now I'm sure some people agree with me and many people disagree with me but in my own opinion the meaning of life is mearly that...life. When someone thinks of the purpose of a hammer is to mainly pound nails into an object for any reason they are right. When someone else thinks the reason of a hammer is to break things they are right. When someone else thinks the meaning of a hammer is to be used as a weapon they would also be correct. There is no rule book to say what exactlly a hammer is used for so why would human life have only one meaning? The human life is there and it does what it does. There can not be any other way other than no life at all. I think every person has a personal purpose. If you spend your life saving people in Africa from starving then to you the meaning of life is to say people in Africa from starving. The same goes for rappers or drug abusers. For me, my purpose is to get out of school with degrees, get a great job, and live a life with a family.
2006-09-25 06:10:02 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Hex W, yes its a tool but then again could you not call everything a tool?
2006-09-25 06:17:33 · update #1
"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?
2006-09-25 14:21:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe you are correct in the sense that everyone is on a different level of awareness and therefore each person has a different lesson to learn in their life in order to advance themselves to a higher level of awareness. But I don't believe you can say that someone who is trying hard to better themselves is no better than a better who is obviously ruining their life by choice. There is a standard level of consciousness, known generically as God consciousness, and unless someone is at least trying in some small way to reach that level of awareness they are not fulfilling their purpose in life. Such a "human being" is really no better than an animal. Animals and plants have no capacity to understand God or inquire in the nature of the Absolute Truth and if a human being wastes his life in nothing more than animal life -- eating, sleeping, sex, and defending-- then he's no better than an animal. In his next life, he will be rewarded by nature with an animal or lower form of body. What you do use you lose. That's nature's way.
2006-09-25 09:46:13 · answer #2 · answered by Jagatkarta 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The meaning of life has a lot of answers
But they all hit the same target
Like a hammer...it's a tool
Several uses one purpose
To be a tool
2006-09-25 06:13:50 · answer #3 · answered by Hex W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree that everyone has to find their own meaning and purpose.
Hopefully it's got something to do with making the world a better place somehow (one little drop at a time).
Read answers.com answer - It's very well written and covers just about everything!
2006-09-25 11:13:59 · answer #4 · answered by bookofbob 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that the meaning of life is exactly that. To live. To experience life to all the highs and lows and to learn about the world and the people around me.
2006-09-25 06:19:32 · answer #5 · answered by Shadow 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The meaning of life is : The characteristic state or condition of a living organism.... as found in the dictionary
However.... I agree that life is simply LIFE.
It does not have a meaning to me,,, It needs no definition IN MY OPINION.
I live it and live it well ! : )
2006-09-25 06:38:34 · answer #6 · answered by Kitty 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not wise enough just yet to see the meaning of life.
2006-09-25 06:18:30 · answer #7 · answered by pookie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We were originally created to mine gold in Africa , no big mystery.
2006-09-25 06:18:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your questions lack..uhm,how could I put this gently....they uhm,lack....meaning.
2006-09-26 13:50:37 · answer #9 · answered by *Juicy Princess* 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
WOW!! amazing.
2006-09-25 12:35:17 · answer #10 · answered by mclamb63 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋