2006-10-19 05:16:51 · 8 answers · asked by alyce 1 in Beauty & Style ➔ Hair
"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.
2006-10-20 03:57:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I feel life is a learning experience each and every day. So many times I thought of writting a book of what I have experienced and what I have learned. So many times we make a right turn when we should have made a left. I personally have had a very disfunctional life which has lead me to make a lot of wrong decisions as an adult. My (now grown) children suffered a lot because of my very very difficult life and how I dealt with issues. So many times we act quickly or react and should have thought about it. We cause ourselves a lot of stress. I am reading this great book called "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff", helping me to relax and enjoy the life because we are only give one chance. The book has shown me it is not so important to be right all the time but to be happy. Also, it is o.k. to give in instead of argue, that takes away so much energy. I am a warm, loving, caring, mom and grandma of a 6 year old and I like who I am. I am happy to be me (now that is). I look back at how many years I yelled, screamed, fought with the world trying to prove a point, and for what? I am relaxed now, enjoy life and try to make the best of each and every day.
2006-10-19 12:37:57 · answer #2 · answered by bonbon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think life is about what you want to make it. There's more to life than technology and routine....My life...is about having fun and being happy. Passion for different things-enjoying natural beauty, people, nature, animals, children. -->Though sometimes I forget that and fall back into the world of everyone else.
That's a good question though, really makes you think..
<3
2006-10-19 12:22:17 · answer #3 · answered by anab113 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life is a SONG - sing it.
Life is a GAME - play it.
Life is a CHALLENGE - face it.
Life is a DREAM - realize it.
Life is a SACRIFICE - offer it.
Life is LOVE - enjoy it.
2006-10-19 12:24:46 · answer #4 · answered by Goldista 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life is about good sex, having fun, rollin' in dough and did I mention good sex?
2006-10-19 12:21:44 · answer #5 · answered by Cuteness 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Doing what makes you happy
2006-10-19 12:23:46 · answer #6 · answered by Cassie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
life is what you want it to be.
If you want it to be pointless, it certainly can be.
Strive to improve, strive to do good, it can be rewarding
And then you die
2006-10-19 12:22:36 · answer #7 · answered by lowflyer1 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends what you want it to be about, it's your choice :D
2006-10-19 12:20:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋