What's the point???

What’s the point? Or as it is often asked, what is the meaning of life? We ask this question because we struggle to understand the purpose of our life and or the purpose of life in general.

I searched the web and found the following answers to the question, what is the meaning of life? I suspect they are fairly representative of most of the answers that people have come up with.

I noticed that all of the possibilities given for the meaning of life can be divided into about five distinct groups. See if you fit into one of these groups.

First, there are those who try not to think about the question. Either they think they are incapable of finding an answer or they are scared that they may not like the answer they would find if they searched for one. Here is a typical answer...

"The meaning of life is too large a question for me, and though I've given it thought I don't expect to ever know the answer." (L. Babauta)

Since you have taken the time to read this, I doubt that you fall into this category. You have the insight to see that this is a very important question, perhaps the most important, and burying your head in the sand is not an option for you. You desperately want to know the meaning of life.

Secondly, there are those who think the meaning of life is some specific quality or activity that we do or possess. Here are several candidates for the meaning of life that I came across...

Success, religion, love, freedom, accomplishment, exploration, learning, collecting toys, friendship, children, happiness, self, helping others, are all given as potential meanings to life.

Those are all nice things. But why is one better than another? Besides, they seem so trivial. They just don’t seem able to explain the whole meaning of anyone’s life, much less the meaning of a billion galaxies.

Thirdly, there are those who, although they do believe there is meaning to life, they do not believe that there is an absolute meaning to life. They believe the meaning of life is different for different people and that it can change over time. Here is a typical answer...

"The meaning of life is whatever you need it to be at any point in your life and can change (often many times) during the course of your life." (S. Walters)

The problem is the purpose of life had to be there at its conception. And we all have a similar conception so there must be a similar purpose for all of our lives and for life in general. The purpose for your life must be the purpose for my life.

Fourthly, there are those who say that there is no meaning to life. Meaning requires purpose, and they say that the origin of life was a random chance event void of any purpose. Here is a good explanation...

"When I look at the big, big picture, I don’t see any grand scheme, any good plan, any worthwhile explanation at all about why we’re all here and playing this ridiculous game that just seems to be one of lasting out various pain." (V. Lovic)

However, we all sense that there is a point to life. We have to convince ourselves otherwise, which usually occurs after we experience or become aware of some pain or heartache that we did not expect. But when we are in a depressed state is not the best time to make decisions of extreme importance.

I would fall into the fifth group, those who say that there is indeed an absolute meaning to life that is not based on what we do or possess. I will attempt to explain this grand purpose for all of our lives.

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