What is the Meaning of Life?

Answer 1

The question "what is the meaning of life?" means different things to different people. The vagueness of the query is inherent in the word "meaning", which opens the question to many interpretations, such as: "What is the origin of life?", "What is the nature of life (and of the universe in which we live)?", "What is the significance of life?", "What is valuable in life?", and "What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life?". These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and arguments, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and spiritual explanations.

Popular beliefs

"What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives, most in the context "What is the purpose of life?" Here are some of the many potential answers to this perplexing question:

Survival and temporal success

* ...to accumulate wealth and increase social status
* ...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 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 gain and exercise power
* ...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book
* ...to live
* ...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction or asexual reproduction
* ...to protect one's family
* ...to pursue a dream, vision, or destiny
* ...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 expand one's perception of the world
* ...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 understand creation

Ethical

* ...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context
* ...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace
* ...to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land
* ...to become like God, or God-like
* ...to be rewarded for your deeds
* ...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. God)
* ...to express compassion
* ...to follow the "Golden Rule"
* ...to give and receive love
* ...to live in a way that you don't harm yourself and don't harm your environment
* ...to work for justice and freedom

Religious and spiritual

* ...to be a filter of creation between heaven and hell
* ...to die and become a martyr
* ...to live in peace with each other, and in harmony with our natural environment (see utopia)
* ...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity)
* ...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment
* ...to reach Heaven in the afterlife
* ...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life
* ...to serve others, or do good deeds
* ...to turn fear into joy at a constant rate achieving on literal and metaphorical levels: immortality, enlightenment and atonement
* ...to understand and follow the "Word of God"
* ...to worship, serve, or achieve union with God
* ...to disprove the existence of a or all all gods

Other

* ...to achieve self-actualisation
* ...to contribute to collective meaning ("we" or "us") without having individual meaning ("I" or "me")
* ...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 participate in the inevitable increase in entropy of the universe
* ...to make the conformists' lives miserable (see non-conformism)
* ...to participate in the chain of 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)
* ...to relate, connect, or achieve unity with others
* ...to resolve all problems that one faces, or to ignore them and attempt to fully continue life without them, or to detach oneself from all problems faced (see Buddhism)
* ...to seek and find beauty
* ...as there is no intrinsic meaning to life, to each individual, the "meaning of life" is whatever he/she decides it is. In that sense, every point above is potentially valid.
* ...an answer to the question "What is the meaning of life?" is that it is just simply being able to ask the question, "What is the meaning of life?" (see Sri Sri Ravi Shankar below)
* ...a combination of any of the above.

No purpose, and therefore...

* ...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose)
* ...just a series of events
* ...just nature taking its course
* ...the wheel of time keeps on turning
* ...the cycle of life
* ...whatever you see you see, as in "projection makes perception"
* ...there is no purpose or meaning whatsoever (see nihilism)
* ...who cares?

Answer 2

People act like this is some big mystery when, besides a great Monty Python movie, it's really very simple: Happiness.

Think about it. Everything we do - I mean EVERYTHING - is ultimately aimed at achieving happiness. Don't think of "happiness" as skipping around with a smile on your face, think of it simply as a one of two states between satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

Religious? Why? Because it makes you happy to help others or imagine you may go to heaven when you die.

Political? Why? Because you feel some moral/financial/whatever compulsion to adhere to a party's socio-political philosophy. You feel the world will be a better place if others believe as you do.

Don't care about anything because you're too busy going to school or working? You have the option of skipping school or work, but if you don't, it's because you realize there is a greater good that will be achieved by your attending school or work. Maybe you like school or your job, or maybe you just prefer that alternative to whatever bad/uncomfortable circumstance may occur from your NOT attending school or work.

Even if you're being tortured for information or have a gun held to your head or someone else's head, you STILL have a choice. You simply base it on which alternative will make you "happier", in this case by causing you less pain.

So you see? EVERYTHING we do - and I'd bet everything else on this post - can be boiled down to our pursuit of happiness.

Answer 3

At a basic / biological level, the meaning of life is to live or to survive. But it doesn’t stop there. At a higher level, every living organism also participates in ensuring the long term survival of its community or society, its species, and its environment. Beyond that, every living organism also participates in evolution - giving rise to new species, and new types of communities and societies, that are 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 was just the physical part of the answer. Beyond the physical level, life is about “reflection”, or discovering the meaning of life itself, the nature of the universe, and the relationship between the two. As evolution leads to more and more intelligent species as well as more evolved societies of species, they are more and more capable of reflection, and this process will also continue until some living organism or some society of living organisms in the future finds the true and complete meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

Answer 4

Exploring what you know and what you dont .
Going beyond the boundaries .
All the search to know more about the meaning of our lives is to understand how we can achieve it .
Are we doing what we are supposed to or just beating around the bush ?
We want to know what our lives mean to the world so that accordingly we can feel our presence . The search is for the self to feel alive and not just live without a meaning .

Answer 5

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Answer 6

It means you still have somethings to do. Find out what is your willing to do. What is your favour? What created trouble to you? What will be the results? Then you will have your direction.

Answer 7

well, from a scientific point of view its to reproduce and evolve into a better species...

From an emotional and humane perspective it could be to enjoy life, make bonds with people, love, and make the best of the time we have.

Answer 8

Everyone has to decide that for themselves. For me life is meaningless without someone to share it with.

Answer 9

life (noun) pl.lives:
The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.
The characteristic state or condition of a living organism.
Living organisms considered as a group: plant life; marine life.
A living being, especially a person: an earthquake that claimed hundreds of lives.
The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence: the artistic life of a writer.

The interval of time between birth and death: She led a good, long life.
The interval of time between one's birth and the present: has had hay fever all his life.
A particular segment of one's life: my adolescent life.
The period from an occurrence until death: elected for life; paralyzed for life.
Slang A sentence of imprisonment lasting till death.
The time for which something exists or functions: the useful life of a car.
A spiritual state regarded as a transcending of corporeal death.
An account of a person's life; a biography.
Human existence, relationships, or activity in general: real life; everyday life.

A manner of living: led a hard life.
A specific, characteristic manner of existence. Used of inanimate objects: "Great institutions seem to have a life of their own, independent of those who run them" (New Republic).
The activities and interests of a particular area or realm: musical life in New York.

A source of vitality; an animating force: She's the life of the show.
Liveliness or vitality; animation: a face that is full of life.

Something that actually exists regarded as a subject for an artist: painted from life.
Actual environment or reality; nature.
ADJECTIVE:

Of or relating to animate existence; involved in or necessary for living: life processes.
Continuing for a lifetime; lifelong: life partner; life imprisonment.
Using a living model as a subject for an artist: a life sculpture.

IDIOMS:
as big as life
Life-size.
Actually present.
bring to life
To cause to regain consciousness.
To put spirit into; to animate.
To make lifelike.
come to life
To become animated; grow excited.
for dear life
Desperately or urgently: I ran for dear life when I saw the tiger.
for life
Till the end of one's life.
for the life of (one)
Though trying hard: For the life of me I couldn't remember his name.
not on your life Informal
Absolutely not; not for any reason whatsoever.
take (one's) life
To commit suicide.
take (one's) life in (one's) hands
To take a dangerous risk.
take (someone's) life
To commit murder.
the good life
A wealthy, luxurious way of living.
the life of Riley Informal
An easy life.
the life of the party Informal
An animated, amusing person who is the center of attention at a social gathering.
to save (one's) life
No matter how hard one tries: He can't ski to save his life.
true to life
Conforming to reality.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old English lf; see leip- in Indo-European roots
Thesaurus: synonyms for life

Answer 10

this is a very good question however i do not believe one exact answer will satisfy what you are looking for

Answer 11

To serve God. that's our purpose.