2006-09-07 07:57:46 · 14 answers · asked by celestine 2 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
"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.
2006-09-09 03:04:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To propagate the function and existance of the universe as an inside sensory manifestation.
To say that our meaning is to survive is a relative meaning. You can find relative meaning everywhere, since the observer defines it. However, this has nothing to do with universal purpose.
To show this clearly, imagine an electric drill. What does it do? Well, we use it to drill things. However, it's function and true purpose is to spin around >.>
Our lives can be used however we want, like we can use the drill however we want. This does not relate to the overall 'meaning' of life though, on the whole. It does not explain WHY we exist and what purpose we serve.
Who knows what the function or point to the universe is. It probably, logically, doesn't have one, but exists because it can.
2006-09-07 13:58:16 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 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 09:24:09 · answer #3 · answered by Vin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The meaning of your life is for you to decide. On a simplistic level, it seems to merely be to continue the species, have babies, and raise them to have more babies. But on a deeper level, I find the main goal in my life is to find hapiness. As long as I am continueing to make my life happy, and further populating the earth, I think my life is complete.
2006-09-07 08:05:32 · answer #4 · answered by Olive Green Eyes 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That you BELIEVE in something else. No other time in your life will you be as happy as when you have something to keep you fulfilled and working toward a goal, keeping you on point and in "a groove." Just like love keeps you focused, so does having something to believe in.
2006-09-07 08:12:54 · answer #5 · answered by AdamKadmon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To live my life to the fullest. Be a good friend, a good mom and a good person. To live my life and be able to look back and not regret anything.
2006-09-07 08:07:17 · answer #6 · answered by just me 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the meaning of my life is to find every wonderful moment and take it. bad things happen, but we use this to measure how great the good things are!
2006-09-07 08:04:02 · answer #7 · answered by Suzy E 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what's 2 + 2 ? (no mathematical answers)
If you ask a question, you shouldn't decide what kind of answer you get. The person who answers does that.
2006-09-07 08:06:18 · answer #8 · answered by ms pokeylope 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To have as much fun, enjoyment and pleasure before dying.
2006-09-07 08:04:56 · answer #9 · answered by KonaGeorge 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
living!
2006-09-07 07:59:23 · answer #10 · answered by Di 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋