what is the meaning of life?

Answer 1

80% of humanity, the religious folks, don't need to ask the meaning of life, the church tells them....the supernatural explanation. But the rest of us can't swallow religious dogma, because there's no evidence. Nobody can prove that there life after death, that people are tortured or rewarded after life or that there's invisible spirits running around.

I've come to two conclusions recently:

1. Life has no meaning
2. Life has a million meanings.

First, there's a certainty that death and annihilation awaits not only you, but the Earth in general. It's an astonomical certainty that our sun will supernova and leave the earth a burnt crisp, not to mention all the other extinction level events around the corner.

Second, the million things that give us meaning are the pleasurable experiences we can conjure up during the short period we are here on the earth, in the form of the relationships we have with our kids and other people, and the 'housekeeping' types of purposes. What i mean by that are the curing disease, ending hunger, improving literacy, reducing crime, preventing war, helping other kinds of things.

Answer 2

Meaning as in purpose?

The meaning or purpose of life is to give pleasure to the Supreme life, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the reason we exist. We are His eternal, spiritual energy, and our constitutional position is to serve His desires. At the present time we find ourselves covered by material bodies and minds and therefore bewildered by the illusory energy. In this state we think we are these temporary bodies and minds. With this misidentification as the basis for our consciousness, how can we know what is the purpose of our life? If a madman thinks himself to be someone he is not, how can he understand what he should or should not do? First we have to understand who we are before we can know what the purpose of our life is.

There are basically two paths. One path is to think we are the body and when the body dies we are finished also. In that view, what possible purpose could anyone's life have? If we all return to dust in the end, any endeavor to make sense of life is just a madman's game. Instead of having a true purpose in life, the rationale becomes simply to 'enjoy' life, which is nothing more than animal life.

On the other hand, if we are actually eternal and the body is just the vehicle we have for a few years, then our purpose becomes very clear. Our purpose is to understand our eternal nature and what our relationship is to the Supreme. This is the process of self-realization-- purification of consciousness. The advantage of human life is that we are able to inquire about the Absolute Truth and the purpose of life. The animals and other lower life forms cannot do this. But if in the human life a person doesn't make this inquiry, he is no better than an animal.

Answer 3

The meaning of life is to make meaning out of life.

Answer 4

The Mirror
by Robert Fulghum
“Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?”
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go. Papaderos held up a hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
“I will answer your question.” Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And what he said went like this:
“When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.
“I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine-in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light in the most inaccessible places I could find.
“I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light-truth, understanding, knowledge-is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.
“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world-into the black places in the hearts of men-and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.”

Answer 5

There is no meaning to life, but to make life mean something. ~ me

Answer 6

42

Answer 7

42

Answer 8

I can't really explain it, but it is 42, no kidding.
But maybe this will help.

It's not our place to ask.
We are human and we will never understand.
Believing in something greater than ourselves.
A better world, a world without sin.
We are not going to live there.
There's no place for us there...
We are monsters. What we do is evil.
Have no illusions about it, it must be done.
And every minute you stay alive, more people will die.

Answer 9

Whatever meaning you give to it. 42. A good Monthy Python movie.

Answer 10

[After the doctors quickly drop the baby into an incubator, the mother looks up.]
Mother: A boy or a girl?
Obstetrician: Now, I think it's a little early to start imposing roles on it, don't you?