that nobody really knows why we simply are? I mean, we create and follow rules and ways of life, "we know" most of the others "are wrong" if they don't think or do what we think or do, but we don't really know what life is supposed to be.
What is, in your opinion, the meaning of life?
Thank you for your time, for sharing what you know and making my day.
2007-10-14 23:42:34 · 13 answers · asked by Mirko 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thank you all for your input.
I guess life is what's happening while asking yourself what life is, while making plans of how you should live your life.
I am chosing your answer as the best, Leviathan, because I agree with Katie and you the least, actually. Life must have a meaning, and i will find it.
Don't let life be as described on the following link:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/1560027574_a2f506b9fe_o.gif
Thank you all, again.
2007-10-15 23:51:10 · update #1
The physical reason (as in materialistic) is simply to replicate your DNA. That's what we're built for. Our sentience and intelligence makes us more than mere animals though and we can choose other purposes and goals that supercede that mere biological imperative.
Life means whatever you want it to mean.
2007-10-14 23:52:01 · answer #1 · answered by Leviathan 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Doesn't it seem most days the meaning of life is washing laundry, cleaning after people, doing the same thing you do everyday.. day in and day out?
working for a day to play..... work hard, play hard....
why are we here? what is the meaning of it all? as you say, if everyone follows the rules, the map of our life goes in that direction... if we question the rules, and change the direction, we go another way, it's our decision.
so it's our decision what the meaning of life is, it's an individual thing, depending on if you take the road less traveled, or do what all the other mindless robots do..
and who makes the rules anyway? why should we follow rules, from someone who doesn't know us? and we don't even know what,where,when, or who made those rules?
The meaning of life is simply living.... and most people decide to take the safe road, stay home and do the laundry..
(what a qawinkadink, that is what I was planning on doing today).........maybe I should think about getting out here and getting a life?
thanks for that... I love a good analogy..
2007-10-15 03:37:37 · answer #2 · answered by Dots 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're assuming there is a right or wrong. I don't "know" most others are "wrong" or "right". I do know that there are some things about others I either like or dislike, and have strong opinions about how right and wrong should be defined in various circumstances. But those are just opinions.
Personally, I wouldn't want everybody else to think exactly as I do. That would be boring. In my opinion, everybody is generally decent. We all just work through life trying to get the most from it and enjoy it. Some are more successful at that than others.
There is no ultimate meaning to life. There is just the meaning you give your own life.
2007-10-14 23:50:07 · answer #3 · answered by nondescript 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The meaning of life is not so simple to be described by a person or even a scientist ...
This meaning is the motive that makes us work hard and try new things in order to reach the real happiness...
In my opinion , if that meaning was known to the people , then life will not be miserable so I think its better for that meaning to be ambiguous so each person try to find it by himself...
2007-10-15 00:28:56 · answer #4 · answered by Conan Fan 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If we begin by rejecting God as an answer, then life cannot have any meaning at all. Without God there is no intelligence to give it meaning and "meaning" implies an intelligence or plan. Your word, "supposed" also implies a plan. So without God there is no meaning, no point and no purpose. Our lives also have no worth because things that have no purpose have no worth.
It is silly to think we can create our own meaning because that would be saying we created ourselves and gave ourselves something that we were meant to do and now we're trying to find it.
And obviously neither procreation nor survival nor replication of DNA are meanings. A natural process such as evolution can no more give meaning to us than a snowstorm can give meaning to a snowflake.
But if we don't reject God, then we have to seek purpose and meaning by seeking God.
We have this enormous need for meaning and worth in our human nature and if God exists, He must have put it there to point us to seek Him. Seeking Him must be our purpose and experiencing Him gives us our meaning.
Christians think we find God when we try to obey His command to love our neighbors for where love is, there God is also.
2007-10-14 23:51:21 · answer #5 · answered by Matthew T 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't think anyone really 'knows' per se, although I think a lot of people want to believe that they do. Most people just hold an opinion, that we will probably never be able to prove because it would be impossible to disprove all of the other possibilities.
As an agnostic who believes we are nothing more than intelligent animals, I think the only meaning of life is procreate to ensure the continuation of your genes and the survival of the species. Sorry it sounds so clinical. Although it seems uninspiring, I actually think it's wonderfully freeing because it allows you to make the meaning of life whatever you want it to be, as there is no divine absolute.
2007-10-14 23:45:36 · answer #6 · answered by katie_london 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Many doubt that life has a purpose when they see that living conditions have become more difficult. Throughout the world more than a billion people are seriously ill or malnourished, resulting in the death of some ten million children each year in Africa alone. Earth’s population, over 6 billion, continues to grow by more than 90 million a year, more than 90 percent of that growth in developing countries. This constantly expanding population increases the need for food, housing, and industry, which brings further damage to land, water, and air from industrial and other pollutants.
Also, the 20th century has had four times as many deaths from war as the previous four centuries put together. Everywhere, there is a rise in crime, especially violent crime. The breakdown of the family, drug abuse, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and other negative factors are also making life more difficult. And world leaders have not been able to provide solutions for the many problems plaguing the human family. Thus, it is understandable why people ask, What is the purpose of life?
The Bible shows that God prepared the earth especially with humans in mind. Isaiah 45:18 says regarding the earth that God “did not create it simply for nothing [but] formed it even to be inhabited.” And he provided the earth with everything that people would need, not just to exist, but to enjoy life to the full.—Genesis, chapters 1 and 2.
In his Word, God tells of creating the first humans, Adam and Eve, and reveals what he had in mind for the human family. He said: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) Humans were to have oversight of “all the earth” and its animal creation.
God made a large, parklike garden in an area called Eden, located in the Middle East. Then he “proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to take care of it.” It was a paradise that contained all that the first humans would need to eat. And it included “every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food,” as well as other vegetation and the many interesting kinds of animal life.—Genesis 2:7-9, 15.
The bodies of the first humans were created perfect, so they would not get sick, grow old, or die. They were also endowed with other qualities, such as that of free choice. The way they were made is explained at Genesis 1:27: “God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.” Since we are created in God’s image, we were given not only physical and mental attributes but also moral and spiritual aspects, and these must be satisfied if we are to be truly happy. God would provide the means for filling those needs as well as the need for food, water, and air. As Jesus Christ said, “man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.”—Matthew 4:4.
Moreover, God gave a wonderful mandate to the first pair while they were in Eden: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) So they would be able to reproduce and bring forth perfect children. And as the human population increased, they would have the delightful work of expanding the boundaries of the original parklike, paradise area of Eden. Ultimately, the entire earth would be developed into a paradise, inhabited by perfect, happy people who could live forever. The Bible informs us that after setting all of this in motion, “God saw everything he had made and, look! it was very good.”—Genesis 1:31; see also Psalm 118:17.
It is evident that humans were to use the subdued earth for their benefit. But this was to be done in a responsible way. Humans were to be respectful stewards of the earth, not the despoilers of it. The destruction of the earth that we witness today is against God’s will, and those who share in it are going contrary to the purpose of life on earth. They will have to pay the penalty for that, for the Bible says that God will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”—Revelation 11:18.
The psalmist David also wrote about the incoming new world and how long it would endure. He foretold: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalm 37:29) That is why Jesus promised: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.”—Matthew 5:5.
What a grand prospect that is, living forever on a paradise earth free from all wickedness, crime, sickness, sorrow, and pain! In the final book of the Bible, God’s prophetic Word summarizes this grand purpose by declaring: “[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” It adds: “And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’”—Revelation 21:4, 5.
Yes, God has a grand purpose in mind. It will be a new world of righteousness, an eternal paradise, foretold by the One who can and will do what he promises, for his “words are faithful and true.”
2007-10-15 00:18:36 · answer #7 · answered by Everlasting Life 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God made us to be His family I believe. However, He gave us free choice to chose weather we want to be with Him or not. I would chose to be with Him because my life is better with His grace then without it.
2007-10-15 00:03:39 · answer #8 · answered by rednine 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the meaning of my life is that I live as a daughter of God, I live for God, my family, my nation and the whole world.
We were meant to be God's children. We were meant to be his object partners and the recipients of his love.
Love is the purpose of our lives.
2007-10-15 00:07:43 · answer #9 · answered by SArah 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The meaning of life is what you make it. That simple.
2007-10-14 23:47:26 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋