What is the meaning of Life itself?

Question

I'm really struggling on this one...

If anyone could tell me what the meaning of life is then I'd be ever so grateful. :)

The furthest I have got is the integer 42 but that doesn't seem to tell me anything.

Answer 1

The philosophical question "What is the meaning and purpose 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 with asking what the meaning of life is, is that you're assuming that there must be a meaning. This is not necessarily true. If there is no higher power or god by which we are given an objective meaning, then any meaning there is to life is subjective.

Believing that there is no objective meaning to life does not necessarily mean that your life can't have meaning. After all, theoretically, evolution has enabled us to feel emotions. We are capable of enjoyment, fulfillment, happiness, etc...

If you're wondering what this belief or philosophy is called, you could call it nihilism. Nihilists believe that there is no objective meaning or purpose to life, but most do not therefore feel that life is invalid.

So to finally answer your question, there is no meaning to life other than what meaning you define for yourself. The only absolute truth is harsh reality, but you can potentially reconcile this to your own, personal, subjective purpose.

After all, as far as we can tell, this is our only life. What a great chance to enjoy it, right?

Answer 3

In truth 42 was taken from something very real and amazing. But hey I loved Hitchhikers guide and I did bring my towel. So basically this is it in a nut shell I will give you a couple of links and then you decide for yourself.
For all of written history across continents this is the debate. Either life is a duality of good and evil. Good being the unseen spirit..insert name you like here.... and the material world that is inherently evil and untrue..insert name you like here.
Or that god is all things including us and can be known. You are a Physical Extension of that which is Non-physical.
All-That-Is, or God, is not finished and waiting for you to catch up. You are the leading edge of thought, here seeking more: more of all that feels good to you, more of that which is fresh and gloriously uplifting. (You are, in essence, bringing heaven to earth.)
By the way That is the beginning of Hermetic Learning and the secret of the Emerald Tablets. People use to die for that knowledge.
As for 42 that is high Alchemy my friend. Turning lead into gold and the philosophers stone were hidden metaphors for knowing ones self as part of god. To ascend back to god self. I will give you links to skip to new age part of it and you can see the amazing history of it all.
Now the Meaning of Life is Joy. The journey is figuring out how to keep real Joy. Anyways I hope you find your chariot!

Answer 4

You're asking me? Ask yourself! :) Think about what things you value, love and enjoy. That's the meaning of your specific life. Don't lose heart if your life seems meaningless, because it isn't. Things change all the time. Today, you might think there's no point to anything; tomorrow, you might meet the love of your life, or try something new that becomes your favorite thing in the world. Life keeps moving forward, and if you move with it, it will show you its meaning. That's the great thing about the human mind, it has the ability to change all the time.

Answer 5

The meaning of life is actually fairly simple, its amazing that no one can figure it out. As far as atheistic beliefs go, life exists to reproduce. Humans can easily be described as viruses, we both go forth and multiply devouring any thing that we need. So it also explains why sex feels great, if it didn't there really wouldn't be much of a want to have kids. Also the whole entire body works together to make sure we can bring our offspring up, and at the same time make sure our reproductive organs live to make more.

Please excuse the name im under, i didnt want to give my real one to yahoo.

Jacob H. G, Age 13

Answer 6

Sounds like someone's been reading Douglas Adams...

The meaning of life is to find love, the one thing that truly means anything on this plane (of existence), while expanding your mental and spiritual intellect for the ends of contributing to the greater good of those you come in contact with. It is about gradually shedding the baggage that life saddles each of us with so that near the end of our lives, we finally find peace in ourselves, bridging the gaps in time and space between those we love and ourselves.

Answer 7

Real meaning comes from living for a real purpose. Otherwise, we're just inventing things to do that make us feel good (temporarily feel good) and calling it meaning.

Real purpose requires God.

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

So either there is God and purpose and meaning or no God and no purpose and no meaning.

If God exists, then I think He must have put our intense need for meaning into our human nature to invite us to seek Him.

Christians believe they find God in their efforts to obey God's command to love their neighbors for where love is, there God is also.

Answer 8

To understand the answer 42, you must understand the question itself :-)

Answer 9

this question it's about: what means to you the life.?

Answer 10

what is 7x6?.......or....How many roads must a man walk down?.......