2006-09-20 04:00:33 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Sociology
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?
2006-09-20 12:57:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
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.
Apart from this meaning of life at the physical level, there is also the non-physical level. On this 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.
2006-09-22 13:39:41 · answer #2 · answered by Vin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All the sages and the saints are still trying to find the meaning of life , the answer is not so simple to be answered on yahoo ,, however for me it is leading life to the fullest with dignity and enjoyment with a lot of compassion
2006-09-20 11:05:02 · answer #3 · answered by Practical 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
42
2006-09-20 11:01:28 · answer #4 · answered by c.arsenault 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look in the Bible, it contains all the answers for living your life. Also you can read the Watchtower or Awake magazines printed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
2006-09-20 11:30:02 · answer #5 · answered by David N 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK some of you have seen the movie or read the book. Is there a meaning to life though? if you accept your existence and agree that everything else is real around you, you have to ask yourself to question.
Why was I created and who created me?
Or do we all exist purely by chance? if so lucky us to be so privilege as to inherit a whole universe.
2006-09-20 11:07:35 · answer #6 · answered by Masterwho? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no "meaning" to life..
You are born, you live, you die...
Make the most of life while you are here to enjoy..
Leave the world a better place when you leave...
2006-09-20 11:20:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A Monty Python movie - Hilarious!
2006-09-20 11:06:15 · answer #8 · answered by oscarschic 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To find your own meaning.
2006-09-20 11:02:39 · answer #9 · answered by Mitchell B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time, Desisions & Secrets which equates to
God, Jesus & Unknown
2006-09-20 11:26:43 · answer #10 · answered by Mailman Bob 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
something that cannot be explained on Yahoo! Answers
2006-09-20 11:10:35 · answer #11 · answered by more than a hat rack 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋