2006-10-17 10:06:42 · 71 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
"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)
* ...to complete your list of life goals
* ...to find something to believe
Wisdom and knowledge
* ...to be without question, or to keep asking questions
* ...to find out the meaning of life
* ...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 find true love
* ...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)
* ...to determine a set of goals based on an individuals belief in the meaning of life and work towards the attainment of those objectives.
* ...a combination of any of the above.
* ...42
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?
* ...because nobody will ever love you.
* ...life may actually not exist, this is all a surreal dream.
But most importantly
* ...not to die.
2006-10-18 04:46:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
7 x 6
2006-10-17 10:09:02 · answer #2 · answered by Alfred E. Newman 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I have read the other contributions and I am surprised that nobody has yet pointed you in the right direction. Some years ago a group of Ox-bridge graduates searched for the definitive answer to your question, and made a comprehensive analysis followed by a revealing documentary . As it was quite some time ago I am not exactly sure of the title, (probably 'the meaning of life'!)but I do recall some of the contributors Mr J. Cleese, Mr E. Idle and Mr M. Palin et.al.
2006-10-17 11:30:56 · answer #3 · answered by melv 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The meaning of life, in my opinion is whatever you take it to mean, whatever you do with your life that gives you that satisfaction that you have made the most of your one opportunity of life- indifferrent of religion etc... Else it could be argues the meaning of life is to discover the meaning of life !!??? in either case the answer 42 provides a suffieceint substitute for the unknown
2006-10-17 11:25:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not think life has a meaning, as such. The purpose of life is to propagate the species, if that is the same thing. That means"sex" of course, lol. You might could also add Darwin's concept of "survival of the fittest". Some have crudely called it the "law of the jungle": "kill or be killed - eat or be eaten." Of course, there is more to life than just sex and fighting, thank goodness!
2006-10-17 12:57:15 · answer #5 · answered by harridan5 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to investtigate the meaning of life
2006-10-17 10:14:54 · answer #6 · answered by Dirk N 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Life has a lot of meaning and to me it is how you have lived your life to the fullest which gives true meaning of it. It has to be tied up with your goals so you will be able to understand the real meaning and the essence of it. If, for example, your goal in life is to attain happines, then you will work to achieve it even if you have to suffer and die in order to attain it. Life is a contant struggle but quite satisfying if you have already achieve your main goal of living, to be happy. Just be certain not to hurt other people in the process and be good to them. That will be a so-called perfect happiness. Goodluck!
2006-10-17 11:25:16 · answer #7 · answered by ~Charmed Flor~ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have often wondered this myself. Are we like a city of ants, being watched for entertainment? or are we here on earth, like this world is school and we are here to learn and then move on? Was the Bible given to us as a life manual as to how to live (among other sources as well) "no offense anyone". I think that everyone is given different "signs" (spiritual signs) that lead them in the direction they need to go for whatever reason it is, they just need to tune in to it and notice and follow it. There are alot of things that we don't stop and notice, or think it is just coincidence. There is alot more that we don't know, but seeking the Truth will eventually get you there. I beleive this. I have experienced things that I thought maybe i was just seeing things, but I know other people have as well. This world is definitely just as much spiritual as physical. After all, you can't SEE the wind, can you, yet you know it exists, because you feel it, and you see the effects of it. I don't know all the answers, but I hope that this gets you thinking about things anyway. Notice the little things in life. There is much beauty. -Hope
2006-10-19 16:38:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
42
2006-10-17 10:16:04 · answer #9 · answered by Jude 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't know the Meaning of Life. The Reason for life is this:
You are born to reproduce than die.
2006-10-19 04:23:43 · answer #10 · answered by Daddy Big Dawg 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
42
2006-10-17 10:09:14 · answer #11 · answered by Elle J Morgan 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋