What is the point of life?

Question

You eat, sleep, crap, work, work, work, etc. The cycle continues. It all seems utterly pointless. And if you do happen to be good at something, suppose you are very intelligent. Life doesn't care about your intelligence, and everyone except maybe a couple of people in the world will care about it either. What's the point to anything? We eventually die anyyway...

Answer 1

Now the answer ... is plain, but it is so unpalatable that most men will not face it. There is no reason for life and life has no meaning.
— Somerset Maugham, (1874-1965)

The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours.
— Bertrand Russell

I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say, “Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose,” but I'm anticipating a good lunch.
— James Watson (Nobel prize winner and co-discoverer of DNA's molecular structure)

Life has no meaning beyond this reality. But people keep searching for excuses... People call it truth, religion; I call it insanity, the denial of death as the basic truth of life. "What is the meaning of life?" is a stupid question. Life just exists. You say to yourself, "I can't accept that I mean nothing so I have to find the meaning of life so that I shouldn't mean as little as I know I do." Subconsciously you know you're full of sh*t. I see life as a dance. Does a dance have to have a meaning? You're dancing because you enjoy it.
— Jackie Mason, (1991)

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
— George Santayana (1863-1952)

There'll be two dates on your tombstone/ And all your friends will read 'em/ But all that's gonna matter is that little dash between 'em...
— Kevin Welch

From my rotting body,
flowers shall grow
and I am in them
and that is eternity.
— Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

Answer 2

If you were one of those people trapped during that tragic day in the upper floors of the World Trade Center in New York, what do you think would make you want to jump down from the windows so high up? Your answer to this question is the point of your life.

Remember that what some of those people used to do too were to eat, sleep, crap, work, work, work, etc and their cycles continued until that day. What is then the reason to say that their lives are worthy of vengeance enough to wage a whole nation's war?

Answer 3

There is no point to life.

Like every other living thing, we come preprogrammed to perpetuate the species and so some people may feel a sense of satisfaction from doing that.

But, the basic facts are that we have done our job of surviving too well and now we are not only not needed, but the planet would be better off without so many of us. We are a drain on the planet.

Evolution can't keep up with the change, so we are still left with the urge to survive and procreate.

The fact that we exist at all is quite wondrous. For the universe to progress from a few elements to so many to the existence of life the existence of complex life is astounding.

At this point, there are very few reasons to live. One is to enjoy various aspects of life such as family and friends and interests. Another is to try to improve conditions on the planet.

Answer 4

80% of humanity, the religious folks, don't need to ask the meaning of life, the church tells them....the supernatural explanation. But the rest of us can't swallow religious dogma, because there's no evidence. Nobody can prove that there life after death, that people are tortured or rewarded after life or that there's invisible spirits running around.

I've come to two conclusions recently:

1. Life has no meaning
2. Life has a million meanings.

First, there's a certainty that death and annihilation awaits not only you, but the Earth in general. It's an astonomical certainty that our sun will supernova and leave the earth a burnt crisp, not to mention all the other extinction level events around the corner.

Second, the million things that give us meaning are the pleasurable experiences we can conjure up during the short period we are here on the earth, in the form of the relationships we have with our kids and other people, and the 'housekeeping' types of purposes. What i mean by that are the curing disease, ending hunger, improving literacy, reducing crime, preventing war, helping other kinds of things.

So the bottom line is, we only have a temporary meaning to life, to reduce pain and increase pleasure, other than that everything is lost to oblivion.


To be or not to be? "To be" is temporary and "not to be" is inevitable.....

Answer 5

I have often asked this question myself... and what I have gathered is that life is what you make of it because we really are just here, following a clock (I mean who came up with this whole time thing... I have always wondered if the whole world could agree to just stop time for just a couple hours, so everyone and I mean everyone, good and bad, to just relax.)... anyways, life does seem drab at times, sometimes damn right sad and frustrating. But we were put here for something and that is to find our meaning whatever that may be. And if you have given up, you know, you don't want to work or whatever then you have given up on life. Life is what you make of it and yes, we all will die eventually but you might as well.
It's like when you are running in a race you know that you're gonna lose because you got like this guy way ahead of the pack. It would seem very defeatedish and loserish to just stop running seeing as how everyone else is and soon they are gonna pass you as well. So you keep running because you want to, you want to do something even though you know you've really lost the race and don't hope to medal in anything.
Life throws random things at you and that's what makes it interesting. It's what keeps everyone alive--- the sheer randomness and mystery.
Lots of love from Tubby :p

Answer 6

ask ourselves why we do what we do what is the point in ammassing wealth when ones and zeros is all they are when friendship is what matters. not being insulted and getting along. having fun. then asking questions about relegion why is it that it seems it is kept in separate buildings. are people who report bigotry in Scotland serious is a separate schlool system really being contemplated for different religions groups.not having a person on. then could something new be added to the mix would they like to try a unitary symbol. stars and all that jazz. Judaic symbol. perhaps not answer looked for. science becomes God maybe not. whole idea has no contradiction seen.humans are nasty types doesn't matter anyway.

Answer 7

There is no point to life...but life is a miracle and we're here. I don't think it's a question of why we're here, it's what you want to do while you are here. We live and we die, yes, so if you feel like you are wasting your time working, and crapping and all that, then get out there and do something you want to do. If you can't find it, then make it up. That's how great things start, and are you ready for great things? There is no general point, so make your own point. Make your own meaning. Carpe Diem! Seize the day!

Answer 8

well at least some people made it through history unlike yourself complaining whats the use. Well get a life then and try. Just be glad that you are alive and enjoying the life fullest. Hey other people don't get to live like us and stop complaining. Oh and the point of life is being yourself and accomplishing what you need to do. Like animals they are here for reasons too.

Answer 9

There is no real purpose in life, no real meaning to life and no real point of life UNLESS there is a Creator/God.

“Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” –Bertrand Russell (philosopher, mathematician and Nobel Laureate)

We can't create real purpose for our existence but we can create an illusion for ourselves through various psychological techniques. For example, "get out there and do something you want to do. If you can't find it, then make it up". In other words, do something that makes you feel good about yourself and then pretend that it is why you were put on this earth. It is not that "meaning is what you make it to be", it is the illusion of meaning that you can create for yourself.

If you are just seeking the illusion of having a point to your life, then I suggest asking that question in the Psychology section.

If you are seeking a real point to your life, you have to seek God even though you don't even know for sure whether God exists.

Answer 10

The whole point to life, is to live and then die.
In the end it doesn't really matter how much money you had, or the house you lived in, or the car you drove. The only thing that matters is who you touched and if you have a family, how well you did by your kids. Thats what i think anyway.