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

The Meaning Of Life Is To Reproduce. Think About It. A Flower Is Born In The Spring And Dies In The Fall. What Does It Do Before It Dies? It Speads Its Seed. It Does Nothing More Than Grow To Spread Its Seed. Same With Everything Else In The World Exept Other Things Have Longer Life Spans. Meaning Of Course That We Can Reproduce Multiple Times During Our Lives.

Answer 3

The meaning of life, for me anyway, gets lost in translation alot. Some will say on a scientific level our purpose is to reproduce, which is true when looking at face value and no further. There are many "meanings" to life. How about those moments that touch you so deep you cant even explain the emotion your feeling...it just is what it is.

We experiance so much in our lives that one true meaning as a "one-size-fits-all" is not possible. For the born-teacher, maybe her meaning in life is to leave behind a part of herself in giving the gift of knowledge. Or maybe she taught school because she just didnt have the ambition to do what she really wanted to do.

I once heard "I will never regret what I have done, because what I did I wanted to do". I know the one and only true feeling I have ever felt was when my daughter was born - that is my meaning in life - not purpose - meaning. She gives me substance and a hope to hold onto. I believe everyones meaning for life is going to be different depending whose eyes your looking through.

Live for today and forget about tomorrow and its troubles. Live in the moment and not in the future. If one truly experiances real and true feelings throughout thier life....it will be a full filled life. Maybe the meaning of life is to define yourself. Every decision you make, every step you take is in the direction that you choose. No one chooses it for us, not divine intervention, not family, no one.

The power of free will and the possiblity of living a life that really and truly, deep down makes you happy is a definite hope worth holding onto and meaning worth living and defining.

Answer 4

To get ready for the next one, and "taking" as many people with you (some will "take" people to hell with them, some heaven)
- since this one is so short.

Some think there isnt anything after this (nothing bigger than us), which would basically mean there isnt any meaning to life - other than doing whatever you want - sad.

Answer 5

LIFE=Live It Fully and Efficiently

Answer 6

It means, on dictionary.com:

the conditions that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms...

However what is the purpose of life? For all people that have a life?

Answer 7

Have you ever seen "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"?

42.

Basically, the question is absurd, and so can be the answer.

Answer 8

All of us are here for a purpose. To serve and worship God.

Answer 9

Life evolved. It has no "meaning."

Answer 10

To do great things or serve and provide for those who do great things.

Answer 11

To know God..to love God...and to serve God.