When we discover the meaning of life?

Question

Will we disappear in a puff of smoke?

Answer 1

"What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives. Some people believe that the meaning of life is one or more of the following:

Survival and temporal success

* ...to accumulate wealth and increase social status
* ...to compete or co-operate with others
* ...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance
* ...to die having succeeded in your purpose
* ...to live
* ...to protect one's family
* ...to gain and exercise power
* ...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book
* ...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction or asexual reproduction
* ...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally or financially
* ...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate
* ...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means (see life extension)

Wisdom and knowledge

* ...to be without question, or to keep asking questions
* ...to explore, to expand beyond our frontiers
* ...to learn from one's own and others' mistakes
* ...to seek truth, knowledge, understanding, or wisdom
* ...to try to discover and understand the meaning of life
* ...to expand one's perception of the world

Ethical

* ...to express compassion
* ...to live in peace with each other, and in harmony with our natural environment (see utopia)
* ...to give and receive love
* ...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life
* ...to serve others, or do good deeds
* ...to work for justice and democracy

Religious, spiritual and esoteric

* ...to turn fear into joy at a constant rate achieving on literal and metaphorical levels: immortality, enlightenment and atonement
* ...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context
* ...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace
* ...to become God, or God-like
* ...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. God)
* ...to follow the "Golden Rule"
* ...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity)
* ...to reach Heaven in the afterlife
* ...to understand and follow the "Word of God"
* ...to worship, serve, or achieve union with God

Other

* ...to advance natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race
* ...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future human
* ...to contribute to collective meaning ("we" or "us") without having individual meaning ("I" or "me")
* ...to die, or become a martyr
* ...to find a purpose, a "reason" for living that hopefully raises the quality of one's experience of life, or even life in general
* ...to live, and enjoy the passage of time
* ...to have fun
* ...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment
* ...to pursue a dream, vision, or destiny
* ...to relate, connect, or achieve unity with others
* ...to seek and find beauty
* ...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose)
* ...to participate in the chain events which has led from the creation of the universe until its possible end (either freely chosen or determined, this is a subject widely debated amongst philosophers)
* ...still some do not even think there is any purpose whatsoever (see nihilism)
* ...(This is actually an extension of the point immediately above) There is no inherent meaning to life, existence, the universe, etc. They exist because they can. However, humans appear to inately give meaning, usually many, often conflicting, to what they are conscious of. So, to each individual, the "meaning of life" is whatever they decide it is. In that sense, every point above is potentially valid.

Answer 2

On contrary, I believe the meaning of life was whispered to us when we were born. That is why we all feel we have a purpose in life. It is just that we cannot recall what was told to us at that time. Maybe if we recall what it is, we will disappear in a puff of smoke. But until then, we do not know.

Answer 3

Well it depends, if the meaning of life is to find the meaning of life then we might but im sure someone has said that and we are not a puff of smoke... well i dont think i am..... weird....

Answer 4

Spiritually you already know what the meaning of life is. You just can't remember because your human body can not handle it.

Also, your life's meaning is not the same as my life's meaning or the next guy's life's meaning. We are all working toward a collective goal that we just don't have the capacity to realize while we're in our bodies.

Okay...sorry to ramble on. Here's the deal...(to give you my point of view)...we're here to cause an "affect". To create "ripples" so to speak. We're each here for a specific purpose that will ultimately lead us to the next level of consciousness.

It's a long story. One that's not easily summed up in a few words. Do me a favour...remember this. Remember this and as you go along, try to recognize your "affect". Then tell your children to do the same thing. Then tell your grandchildren and so on.

That's all I can say. Hope it helps.

Answer 5

some do Jake , why not for some a puff of smoke is meaning of life and more , don't you think for different people their are different meanings for life?perhaps yours is different then mien, I think it meant to enjoy the life without harming the others, if so you can also enjoy , but anyway tell me if you find out something different.

Answer 6

well it could be that we should never know the meaning of life... read paradise lost and essay on man by milton and pope.... we as humans are at a rank above beasts but below angels.. but we believe that we are more superior than we actually are... there are somethings that our mind just cant comprehend thus we will never know the anwser to anything... thats why satan went against god because no one tested the power of god and he thought that he should be god because he though he was the better one.... life could also be a test to see where we go next or nothing happens when we die..... it depends on what u believe in... ( just to say im not religious.... i've just read great literature which i highly recommend)

Answer 7

When Siddhartha Gautama discovered the meaning of life, he wandered his native country so that others may hear his wisdom.

Don't think there were any modern-day magicians handy to provide him with special effects.
Shame though, more people may have listened to him had he been able to appeal to the juvenile within....

Answer 8

We'll dissapear in a puff of smoke long before we figure out the meaing of life, if Iran has it's way.

Answer 9

Who says it has a meaning? We want it to have meaning so as to give our lives meaning, but that does not mean that life has a meaning or a reason. Sometimes things just are. I am not saying that life does not have a meaning, but it is impossible to conclusively prove that it does.

Answer 10

No, I should not think so. When you come up with the meaning of life you just act accordingly. I know there is a pun on your statement, but the answer is still "no".

Answer 11

Christmas tells us the meaning of life - the meaning of Christmas doesn't lie in having a lot of presents or enjoying fine food. The meaning of Christmas, instead, lies in being generous. In the eyes of faith, the meaning of life lies in being generous with one another because God is generous with us. At Christmas we discover again in Jesus that God is infinite generosity; and in God's generosity to us and our generosity to one another, we discover again the meaning of life.