http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life
The meaning of life is a concept that concerns the possible purpose
and significance that may be attributed to human existence and/or
one's personal life. It has been the subject of much philosophical,
scientific and theological speculation, and there is a huge variety of
views concerning this philosophical problem.[1][2][3][4]
Paul Gauguin's painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are
We Going? illustrates his interpretation of the meaning of life.It is
often expressed in various related questions:[5]
What is the meaning of life? [4][6][7][8][9][10]
Why are we here? [1][11][12][13][14] What are we here for? [15]
What is the origin of life? [16]
What is the nature of life (and of reality itself)? [16][17]
What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life? [1][8][17][18][19]
What is the significance of life? [19]
What is meaningful or valuable in life? [20]
What is the value of life? [21]
What is the reason to live? [22] What are we living for? [15]
Some individuals, including logical positivists, have questioned the
meaning of the question "What is the meaning of life?"[23] and the
meaningfulness of asking such a question.[24] Others have considered
the question "If there are no objective values, then is life
meaningless?"[25] Existentialists hold that meaning can be created by
oneself, rejecting the nihilist view. Some, notably Humanists, have
aimed to develop an understanding of life that explains, regardless of
how we came to be here, what we should do now that we are here.
In addition to the naturalistic hypotheses concerning the origin of
life, consciousness and the universe offered by science, some
philosophers and theologians posit a "watchmaker" or "intelligent
designer" as the creator of the physical universe, mainly based on
teleological and/or cosmological arguments. And others have considered
the human need for some higher or supernatural ideal, for instance, in
reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's postulation of the "death" of God,
Martin Heidegger puts the problem as "If God as the suprasensory
ground and goal of all reality is dead, if the suprasensory world of
the Ideas has suffered the loss of its obligatory and above it its
vitalizing and upbuilding power, then nothing more remains to which
man can cling and by which he can orient himself."[26]
Religious answers to the question "What is the meaning of (my) life?"
tend to include a certain moral demand[27] and to soothe the grief
associated with death.[28] Mystical and spiritual traditions focus
more on direct experience than religions generally do, the overall
view is that life is an unfolding, an inner-awakening or a discovery
and transforming of one's understanding and insight, and the ultimate
goal of life is living a life in accordance with this spiritual
insight, which can be summarized as understanding the meaning of life,
all of life and reality itself."
