What is the meaning of life?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Do you want a real answer or just some silly comment like 42 or do you want a serious answer? I will assume you want an answer with some actual thought to it.

First let me ask some questions...
Why do you want to know if there is meaning?
Why do you even care if there is an answer?

Well here are my pre-conditions for the answer.
1) Yours and many others willingness to atleast question if there is one shows that there is almost a universal need for an answer. Why am I here etc. has been repeated thousands of times on here alone.
2) Some want to deny meaning because a meaningless life frees them of any responsibility and accountability to anyone but themselves but to most this rings false and hollow. Many compensate by creating a subjective meaning with no regard to if there is a higher meaning.
3) The implied and explicit implications of there being an objective meaning and purpose presents the fact there is a standard of accountability, right wrong etc. and to some this is very offensive to their lifestyle.

OBSERVATIONS
The atheist Aldus Huxley clearly said "I want this world not to have meaning because a meaningless world frees me to my own erotic and political pursuits.". A life without meaning is no more than chemical reactions and has no meaning, no true and false, no love just chemical reactions and a hopeless end. That idea "frees" some to live the lifestyles they choose and gnaws away at the heart of most mankind who want justice, good to prevail and evil to be punished.

C.S. Lewis was an atheist but after spending time with JRR Tolkien and looking at the evidence became a very strong proclaimer of Christian. He says this about life having meaning:
"If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning."

METHODOLOGY
It was the philosopher Francis Bacon that said "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."
So let's we dig past the surface and given the almost universal need for meaning, justice, hope, love, etc. then in my investigation there is the one philosophy that would best fit the heart of man as corrupt but offers the evidence and hope of justice and a changed life is Christianity.
Lostness of Man
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…


CONCLUSIONS
Given these criteria and evidences of men that were failures in many ways and yet were greatly used by God that I see in the Bible (King David - murderer...) implies at the simplest definition, life is a test. In this test the results are based on our relationship to God, how we serve God, did we sincerely repent of sins and accept Jesus as Lord. Now we must recognize that all have fallen short and sinned, have false pride etc. so we need to humble ourselves and sincerely repent and those that can't or won't are rejecting God's love and Jesus' sacrifice and will fail the test. God has provided a method of passing based on the sacrifice of Jesus as seen in John 3: 14-19. Even the rewards mention in the Bible for those that do pass and are saved I believe have a consequence.

To find a Purpose we need to find what God wants us to do with our lives. Jesus said, that He came to save the lost, so that is one purpose, as well as helping the poor, the orphans, the widows and the sick. By letting Jesus in our hearts and following Jesus we will have a "peace that the world cannot", so that we may "live more abundantly".
John 10:10
"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly"

So you see that the meaning of life is the relationship with God and another part is the relationship with
each other.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sea…

Henry Drummond talks about love and our relationship with God in his book "The Greatest thing in the World", If you want here is a link where it is available for free online. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16739


If you were sincere enough in your search to read this far then finally and simply the meaning is found in worshipping God, Glorifying God, God's Love, Jesus' love and sacrifice and our love to others and that relationship.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sea…

May more find that there is love, meaning and purpose in life.
Bai

Source(s):

The Pursuit of Meaning: Regaining the Wonder
http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p…
http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p…

Flirting with Truth - Ravi Zacharias
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…

Who is Jesus, and Why Does it Matter?
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…
http://www.rzim.org/CA/Resources/Listen/…

Why I am not an Atheist - Ravi Zacharias
http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p…
http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p…

Anatomy of Faith and the Quest for Reason
http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p…

Answer 2

To enjoy it.

Answer 3

The meaning of life is a philosophical question that has been asked for thousands of years. It concerns the reason why humans exist and what their significance to this universe is. Of course, this has to do with the belief of being created by a higher being.

I believe that the purpose of life is to survive. We must distinguish ourselves from inorganic matter. The goal is to keep our animal species alive. It's all about competition. When the dinosaurs went extinct, mammals became the dominant species. Like all of nature, when a predator or prey goes extinct, another animal may take it's place. But not always, sometimes, a whole ecosystem may be destroyed or permanently disrupted by the extinction of a few animals.

Edit: The meaning of life is balance. We naturally have to keep in balance with our environment. Which is why it is important to keep the world's bio-diversity alive. If too many animals go extinct, we will not keep balance and more and more animals could go extinct, including humans. Even elements and molecules try to become balanced. The sun constantly emits heat because its elements are trying to become balanced.

Answer 4

The world may never know.

Answer 5

I don't think that anyone knows the meanin of life if there is a meaning to life at all !


XxX

Answer 6

Death

Answer 7

respect and love.

Answer 8

It's different for different people.
What life means to people depends on their aims, attitudes, awareness etc.
People could be broadly divided into three groups : the civic minded / the selfish / the apathetic.

Answer 9

the meaning of life is to join the marine corps and go to iraq and afghanistan and then get out and go to indiana university and then make sure you have a yellow lab named charlie and take him south dakota and hunt for pheasant then take the pheasant and gut it and eat it while listening to reggae music by bob marley and then smoke a joint and sit out on your back porch and talk about old war stories with your neighbors about iraq and afghanistan and then go inside and turn on the tv to watch family guy while high..then take a nap for a couple hours..its very important that you dont sleep all through the night because you need to wake up at 2am and go to denny's with you friends right after you get high and while you're eating talk about area 51 and whether or not you believe that the gov't captured a ufo and did experiments on aliens..then go home and get some rest..cuz your gonna need it for the next afternoon where you will put in some bob marley and get high...

Answer 10

you give it meaning yourself

Answer 11

Life is

L =love
I =imagine
f =feel
E = Evolve...................

Answer 12

To live; to experience the heights of glory and the depths of sorrow.
I believe then experience teaches us the balance of near perfection as to our reactions to the adversities and victories we experience.It is not the things we must overcome nor the heights to which we rise that define us. It is more what we take home to the quiet refuge that defines who and what we are.

Answer 13

Sometimes you reap what you sow. So if you read in these authors...

"The Path of the Higher Self," Mark Prophet,
"Expecting Adam," Martha Beck,
"Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians," Brandon Sanderson,
"The Great Divorce," C. S. Lewis,
"The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and Wilcock,
"Extraordinary Knowing," Dr. Elizabeth Mayer,
"The Master of Lucid Dreams," Dr. Olga Kharitidi,
"Liberal Fascism," Jonah Goldberg,
"Testimony of Light," Helen Greaves,
"Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton,
"Above Black," Dan Sherman,
"The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," Daniel Estulin, and listen to
http://www.coasttocoastam.com occasionally, you'll have some very good clues.

Reviews at http://www.amazon.com

Answer 14

To live, and derive your own meaning from the experience.

Answer 15

The meaning of life is to
GIVE OUT LOVE and
LET IT COME IN

Source(s):

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom