You must have seen all those questions in various sections of YA about the meaning of life?

Question

I was just wondering what we seniors think about it.By now we have covered quite some distance in life and some time or the other would have paused to ask the question : What really is the meaning of life? Has anyone here got any satisfactory answer to that? For my part, I have realized that I understand NOTHING. Life is an enigma, a puzzle 'full of sound and fury signifying nothing'. Even that cliche that you live for others doesn't mean much for any unselfish act (including charity) gives you only a momentary pleasure. It is not an everlasting fulfilling feeling. What would YOU think about it?

Answer 1

We are put on this earth to learn how to love unconditionally.

When we can give love freely, without expecting anything in return, then we can call ourselves enlightened.

And that means to love everything...our significant others, our children, our neighbours, strangers on the street, animals and plants and the whole wide world. When we can greet each and every one of these with an open smile and joy in our hearts, then we are blessed with the learning we were put on this earth to find.

But being as I myself am not so enlightened yet, I reserve the right to NOT LOVE politicians!

Answer 2

From your question, I assume you are not a religious person. That is not a criticism, it is just an assumption.

Because a religious person would under normal circumstances realize what the meaning of life is, especially a senior citizen.

Even without religion, what about the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of your labor with your grown children. I know I have great satisfaction to this day from 4 generations. I still enjoy giving charity though it is minimal, as I live only on social security, and my kids help me out for anything extra that I do need.

I feel very sorry for you, old age is difficult but not feeling any satisfaction from your accomplishments is a tragedy.

I am disabled, live alone, and try my best to keep myself in good spirits. It is very very difficult. I really wish you could find something that would make your life have meaning.

Answer 3

I think Lady Iritadragon has said it all.

I would just add that it's a continuing journey to where she says one should be at.

Still, from time to time one gets that feeling that one understands nothing after all - this never will go away. Like one saying that goes something like '..round and round up the spiral stairs we go, and when we thought we arrived, it's the beginning we find, and round and round up the spiral stairs we go once again till the top we think we arrived, and....'

As for what is 'everlasting fulfilling feeling' when we do things - I am sorry, but in my humble opinion, nothing we ever do, even with the most altruistic unselfish motive that we do it with, I don't think one will get that feeling as long as we look for it, and that's the paradox. If we don't look for it, it might just creep up on us.

I wish you all the best in your journey in this respect.

Answer 4

There are only two possibilities:

(1) If we are created beings, then our great need to have meaning must have come from our Creator and that need ought to urge us to seek Him.

(2) If our Creator doesn't exist, then evolution has foisted this need on us that forces us to search for a meaning that doesn't exist for evolution is a mindless process.

If we reject the idea that we were created by God to seek Him, then all is blackest despair for that means we are forced like slaves to seek meaning when there is none and that leads to a life filled with trying to divert our attention through busyness.

Answer 5

Life is beautiful. It is full of experiences and new things every day IF you take the time to stop, look and listen.

Each year brings many different things for us to see and do.

There is nothing like life. Live it, enjoy it and when the end is near....say....."What a ride, and this ride will be the most terrific of them all"!!

Answer 6

A travelin man will see life in that perspective. In the box and not out of the box. I believe at some point in life, we all have that feeling of being lost in a maze and that is great! So welcome my travelin man to the world. To stop just alittle bit and ponder on a question of this nature is outstanding. So lets take a look at self in this life. When you begin to take inventory of yourself in this perspective of this life as it is , man you are well on your way to vast discoveries that you never knew existed. trust me, I know. You need some adventure in your life. Change you attitude then your altitude will change too! Just breath, look , live, and learn you will see its a great day to be YOU GOD BLESS U. jESUS IS A GREAT FULFILLER OF HOPES AND WISHES TRY IT.

Answer 7

I don't analyze at all anymore. Whatever happens will happen. I just enjoy each day.

Answer 8

The philosophical 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.

These questions are separate from the scientific issue of the boundary between things with life and inanimate objects.
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. The responses are shown to overlap in many ways but may be grouped into the following categories:

Survival and temporal success
...to live every day like it is your last and to do your best at everything that comes before you
...to be always satisfied
...to live, go to school, work, and die
...to participate in natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race
...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future of intelligent life
...to compete or co-operate with others
...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance
...to gain and exercise power
...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book
...to eat
...to prepare for death
...to spend life in the pursuit of happiness, maybe not to obtain it, but to pursue it relentlessly.
...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction (alike to participating in evolution)
...to protect and preserve one's kin, clan, or tribe (akin to participating in evolution)
...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally or financially
...to observe the ultimate fate of humanity to the furthest possible extent
...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate
...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means
...to attempt to have many sexual conquests (as in Arthur Schopenhauer's will to procreate)
...to find and take over all free space in this "game" called life
...to seek and find beauty
...to kill or be killed
...No point. Since having a point is a condition of living human consciousness. Animals do not need a point to live or exist. It is more of an affliction of consciousness that there are such things as points, a negative side to evolutionary development for lack of better words.

Wisdom and knowledge
...to master and know everything
...to be without questions, 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 understand and be mindful of creation or the cosmos
...to lead the world towards a desired situation
...to satisfy the natural curiosity felt by humans about life

Ethical
...to express compassion
...to follow the "Golden Rule"
...to give and receive love
...to work for justice and freedom
...to live in peace with yourself and each other, and in harmony with our natural environment
...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment
...to serve others, or do good deeds

Religious and spiritual
...to find perfect love and a complete expression of one's humanness in a relationship with God
...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context
...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace
...to become like God, or divine
...to glorify God
...to experience personal justice (i.e. to be rewarded for goodness)
...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. to seek objectivity)
...to be a filter of creation between heaven and hell
...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity)
...to reach Heaven in the afterlife
...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life
...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 discover who you are
...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

Philosophical
...to give life meaning
...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 know the meaning of life
...to achieve self-actualisation
...all possible meanings have some validity
...life in itself has no meaning, for its purpose is an opportunity to create that meaning, therefore:
...to die
...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose)
...nature taking its course (the wheel of time keeps on turning)
...whatever you see you see, as in "projection makes perception"
...there is no purpose or meaning whatsoever
...life may actually not exist, or may be illusory )
...to contemplate "the meaning of the end of life"

Other
...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 participate in the inevitable increase in entropy of the universe
...to make conformists' lives miserable
...to make life as difficult as possible for others (i.e. to compete)