No Christians please. If you know something that's real, I want to know what it is.
2007-01-19 01:11:09 · 21 answers · asked by rickyshyd608 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Make this world a better place than when you entered it. Love your children and your family and friends. Love everyone. Enjoy the world around now because life is short and it will be over soon.
2007-01-19 01:25:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are actually asking two different questions:
1. What is the purpose of life?
2. What is the meaning of life?
By way of example -- if I hold up an empty water balloon and ask you what it's purpose is, the most basic answer is 'water transportation via aerial mode.' That's all the purpose is -- it is a reason for existing. If it is sitting on a shelf in a store, it has that purpose, if it's in my hand filled and ready to go, it has that purpose.
Meaning, however, is something that is ascribed to an object. I fill such a balloon with water so that I can tag my mother during the next family reunion summer-fun party. That is now its meaning -- joy and playfulness. It did not have that meaning on the store shelf. There, at the store, its meaning was profit -- the owner of the store hoped someone would buy it and thus the owner would make profit off it.
So to go back to your questions -- what is the purpose of life? It has none. To have a purpose means that an intelligent being must have created it. Purpose is an intended direction, a best-suited direction, and life has no creator nor an intended direction. Life is inherantly purposeless.
What is the meaning of life? Because we are self-aware, even in acknowledging the purposelessness of life, we can ascribe a meaning to it. For many people, this meaning is little more than that they hope to live day by day. Some people make religion their meaning, others knowledge, others intentionally make hate or cruelty their meaning -- no one said all meaning has to be good. It just gives us a reason to wake up in the morning and defy our purposelessness.
2007-01-19 09:26:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Depends on your situation as a human.
1) If you´re in a difficult situation, as many on the planet are, trying to feed your kids and not get caught up in the cross-fire of some conflict and get by on a handful of dollars a month, then life´s primarily about survival and hope.
2) If you´re living in a comfortable, middle-class environment in places such as North America or Europe or Australia, then survival is probably assured with little difficulty (unless you´re very unfortunate) and life could be about understanding the past (history and why things evolved the way they did) and experiencing the present (geography and cultures around the world) and reflecting on a possible future that awaits us and the next generations. In short, understanding the world (or if you´re very ambitious and enjoy science, the universe) you live in.
2007-01-19 09:25:58 · answer #3 · answered by alexsuricata 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At age 59, I have come to the opinion that doing work that you like and that seems worthwhile gives a lot of meaning to life. Just as an aside, I am a Christian.
2007-01-19 10:09:35 · answer #4 · answered by Ace Librarian 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why ask in the Religion and Spirituality section if you don't want a Christian's opinion? God is real, the sooner you find that out, the sooner you will understand meaning in this life. Quit running away and face what IS real.
2007-01-19 09:32:21 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I find life is meaningless if you don't have a shoulder to rely on...especially if you have no family, or your family is broken up. Life seems meaningless when you have no family to rely on. So it is best to make the best of our situation and go back to "mend" whatever cords we have broken so that we can see the meaning of life...to enjoy one another, to laugh with one another and to love one another. Only then will we get rid of our "hateful" feelings and resentments and jealousy and whatever else we might be feeling that will rob us of our enjoyment.
It's always better to give than to receive.
Be kinder than necessary because everyone is going through some kind of battle.
2007-01-19 09:36:01 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This life will become meaningful when man returns to the law of the One True God. Love, unity, peace, freedom, prosperity, happiness, progress... and other good things can become reality only when mankind learn to know and love God.
2007-01-19 09:24:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
what is life all about ? let see life is sleeping,drinking,going to work ,getting married, having children, watching movies,celebrating holidays and Christmas, playing golf or soccer ,basketball etc..,having sex with your wife, earning a lot of money, and if you do all that then its not a boring life and finally the worst is getting old and dying .......also,sickness,pain pleasure,happiness ,sadness,falling in love,hate , and being violent and all your feeling that makes you a human being okay.... and that's life okay...
2007-01-19 09:58:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life is all about living every moment to the full,enjoy urself and spending time with friends and family.
2007-01-19 09:14:35 · answer #9 · answered by n 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's really something you have to determine for yourself. Life has the meaning that you give it, so you have the power to make it meaningful or not.
2007-01-19 09:30:54 · answer #10 · answered by Let Me Think 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋