with adds another layer.

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On the other hand, Heffron and Cardi, would want to live forever for different reasons because they obviously do not have children or a spouse, at 10 and 14, respectively. Perhaps they want to live forever because they have not experienced great loss or suffering yet, or a less serious reason like it’s a cool idea and gives them a super power like they see on TV. The reasons could vary, but regardless, it appears that younger and older individuals consider living forever a good thing compared to middle aged people.

However, while the idea of immorality and Heaven seems to be affected by the idea of age and experience, it also appears to be too personal and individual to make hasty generalizations about.

Challenge Yourself: Consider your age, and what you think about living forever. Then consider how you think you felt or how you would feel at 10, 14, 18, 22, 31, 49 and 65.

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