13 Irish answers to the meaning of life

Living in the 21st century means living at pace with a constant barrage of information and demands from all sides.

I awake and prod young, inert bodies to life, turn on lights, fry eggs, pour calorie-laden cereal, jam lunches into bags, empty smelly gym bags and root around for clean T-shirts and socks, pile everything and everyone into the car and crawl, monosyllabically, to school, college, work; through grey, sodden streams of traffic. Where is the sun? Is it still up there hidden behind smog-infested rainclouds? Is the river going to pour over the bank again and seep through sodden sandbags onto kitchen floors, office space and shop fronts? Is the world coming to an end?

Children climb out of cars, slam doors, forget lunches, art work and gym bags as they trudge through the rain to another day as I continue on to the next battle – the workplace.

Sometimes we are so busy and caught up in this frenetic pace, we barely have time to breathe. Often, this can result in confusion and exhaustion. When we do stop we frequently ask “what is it all for?” Just as often it is difficult to find an answer.

This book attempts to take a look at some of those questions that we ask ourselves from time to time in those grey, traffic-fuelled, hapless moments of existence:

What is it to be alive in the 21st century? What is the meaning of life? What does it mean to live a useful life? What will your legacy be? Do you believe in the afterlife and does that affect how you live in this world?

These questions were put to people from varying walks of life, not all well-known but all thinkers – writers, poets, philosophers, academics, journalists and teachers, religious and charity workers, and self-proclaimed show-offs, among others.

Here is some of what they said:

Arminta Wallace believes she was put on this earth to answer emails!

Barry Egan believes meditation has helped him to be less of a “moody crankypants”.

Bill O’Herlihy wants to be remembered as someone who tried his best. Quietly.

Carlo Gébler believes he’s here, through a series of benign accidents, to fulfil a non-negotiable obligation, the care of an imagination.

Colm Keena rejoices in grammar, “one of the evolutionary wonders of the world”.

Dermot Bolger’s poem to his late wife reminds us “there is no next time”.

Every night, as Eleanor McEvoy goes to sleep, she thinks of three things she’s grateful for that happened during the day, and one thing she is looking forward to on the following day.

Christina Noble’s philosophy is about giving people a life, not just an existence. Noble, the film of her life, starring Deirdre O’Kane, was released olast month..

Noelle Campbell-Sharpe believes she is still here to offer a no-strings-attached sanctuary for the weary artist, blocked writer, where creativity could blossom.

Pat Storey, the first female bishop in western Europe, believes that having a sense of purpose is one of the keys to unlocking happiness in life.

Peter McVerry believes the purpose of life is to leave the world a better place.

Peter Sheridan remembers a man who said “Religion is for people who are afraid of hell, and spirituality is for those who have already been there”.

Rosita Boland loves the urban prayer that is the graffiti written on a wall not far from her home – “You’re Alive. Avail of this once in a lifetime opportunity”.

Taken from Saol – Thoughts from Ireland on Life and Living by Catherine Conlon (Collins Press, €12.99, collinspress.ie). Catherine Conlon lectures in epidemiology and public health at University College Cork. Her keen interest in holistic health gave rise to her book Sonas: Celtic Thoughts on Happiness (2009) that explored the depths beneath the distractions of modern life. A mother of four living in Cork, she also published a novel, Valentia, about island life off Kerry.