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)-
I don't know the meaning of life! I am losing my mind any advice?
The meaning of life has an individual meaning to each individual.
~or it could be:
* when one realizes one's potential and ideals
* wisdom and knowledge
* Do good, to do the right thing
* Attain spiritual enlightenment
* To love, to feel, to enjoy the act of living
* To have power, to be better
* Origin and nature of life and reality
* Significance of life
* Value in and of life
* Purpose of life I don't know the meaning of life! I am losing my mind any advice?
It is not given to man to know his own needs.
I have learnt that all men live not by care for themselves, but by love.
It was not given to the mother to know what her children needed for their life. Nor was it given to the rich man to know what he himself needed. Nor is it given to any man to know whether, when evening comes, he will need boots for his body or slippers for his corpse.
I remained alive when I was a man, not by care of myself, but because love was present in a passer-by, and because he and his wife pitied and loved me. The orphans remained alive, not because of their mother's care, but because there was love in the heart of a woman a stranger to them, who pitied and loved them. And all men live not by the thought they spend on their own welfare, but because love exists in man.
I knew before that God gave life to men and desires that they should live; now I understood more than that.
I understood that God does not wish men to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all.
For me the meaning of life is: Love, Family, Friends, Success... You just need to find what you're missing. Trust me, everyone feels at one point or another in their life that they are lost and don't know what to do! I've felt it. You just have to get through the tough times in life to enjoy the fun ones. Hey, take it easy... yeah! Just focus, take up a new hobby... and don't be afraid to look like an idiot once in a while...I do that all the time.
The meaning of life is the path you take, and where you fit in the big world. For the most part it is small, we work, buy things to servive, pay our bills, and taxes. The other small, but important part is the raising of our children. Teaching them to be the most caring responsible, mature adults as we can. Thats the connection we have to the big world for most of us. A few are great, like Mother Teresa, Ghondi, Martin Luther King. They are there to inspire the next generation. Now for you as an individual, enjoy life, and share with others, on your short time here. Share with others, so they may share with you.
As for you going out of your mind, I have been there. Sometimes its not following the path you always wanted. Sometimes its your mind telling you, you are doing something wrong. Sometimes its when you do not balance being responsible, and having fun. Maybe you are having too much fun, or you are working too much. For me it was having too many set backs happen at the same time. I got overwelmed, and depressed. Until I was able to talk to someone, and let some of my stress out. They helped me see all I still had. I had said the same thing to my mom, who past away 2 months ago. She was always talking about what she could not do anymore, but I told her to appreciate the things she could still do. She could not drive, but at least she could walk, and go to the bathrrom by herself. A lot of her friends could not. Talk to a freind, or a doctor. It also helped me to work out, run lift weights. Good luck.
hey, just be cool.take life as it comes.there's no solution for only u in the world to get frustrated about the meaning of life.
see the minute with happiness. make yourself attached to what you love the most for some weeks.that could change you more.keep thinking of what u love the most for most of your time. try to get it into your life.make it your passion.
your ambition,dreams could arise from that.listen to what your sub-conscious says.feel yourself.be cool,refreshing,and enthusiastic all the time.be laughing. share your thoughts with your loved one. bring your own best.
definitely u will emerge.
best of luck.
You've asked a question that no one can answer! Some might try, but the answer will be different for everyone who attempts to answer.
Don't feel like you're the only one who has ever thought about the meaning of life because you're not! Everyone has. Your life is to make of it what you want. Nothing more, nothing less.
This sounds corny but Sylvia Browne's book Life on the Other Side answered a lot of my questions and made me feel at peace with myself and the people around me. Even if you don't believe in it...it is still a great read. And if you don't read try audio. Library has the book too. It changed a lot of my friends perspective on life. Good luck with your journey.
Life doesn't have meaning but everyone can take their own meaning from their life and the choices that they make during it.
The reason for life on the other hand. I believe that the reason for life is to simply create more life, its a never ending loop.
it's a very confusing thing to think about.. when my best friend and i get on this topic we can talk about it for hours... why are we here? what's our point in living? why do we waste our lives working and in school.. what happens after you die? the sad truth is no one knows you just have to wait and find out.
Do you think you'd find your mind if you knew the meaning? What if it was hypothetically let's say, to be nice to others. Would that solve your discomfort? Or are you losing your mind for another reason and masking it with a great issue?
I think the movie and books people should consult for the meaning of life is the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the meaning of life is answered in that series, a nice simple answer - 42.
I had a similair question earlier this year.
Here are my results to asking this question.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;鈥?/a>
Look at all the answers and you might get an idea. But like the 1st answerer said, ';No onw knows.';
---libra4ever1004---
there is no real true meaning
at least not 4 me
life is what you make it out to be
....best wishes
';i hope everything will be okay for you';
it'll work itself out whatever the problem is
Be encouraged. And try to remain positive. Go outside of your box.
And have fun. Don't try to let things get you down. Just relax. AND
dig deep within yourself. The answers you want are there.
The Golden Rule. It is basically the same in all religions. Don't be an As*hole - give and receive love freely. That is it. Love God by loving your family and friends.
No one knows, you'll never know. Thinking about it is a waste of time, better to focus on what you want to DO with the life you have.
the meaning in life is whatever you want it to be or whatever is important to you.
Since your name is Socrates, remember hemlock?
you might view the Monty Python movie about this.
everyone has their own meaning to life. find yours.
Jesus.
You need to give it meaning, then you will know
';...you will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life';
Know Jesus know life. John 3:16 Holy bible.
No one knows.
be patient the answer will come to you
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