what is the most important thing in life, and what should we all be doing to make it a reality?
2006-09-03 21:36:09 · 40 answers · asked by Dan G 2 in Social Science ➔ Sociology
http://www.answers.com/meaning%20of%20life
"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.
2006-09-04 14:17:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes there is a meaning to life, but not as we perceive it now. Personal gain and ambition definitely not.
Yes there are beings who understand perfectly the meaning of life and some have been trying to teach us for thousands of years. We failed to grasp it as our mind is clouded by the illusion of self-importance, self wanting and grasping. That is why only a very few in this world have ever achieved lasting unbroken feelings of happiness.
We gain temporary happiness by being an object we desire, only to loose interest or feel disappointment. Not just purchases but any external desires, like a bf or gf, or wanting to grasps at love, or rather the delusion we call love. This love is a delusion as it its blemished with the stains of self importance, need wanting, discrimination and applied conditions.
We have all seen and understood the meaning of life clearly, but do not acknowledge it, as our fear of losing something that is not reality prevents us from seeing the Truth. We rather live in this bubble of delusion rather than feel and realise the blissful extraordinary meaning of life.
Check your thinking process and see how often you attach anything you do and give to yourself, of wanting, owning and self fulfilment. Even when you say "I love you" to someone, check your true intentions. What lies below the murky ground which harbours the root of our delusion and unhappiness.
Only then can we see clearly the meaning of life, which will result in everlasting happiness and a blissfull feeling beyond our imagination.
2006-09-03 21:59:46 · answer #2 · answered by Foxey 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some purists will say the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything is 42.
However, the meaning of life is a very personal thing. Some people’s meaning to life is their family, for some it’s friends, or their career. For some people it’s about achieving aspirations, for some it is about gaining capital, for some it’s about keeping a certain state of mind, or simply existing within their surroundings.
If you’re not sure, give it a try. See what moves your furniture. If it does you bad – avoid it, if it does you good – see how you could do more of it.
I would put a disclaimer here and recommend you did things within the bounds of reason, law and good faith.
2006-09-03 21:50:43 · answer #3 · answered by bloodrose903 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At a basic level, the meaning of life is to live or to survive. But it doesn't stop there. Every living organism also participates in ensuring the long term survival of its group, community, or society, and its species. And beyond that, every living organism also participates in evolution - giving rise to new species and new types of groups, communities, and societies, that are more evolved, and more capable of surviving. So, ultimately, life is about the long term survival and proliferation of this chain reaction, called life, that started with the first living organism and continues until today.
But this is only half the answer. Life is also about "reflection", or discovering the meaning of life itself. As evolution leads to more and more intelligent species, they are more and more capable of reflection, and this process will also continue until some living organism in the future finds the true and complete meaning of life, the universe, and everything.
2006-09-07 09:32:23 · answer #4 · answered by Vin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, almost everybody knows the meaning of life because meaning is a human construct with no objective status. Therefore everyone's personal take on the question is entirely vallid for them. To say there is a universal meaning of life is to say that one individual's experience of the world transcends every one else's, which is not only arrogant, but obviously rediculous.
2006-09-05 05:29:34 · answer #5 · answered by Bovril 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no 1 really knows the meaning of life but i think that its having fun, living life to the full, but don't do anything stupid or too dangerous cuz then thats called suicide
so what i plan to do is listen 2 music (rock rox) go bungee jumping when i'm old enough, go on all the scary rides @ thorpe park (i h8 hights which is why i get such a kick out of it), umm and live my life to the fulll i'm 14 so i've got 4 more yrs to have fun then ppl. will expect me to grow up (gonna let u in on a lil' secret i ain't neva growing up completley where's the fun in that !!) and well now i think i'm gonna go get some breakfast cuz my mum told me 2!
2006-09-03 21:49:06 · answer #6 · answered by pritzy-fairy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Monty Python
2006-09-03 21:48:15 · answer #7 · answered by Dances With Woofs! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only one that really knows the meaning of life is God Himself. However, life has meaning when you make yourself a life of experience, inspirations, hopes and ambitions - live and find meaning to your own life, everyone is dfferent.
2006-09-07 01:02:09 · answer #8 · answered by no1charmerlondon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
'Meaning of life' is a philosophical term which can mean various things to various people.
I would say that Life has no meaning, it just 'is'
people get born, reproduce and die...thats all. It's up to us - who are lucky enough to have survived and be well fed and provided for - to make our own meaning
2006-09-03 21:43:11 · answer #9 · answered by Vinni and beer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most important thing in life is finding your purpose and then achieving it. Your purpose could be anything. Mine changes on a regular basis...or saying that, maybe to change on a regular basis is my purpose in life? Hmm, yes that sounds right, thanks for your question.
2006-09-03 21:41:04 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Dictionary.
2006-09-03 21:39:28 · answer #11 · answered by DB4GTZ 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋