What is the meaning of life?

Answer 1

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)

Answer 2

This, in my opinion, is the hardest question anyone can answer. Everyone will have a different answer based on how they were raised, what they have seen and experienced, and what their beliefs are. So heres my answer.

The meaning of life is to live like you weren't going to any longer...but to not do anything stupid. Life is something that everyone gets a shot at, some people just get cut short, either by the choices they make, genetics, etc. Life to me means you contribute to society, and you help out anyone you can, whenever they need help, if they ask you or not. Helping people, anything from asking how someone they're doing, or helping them with a major project. The meaning of life is to experience everything that you ever dreamed of, and not to have any worries about what tomorrow is gonna bring. No worries, just excitement on what is going to happen for you tomorrow. The meaning of life is eventually finding someone who shares the same beliefs and ideas that you do, and finding that special someone that you can spend the rest of your life with, until death do you part. Finding someone to provide companionship throughout the rest of your life, and show you love, and to bring even more happiness into your life. Start a family that you carry on your legacy, and your memory. Start a family so you can have happy holidays together. Start a family so you can show people what you done, and show people that your proud of what you've created, and what you turned he or she into. There are so many meanings to life. I have not even began to scratch the surface. This one answer, is just to one of hundreds or even thousands that you can get.

Answer 3

I will give you a Biblical answer. And Actually the whole book of Ecclesiastes is around the meaning of life. It is the writers on journey and his conclusion that I posted below.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 KJV
(13) Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
(14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Answer 4

The meaning of life is to live, prosper, reproduce, and die. there is no meaning of it. It is simply to exist and keep the species going....

The meaning of your life is a whole different question.
the meaning of your life is how you affect the others around you.
everyones answer varies. you can find your meaning by asking yourself..am Happy. if not what do I need to change. If you are happy with what or who you are you don't need to change.

the meaning of your life varies from person to person. to your mother you can be as important as the air she breaths. to your worst enemy you can be about as imprortant as dog crap. I wouldn't look to others for what the meaning of your life means. that is only a question you can answer.

If you dont like my answer, what can you expect? I am only 21 and have yet to live my own life.

Answer 5

Unless your Creator exists, life cannot have any meaning. That is a logical certainty.

But we can't accept that answer because a life without meaning would drive us to suicide or insanity or it would drive us to seek God. Even for those who claim there is no meaning; I've never seen anyone able to live their life as if their life had no meaning.

Those who reject God live in an illogical fantasy world where they say they reject God but reject the nihilism that goes along with rejecting God. Their quest in life is not for true meaning and purpose but only for the FEELING of meaning and purpose. They live their lives in search of good feelings.

So for me, I would rather seek God in the hope of finding Him and of finding real purpose and meaning.

Answer 6

Great Question. If I knew the answer I'd be the Big Guy, now wouldn't I? For each person it is different, so I tell you, think about it. What is YOUR meaning of life. Dig deep inside yourself and you shall find the answer.

Answer 7

people will tell u a lot of 'answers'
there is only one "Jesus" "Jesus said I have come to give you life and life more abundantly" John 10:10

and for relationship with God and mankind-especially a mate=Relationship with another is a gift from God, if you truely love someone you commit to them. Marriage is to put it into writing telling the whole world that you are legally together in honor-lots of guys will say they love someone and live in with them yet as someone said to me =

Best Answer - Chosen By Voters

I agree with "Makemeaspark" about guys that say they love and commit but wont marry, "The heart is decietful." Jeremiah, but it is not just the hurting ones that fall for believing a guy when he says he loves you, and lets be together. Sometimes you believe because you believe (in innocence) that truth and lies are obvious. And in your arrogance (or youth) you think you can tell the difference. You trust and are deceived, and there are those who are loyal even after the deception is revealed, out of duty, out of fear, out of a misguided loyalty...wow it still hurts. Sometimes they stay because they feel stupid and worthless and have no where else to turn. They feel like they deserve the punishment of being unloved, because they were untrue to their own moral compass, and unfaithfull to God. So they stay untill they are discarded. 3 Votes 43%

this helped me as raised a Jew to see the deaper truths to believe too=Christian means a follower of the Messiah-who came as a Jew- the believer in Jesus-has power over the mind to control their thoughts, thus when Jesus says to forgive and let Me handle it, or about lust is adultry against God, or hate is murder in the heart, we have the calling to cast down all imaginations that exault themselves against God which brings true peace and joy to our heart in all situations (Philippians 4:4-20).
My Jewish people believe in the comming of a Messiah, and his fulfillment is in Jesus. The laws of Judaism were given specifically to the Jewish people to be kept and to guide them to the promised Messiah.
Isaiah 9:6 the child to be the Son given, the mighty God and the prince of peace..
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 To be the exalted one. To first be marred more than any man, and to lay down his life to make atonement for our sins.

The way I came to know him is by believing what he spoke to us from heaven (Revelation1:1 chapter 1 verse 1 & 3:19&20 "I love you and ask you to repent of your sins (even one lie) quickly. Behold I stand at your heart door and knock If you hear my word and open the door, I will come in and be your friend."
so I prayed "Jesus I am sorry for my sins, come into my heart and help me, be my friend, amen."
Its all good and now as a Jew who has come to know Jesus is my Messiah, savior, and best friend giving me joy beyond words and power to live right. And someone said this for me telling them this too
Praying the best for you in every way, David

Answer 8

to make the time we waste between birth and death worth living

Answer 9

No one can tell you, you must find out for yourself.

Answer 10

Good question... dont expect an answer, though.

Answer 11

To know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him(Jesus).

Any other questions? (you asked-I gave you my opinion)