What is the meaning of life?

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

The meaning of life is to find a meaning.

Answer 3

It is not a proper place for your question, but science can help you on this topic.

Life is a highly unlikely event, because of the many coincidences required to support it. And there is no general definition for life, if we include viruses as live beings (protist and monera kingdoms).

If we restrict the concept of life to human beings, then for us it means the carbon biochemistry combined with electromagnetic fields in a highly risky environment (unstable and dynamic). Also it means the evolution of the highest adapted system, and the most efficient against competitors. Remember the predators, they also want to live, so the most efficient system, based on intelligence, will prevail.

I hope this scientific approach helps to your search.

Answer 4

The primal meaning is survival, and if we can survive then we should help our fellow humans to survive too. Our aim should be to make a difference to someone else's life each day of our own. This doesen't need to be earth moving; it may just be a kindly word or a letter written - something so easily done, that could mean so much to someone else.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Good question as you are born to die anyway,i suppose it's how you look at it,they say life is what you make it,may be true to some extent,but not in mine as my life has not been a good one through no fault of my own,as i'am now disabled and confind to a wheelchair,but life goes on,you life it the best way you can,i aim for goals,somthing to acheive,for instance i have a son and i want to be a granny,somthing to look forward to,also i want to walk on my crutches,which will be hard as i only have one leg,but it's somthing to aim for,hope i've helped a little,kind regards Kathy

Answer 7

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Answer 8

The meaning of life is a personal journey. For some its a number, for others its like Ice cream. The meaning of life is whatever you wish it to be. To explore the meaning, to understand YOUR quest is the key to the meaning of life.

All we can do is participate in our personal quests.

Answer 9

Life is it's own meaning. We are a mystery built upon a mystery, learning and self awareness are about opening up like flowers to this mystery of who and what we really are - the whole damn universe!

Answer 10

You have to provide meaning. Life is the state of being alive.

Answer 11

to like live a good life