WHAT IS LIFE?

There is now a large body of research that addresses the question of human happiness and therefore a full and satisfying human life. Many of them have compiled various more or less comprehensive” happiness lists”. In principle, they all agree that a full and happy human life must include the following three qualities:
GROWTH – to be the best possible one within of my abilities and capabilities I can be, self-actualization (cf. Maslow, Goldstein, etc.)
TRANSCENDENCE – having a transcending purpose in life, something to live for, something to strive to be the best possible, something to die for, if it came to that (cf. Frankl.)
RELATIONSHIPS – to live in a community where we share this way of life, share its joy, and at the same time help each other to grow more and more in this life (Grant and Glueck study, Powell, etc.)
AUTONOMIC LIVING – this is how this form of life is sometimes referred to, where the value of life – and our sense of happiness and fulfillment – do not depend on anything external (such as money, possessions, recognition, power, etc.), but flow directly from within us, we experience them within ourselves, and at the same time we don’t need any external motivation (paycheck, praise, awards) to live this way because we are motivated by life itself, which we live and which itself is our reward (cf. Plato, Seneca, etc.).
GOD is the one who lives this form of life in the greatest conceivable intensity: HOLY (= no evil) and PERFECT (= the best possible) – there is no conceivable quality that He or His Life lacks, it contains within itself absolutely everything, including everything that exists on earth.
LOVE – God is one, but not alone. He is a communion of three Persons, each of whom lives for the other two Persons and in them finds the perfect meaning of His existence, giving Himself to them in ultimate love.
THE TRINITY – results in relationships of such profound affinity, understanding, and inner unity, that though Three Persons, they are but one being, one being, the One God in perfect communion of relationships. As human beings, we were created by God for to share in this life of God, to have God share His life and who He is with us. In Christianity, we call this by the technical term CREATION: God became man to man became God and had to participate in His eternal LIFE.