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Well... the question is above. Lol. :-)

2007-12-21 07:41:18 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities Philosophy

Wow people! These are some fantastic answers! :-) I wish I could give ten points to all of you!

2007-12-21 08:50:43 · update #1

15 answers

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)

2007-12-21 14:46:38 · answer #1 · answered by Jayaraman 7 · 0 0

Mmm, a novel twist on the 'what is the meaning of life'? questions.
The answer is the same though, I make it the best I can. Through trial, error, judgement, acquired knowledge and learning from other peoples mistakes. I make my own goals and see no 'master plan'.

2007-12-21 15:52:32 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

Having no regrets about the choices I make and making the most of the time I have. That means putting the best effort forward whenever possible.

2007-12-21 15:50:54 · answer #3 · answered by Heather 4 · 2 0

My meaning is kept inside an amulet, inside of a box, in a chest, under a sarcophagus, in a shrine room, on an island, in the middle of the ocean.

I'll go to my grave before I tell anyone my meaning!

2007-12-21 16:17:08 · answer #4 · answered by Gee Whizdom™ 5 · 0 0

My job as a librarian has given my life a certain amount of meaning. I would say that doing useful work that you find rewarding would likely do the same for you.

2007-12-21 19:02:19 · answer #5 · answered by Ace Librarian 7 · 2 0

To learn life's lessons through experience. The best way to do that is do your best and never pass up a good opportunity.

2007-12-21 17:53:34 · answer #6 · answered by ~November 3 · 1 0

my meaning of life is just living it to the fullest and have fun dont pay attention to what people say or call you everyone always gonna talk so just forget everyone else and do your thing....oh yeah and giving a 100% in what you do all the time

2007-12-21 15:50:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Just being excellent - just trying my best - just succeeding.

"Do not be afraid of greatness; some men are born great, others achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

From Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

2007-12-21 18:08:43 · answer #8 · answered by Leon 2 · 1 0

"Love God completely, love colleague as Self, and love as Christ Jesus, Truth, loves."

"Climb the Highest Mountain," Mark Prophet,
"Men in White Apparel," Ann Ree Colton, and
"The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and WIlcock, http://www.divinecosmos.com are also good, worthwhile.

2007-12-21 16:18:16 · answer #9 · answered by j153e 7 · 1 0

My meaning of life is to make a change.I want the future generations to live in peace.No more A.I.D.'S and H.I.V.
I want to help the poor and the people with nothing to look up to.
i want to make a difference.My life means alot to me because of what i believe in.

2007-12-21 15:48:12 · answer #10 · answered by JaAfNy 1 · 1 1

my meaing of life is to help anyone that i can.
taht menas doing charity work, helping my parents at home, makig my brother feel better, babysitting my other brother, taking care of my dog, loving my friends and treating them well, and treating my body and overall health well too!
whtas yours?

2007-12-21 15:48:50 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

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