What is the MEANING of life?!!?

Question

What is the meaning of life? I often wonder why I am here, what is the purpose, what is the hidden truth behind everything? Or is there even a deeper meaning at all? Is everything just coincindence, random, spiratic, and sudden, all based on choice and luck? Do we create our own destiny or is there some preplanned layout for each life? Are the people I have met over the years of my life, ones that have both come and gone, were they brought to me for a reason? The things I have gone through....were these lessons that I was supposed to TAKE something from? Please help, there are so many possibilities. It drives me mad! I can't become religious because I can't settle on just one theory or thought. Anyone have any theories that make A LOT of sense?? I'm 22yrsold by the way. Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

The philosophical question "What is the pirpose or 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 problem is that there are two completely different understanding of meaning of life.

Real meaning comes from living for a real purpose and a real purpose can only come from a Creator (God). Consider this quote from philosopher/mathematician/atheist Bertrand Russell:

“Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” –Bertrand Russell

Real purpose concerns questions such as "why was I put here on earth?" and "what is it I was meant to do?".

If we reject a Creator, then the question about meaning changes from "what was I meant to do" to "what things can I do to help me get through life despite the terrible pointlessness of it all?" This is really a question concerning psychology.

So when you ask the question about meaning of life, some will answer concerning real meaning and some with answer concerning psychology thus confusing everything. The typical psychological answers are: keep busy; keep focused on more pleasant things; build your self esteem (ego) by doing good deeds.

If you reject God, you must also reject any real purpose or meaning for your life and be content to psych yourself.

But you need not accept any particular religion to pursue the possibility of God having created you. Consider the possibility that God created you and put within you this urgent need for purpose in order to point you to seek Him. Why would He do that? Logically, it can only be because He wants us to have the free will to reject or accept Him.

I could go on and on but email me if you really want more.

Answer 3

Yes I think that life for repeat offenders is good.I mean cause most of these murders could have been prevented if the killers would have stayed in jail. I can relate to the victims families. My friend was killed in 1997 and they have no leads.An I know sometimes the jury lets them off but come on if the guy or girl killed more than once you know hes going to do it again.

Answer 4

Watch the mini series "Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy." They made a movie by the same title but the mini series that came before the movie was better. They come up with the answer to the meaning of life.

Answer 5

"And we see that death comes upon mankind...which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead." Alma 12:24

Answer 6

According to one of my favorite sci-fi t.v. shows, 'Babylon 5' :

"The universe is conscious in a way that we can not truly understand. It is engaged in a search for meaning so it breaks itself apart, investing its own consciousness in every form of life. We are the universe made manifest trying to understand itself."

"Sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective so it puts us in places where we can learn. They are never easy places. Wherever we are it is the right place at the right time. The pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born."


"Faith manages."

Answer 7

To respond to this question every single time it appears on Yahoo Answers which is now about the 23rd time since I've been a member.

Answer 8

Our purpose of life is actually DNA's purpose; to stay on the planet, in other words, procreate, keep our species alive.

In the meantime, I think we need to think of another philosophical question as this one has been asked at least 100,000 times on Y!A.

Answer 9

Read Atlas Shrugged.

Answer 10

The meaning of life is to have a life filled with meaning

Answer 11

things happen the way there happen,god is real prof the bible,life its weird thing.BUT YOU ONLY GET ON CHANCE AT IT SO DON'T WASTE IT DO SOMETHING CRAZY and i don't mean go to jail or smock crack,JUMP OUT OF A AIR PLANE ,OPEN UP A BUSINESS DO SOMETHING