View source for Philosophy:Meaning of life

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[[File:Paul_Gauguin_-_D'ou_venons-nous.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?'', one of Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin's most famous paintings]]
The '''meaning of life''' pertains to the [[Philosophy:Intrinsic value (ethics)|significance]] of living or [[Philosophy:Existence|existence]] in general, and is sought through the question "What is the meaning of life?" Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What is the purpose of existence?" There have been many proposed answers to these questions from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds. The search for life's meaning has produced much philosophical, scientific, theological, and [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysical]] speculation throughout history. Different people and cultures believe different things for the answer to this question.

The meaning of life can be derived from philosophical and religious contemplation of, and scientific inquiries about, [[Philosophy:Existence|existence]], social ties, [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]], and [[Philosophy:Happiness|happiness]]. Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning, [[Philosophy:Ontology|ontology]], value, [[Philosophy:Teleology|purpose]], [[Philosophy:Ethics|ethics]], [[Good and evil|good and evil]], [[Philosophy:Free will|free will]], the [[Philosophy:Existence of God|existence of one or multiple gods]], [[Religion:Conceptions of God|conceptions of God]], the soul, and the [[Philosophy:Afterlife|afterlife]]. Scientific contributions focus primarily on describing related [[Philosophy:Empiricism|empirical]] [[Philosophy:Fact|fact]]s about the [[Astronomy:Universe|universe]], exploring the context and parameters concerning the "how" of life. Science also studies and can provide recommendations for the [[Social:Positive psychology|pursuit of well-being]] and a related [[Philosophy:Science of morality|conception of morality]]. An alternative, humanistic approach poses the question, "What is the meaning of ''my'' life?"


== Origin of the expression ==
[[File:The Storm Fiend.jpg|thumb|"The Storm Fiend" — Heading to Book II Chapter IX of Thomas Carlyle's ''Sartor Resartus'', 1898 illustration by E. J. Sullivan]]
The first English use of the expression "meaning of life" appears in [[Biography:Thomas Carlyle|Thomas Carlyle]]'s ''Sartor Resartus'' (1833–1834), book II chapter IX, "The Everlasting Yea".<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Wendell |title=Meaning of Life, The: Early Continental and Analytic Perspectives |url=https://iep.utm.edu/mean-ear/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |language=en-US}}</ref> <blockquote>Our Life is compassed round with Necessity; yet is the '''meaning of Life''' itself no other than Freedom, than Voluntary Force: thus have we a warfare; in the beginning, especially, a hard-fought battle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1051/1051-h/1051-h.htm |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref></blockquote>Carlyle may have been inspired by earlier usage of the equivalent German expression ''der Sinn des Lebens'' by [[Philosophy:German Romanticism|German Romantic]] writers Novalis and [[Biography:Friedrich Schlegel|Friedrich Schlegel]]. Schlegel was the first to use it in print by way of his novel ''Lucinde'' (1799), though Novalis had done so in a 1797–1798 manuscript, in which he wrote: "Only an artist can divine the meaning of life." Additionally, the word ''lebenssinn'', translated as life's meaning, had been used by Goethe in a 1796 letter to Schiller.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Leach |first1=Stephen |last2=Tartaglia |first2=James |date=2018 |title=The Original Meaning of Life |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/126/The_Original_Meaning_of_Life |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Philosophy Now}}</ref> These authors grappled with the rationalism and materialism of modernity. Carlyle called this the "Torch of Science", which burned "more fiercely than ever" and made religion "all parched away, under the Droughts of practical and spiritual Unbelief", resulting in the "Wilderness" of "the wide World in an [[Philosophy:Atheism|Atheistic]] Century".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-12-04 |title=How meaning of life was invented: Thomas Carlyle on how to overcome an existential crisis |url=https://frankmartela.com/2020/12/04/how-meaning-of-life-was-invented-thomas-carlyle-on-how-to-overcome-an-existential-crisis/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Frank Martela |language=en}}</ref>

==Origin of the question==
<!--This section is the introduction for the article, and should be presented first.-->[[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 038-crop.jpg|thumb|''Philosopher in Meditation'' (detail) by Rembrandt]][[Biography:Arthur Schopenhauer|Arthur Schopenhauer]] was the first to explicitly ask the question,<ref name=":8" /> in an essay entitled "Character".<blockquote>Since ''a man does not alter'', and his ''moral character'' remains absolutely the same all through his life; since he must play out the part which he has received, without the least deviation from the character; since neither experience, nor philosophy, nor religion can effect any improvement in him, the question arises, '''What is the meaning of life at all?''' To what purpose is it played, this farce in which everything that is essential is irrevocably fixed and determined?<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: on Human Nature., by Arthur Schopenhauer |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10739/10739-h/10739-h.htm |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref></blockquote>Questions about the meaning of life have been expressed in a broad variety of other ways, including:
* What is the meaning of life? What's it all about? Who are we?<ref name="Westphal">{{Cite book |author=Jonathan Westphal |title=Philosophical Propositions: An Introduction to Philosophy |publisher= Routledge |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-415-17053-6}}</ref><ref name="Nozick">{{Cite book |author=Robert Nozick |title=Philosophical Explanations |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=1981 |isbn=978-0-674-66479-1|title-link=Philosophical Explanations }}</ref><ref name="Baggini">{{Cite book |author=Julian Baggini |author-link=Julian Baggini |title=What's It All About? Philosophy and the Meaning of Life |publisher=Granta Books |year=2004 |location=US |isbn=978-1-86207-661-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/whatsitallaboutp0000bagg }}</ref>
* Why are we here? What are we here for?<ref name="Thiemann & Placher">{{Cite book |author=Ronald F. Thiemann |author2=William Carl Placher |title= Why Are We Here?: Everyday Questions and the Christian Life |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |date=1998 |isbn=978-1-56338-236-9}}</ref><ref name="Marcellino">{{Cite book |author=Dennis Marcellino |title=Why Are We Here?: The Scientific Answer to this Age-old Question (that you don't need to be a scientist to understand) |publisher=Lighthouse Pub |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-945272-10-6}}</ref><ref name="Hua">{{Cite book |author=Hsuan Hua |title=Words of Wisdom: Beginning Buddhism |publisher=Dharma Realm Buddhist Association |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-88139-302-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsofwisdomv1b0000hsua }}</ref>
* What is the origin of life?<ref name="Davies">{{Cite book|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/davies-miracle.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010616025035/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/davies-miracle.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2001 |title=The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life |year= 2000 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-86309-2 |author=Paul Davies |access-date=17 September 2016 }}</ref>
* What is the nature of life? What is the nature of reality?<ref name="Davies" /><ref name="Christiansen & Baum & Bass-Haugen">{{Cite book |author1=Charles Christiansen |author2=Carolyn Manville Baum |author3=Julie Bass-Haugen |title=Occupational Therapy: Performance, Participation, and Well-Being |publisher=SLACK Incorporated |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-55642-530-1}}</ref><ref name="Walker">{{Cite book |author=Evan Harris Walker |title=The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life |publisher=Perseus Books |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-7382-0436-9}}</ref>
* What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of one's life?<ref name="Christiansen & Baum & Bass-Haugen" /><ref name="WITMOL">{{cite web |title=Question of the Month: What Is The Meaning of Life? |work=Philosophy Now |publisher=Issue 59 |url=http://www.philosophynow.org/issue59/59question.htm |access-date=26 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824210257/http://www.philosophynow.org/issue59/59question.htm |archive-date=24 August 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Krishnamurti">{{Cite book |author=Jiddu Krishnamurti |title=What Are You Doing With Your Life? |publisher=Krishnamurti Foundation of America |date=2001 |isbn=978-1-888004-24-3}}</ref>
* What is the significance of life?<ref name="Krishnamurti" /> (See also #Psychological significance and value in life)
* What is meaningful and valuable in life?<ref name="UIUC">{{cite web|last=Puolimatka |first=Tapio |author2=Airaksinen, Timo |title=Education and the Meaning of Life |work=Philosophy of Education |publisher=University of Helsinki |date=2002 |url=http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/2001/tapio%2001.pdf |access-date=26 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926154148/http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/PES-Yearbook/2001/tapio%2001.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2007 }}</ref>
* What is the [[Philosophy:Value of life|value of life]]?<ref name="Van Hooft">{{Cite book |author=Stan Van Hooft |title=Life, Death, and Subjectivity: Moral Sources in Bioethics |publisher=Rodopi |date=2004 |isbn=978-90-420-1912-6}}</ref>
* What is the reason to live? What are we living for?<ref name="Hua" /><ref name="Shafer-Landau & Cuneo">{{Cite book |author=Russ Shafer-Landau |author2=Terence Cuneo |title=Foundations of Ethics: An Anthology |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-4051-2951-0}}</ref>

These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and explications, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and [[Philosophy:Spirituality|spiritual]] explanations.

==Scientific inquiry and perspectives==
<!--Please do not include single-scientific-theory specific entries in this section. Thank you.-->

Many members of the [[Philosophy:Scientific community|scientific community]] and [[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|philosophy of science]] communities think that science can provide the relevant context, and set of parameters necessary for dealing with topics related to the meaning of life. In their view, science can offer a wide range of insights on topics ranging from the [[Social:Positive psychology|science of happiness]] to [[Medicine:Death anxiety|death anxiety]]. Scientific inquiry facilitates this through [[Philosophy:Nomology|nomological]] investigation into various aspects of life and [[Philosophy:Reality|reality]], such as the [[Astronomy:Big Bang|Big Bang]], [[Biology:Abiogenesis|the origin of life]], and [[Biology:Evolution|evolution]], and by studying the objective factors which correlate with the subjective experience of meaning and happiness.

===Psychological significance and value in life===
Researchers in [[Social:Positive psychology|positive psychology]] study empirical factors that lead to life satisfaction,<ref name=":6">E. Diener, J.J. Sapyta, E. Suh (1998). "Subjective Well-Being Is Essential to Well-Being." ''Psychological Inquiry'', Lawrence Erlbaum.</ref> full [[Philosophy:Flow (psychology)|engagement]] in activities,<ref name="Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály 1990">Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály (1990). ''Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience''. New York: Harper and Row. {{ISBN|0-06-092043-2}}.</ref> making a fuller contribution by using one's personal strengths,<ref name=":4">Peterson, Christopher; Seligman, Martin (2004). ''Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-516701-5}}. {{cite web |title=See brief summary |url=http://www.meaningandhappiness.com/psychology-research/list-of-personal-strengths.html}}</ref> and meaning based on investing in something larger than the self.<ref>Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). ''Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment.'' New York: Free Press. {{ISBN|0-7432-2297-0}}. Paperback edition, 2004, Free Press, {{ISBN|0-7432-2298-9}}.</ref> Large-data studies of [[Philosophy:Flow (psychology)|flow]] experiences have consistently suggested that humans experience meaning and fulfillment when mastering challenging tasks and that the experience comes from the way tasks are approached and performed rather than the particular choice of task. For example, flow experiences can be obtained by prisoners in concentration camps with minimal facilities, and occur only slightly more often in billionaires. A classic example<ref name="Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály 1990"/> is of two workers on an apparently boring production line in a factory. One treats the work as a tedious chore while the other turns it into a game to see how fast he/she can make each unit and achieves flow in the process.

[[Biology:Neuroscience|Neuroscience]] describes [[Philosophy:Reward system|reward]], [[Philosophy:Pleasure|pleasure]], and [[Philosophy:Motivation|motivation]] in terms of neurotransmitter activity, especially in the [[Philosophy:Limbic system|limbic system]] and the [[Chemistry:Ventral tegmental area|ventral tegmental area]] in particular. If one believes that the meaning of life is to maximize pleasure and to ease general life, then this allows normative predictions about how to act to achieve this. Likewise, some ethical naturalists advocate a [[Philosophy:Science of morality|science of morality]]—the empirical pursuit of flourishing for all conscious creatures.

[[Philosophy:Experimental philosophy|Experimental philosophy]] and [[Biology:Neuroethics|neuroethics]] research collects data about human ethical decisions in controlled scenarios such as trolley problems. It has shown that many types of ethical judgment are universal across cultures, suggesting that they may be innate, whilst others are culture-specific. The findings show actual human ethical reasoning to be at odds with most philosophical theories, for example consistently showing distinctions between action by cause and action by omission which would be absent from utility-based theories. Cognitive science has theorized about differences between conservative and liberal ethics and how they may be based on different metaphors from family life such as strong fathers vs nurturing mother models.

Neurotheology is a controversial field which tries to find neural correlates and mechanisms of religious experience. Some researchers have suggested that the human brain has innate mechanisms for such experiences and that living without using them for their evolved purposes may be a cause of imbalance. Studies have reported conflicting results on correlating happiness with religious belief and it is difficult to find unbiased meta-analyses.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Lu|first1=Jun|last2=Gao|first2=Qin|date=2017-05-01|title=Faith and Happiness in China: Roles of Religious Identity, Beliefs, and Practice|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1372-8|journal=Social Indicators Research|language=en|volume=132|issue=1|pages=273–290|doi=10.1007/s11205-016-1372-8|s2cid=148091125|issn=1573-0921}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last1=Rizvi|first1=Mohd Ahsan Kabir|last2=Hossain|first2=Mohammad Zakir|date=2017-10-01|title=Relationship Between Religious Belief and Happiness: A Systematic Literature Review|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0332-6|journal=Journal of Religion and Health|language=en|volume=56|issue=5|pages=1561–1582|doi=10.1007/s10943-016-0332-6|pmid=27909930|s2cid=1389245|issn=1573-6571}}</ref>

Sociology examines value at a social level using theoretical constructs such as [[Philosophy:Value theory#Sociology|value theory]], norms, [[Philosophy:Anomie|anomie]], etc. One value system suggested by social psychologists, broadly called Terror Management Theory, states that human meaning is derived from a fundamental fear of death, and values are selected when they allow us to escape the mental reminder of death.

Alongside this, there are a number of theories about the way in which humans evaluate the positive and negative aspects of their existence and thus the value and meaning they place on their lives. For example, [[Philosophy:Depressive realism|depressive realism]] posits an exaggerated positivity in all except those experiencing depressive disorders who see life as it truly is, and [[Biography:David Benatar|David Benatar]] theorises that more weight is generally given to positive experiences, providing bias towards an over-optimistic view of life.

Emerging research shows that meaning in life predicts better physical health outcomes. Greater meaning has been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sutin |first1=DAR |last2=Luchetti |first2=M |last3=Aschwanden |first3=D |last4=Stephan |first4=Y |last5=Sesker |first5=AA |last6=Terracciano |first6=A |title=Sense of meaning and purpose in life and risk of incident dementia: New data and meta-analysis. |journal=Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics |date=February 2023 |volume=105 |pages=104847 |doi=10.1016/j.archger.2022.104847 |pmid=36347158 |pmc=10015423 |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2809292}}</ref><ref name=":0">Boyle PA, Buchman AS, Barnes LL, Bennett DA. Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2010;67:304–310.</ref> reduced risk of heart attack among individuals with coronary heart disease,<ref name=":1">Kim E, Sun J, Park N, Kubzansky L, Peterson C. Purpose in life and reduced risk of myocardial infarction among older US adults with coronary heart disease: A two-year follow-up. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. (2):124–133.</ref> reduced risk of stroke,<ref name=":2">Kim ES, Sun JK, Park N, Peterson C. Purpose in life and reduced incidence of stroke in older adults: The Health and Retirement Study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2013;74(5):427–432.</ref> and increased longevity in both American and Japanese samples.<ref>Boyle PA, Barnes LL, Buchman AS, Bennett DA. Purpose in life is associated with mortality among community-dwelling older persons. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2009;71:574–579.</ref> There is also growing evidence for a small decline in purpose in life in the early stages of cognitive impairment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sutin |first1=Angelina R. |last2=Luchetti |first2=Martina |last3=Stephan |first3=Yannick |last4=Terracciano |first4=Antonio |title=Change in Purpose in Life Before and After Onset of Cognitive Impairment |journal=JAMA Network Open |date=13 September 2023 |volume=6 |issue=9 |pages=e2333489 |doi=10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.33489 |pmid=37703016 |pmc=10500383 |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2809292 |issn=2574-3805}}</ref>

In 2014, the British National Health Service began recommending a five-step plan for mental well-being based on meaningful lives, whose steps are:<ref>{{cite web|date=21 December 2017|title=Five steps to mental wellbeing|url=http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/improve-mental-wellbeing.aspx|work=nhs.uk}}</ref>

# Connect with community and family
# Physical exercise
# Lifelong learning
# Giving to others
# [[Philosophy:Mindfulness|Mindfulness]] of the world around you

===Origin and nature of biological life===
[[File:DNA Overview.png|thumb|left|upright=.5|[[Biology:DNA|DNA]] contains the genetic instructions for the development and functioning of all known organisms.]]
The exact mechanisms of [[Biology:Abiogenesis|abiogenesis]] are unknown: notable hypotheses include the RNA world hypothesis (RNA-based replicators) and the iron-sulfur world hypothesis (metabolism without genetics). The process by which different lifeforms have developed throughout history via [[Biology:Gene|gene]]tic [[Biology:Mutation|mutation]] and [[Biology:Natural selection|natural selection]] is explained by [[Biology:Evolution|evolution]].<ref>[[Biography:Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin]] (1859). ''On the Origin of Species''.</ref> At the end of the 20th century, based upon insight gleaned from the [[Biology:Gene-centered view of evolution|gene-centered view of evolution]], biologists [[Biography:George C. Williams (biologist)|George C. Williams]], [[Biography:Richard Dawkins|Richard Dawkins]], and [[Biography:David Haig (biologist)|David Haig]], among others, concluded that if there is a primary function to life, it is the replication of DNA and the survival of one's genes.<ref name="Dawkins selfish gene">{{Cite book |author=Richard Dawkins |title=The Selfish Gene |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1976 |isbn=978-0-19-857519-1|title-link=The Selfish Gene }}</ref><ref name="Dawkins river">{{Cite book |author=Richard Dawkins |author-link=Richard Dawkins |title=River out of Eden |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-465-06990-3|title-link=River out of Eden }}</ref> Responding to an interview question from Richard Dawkins about "what it is all for", [[Biography:James Watson|James Watson]] stated "I don't think we're ''for'' anything. We're just the products of evolution."<ref>{{Cite book|title = The God Delusion|url = https://archive.org/details/goddelusion00dawk_897|url-access = limited|last = Dawkins|first = Richard|publisher = Houghton Mifflin|date = 2006|isbn = 978-0-618-68000-9|pages = [https://archive.org/details/goddelusion00dawk_897/page/n109 99]–100}}</ref>

Though scientists have intensively studied life on Earth, defining life in unequivocal terms is still a challenge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astrobio.net/news/article226 |title=Complete Archive for Astrobiology Press Release, News Exclusive, News Briefs |work=Astrobiology Magazine |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013130816/http://www.astrobio.net/news/article226 |archive-date=13 October 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbi.dk/~emmeche/cePubl/97e.defLife.v3f.html|title=Defining Life, Explaining Emergence|work=nbi.dk|access-date=2 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314095044/http://www.nbi.dk/~emmeche/cePubl/97e.defLife.v3f.html|archive-date=14 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Physically, one may say that life "feeds on [[Negentropy|negative entropy]]"<ref name="worldtransformation.com">{{cite book |author=Griffith J. |year=2012 |chapter=What is the Meaning of Life? |title=The Book of Real Answers to Everything! |isbn=978-1-74129-007-3 |chapter-url=http://www.worldtransformation.com/what-is-the-meaning-of-life/ |access-date=19 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schrödinger |first=Erwin |title=What is Life? |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1944 |isbn=978-0-521-42708-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Margulis |first=Lynn |author2=Sagan, Dorion |title=What is Life? |publisher=University of California Press |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-520-22021-8}}</ref> which refers to the process by which living entities decrease their internal [[Physics:Entropy|entropy]] at the expense of some form of [[Physics:Energy|energy]] taken in from the environment.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovelock |first=James |title=Gaia – a New Look at Life on Earth |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-286218-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Avery |first=John |title=Information Theory and Evolution |publisher=World Scientific |date=2003 |isbn=978-981-238-399-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcfLZSL7YGw&t=3s&ab_channel=PBSSpaceTime | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/GcfLZSL7YGw| archive-date=2021-10-30|author=[[Biography:Matt O'Dowd (astrophysicist)|O'Dowd, Matt, Ph.D.]]|title=The Physics of Life (ft. It's Okay to be Smart & PBS Eons!) Space Time |date=11 April 2018 |publisher=PBS Space Time}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Biologists generally agree that lifeforms are [[Physics:Self-organization|self-organizing]] systems [[Homeostasis|which regulate their internal environments as to maintain this organized state]], [[Biology:Metabolism|metabolism]] serves to provide energy, and [[Biology:Reproduction|reproduction]] causes life to continue over a span of multiple generations. Typically, organisms are responsive to stimuli and genetic information changes from generation to generation, resulting in adaptation through evolution; this optimizes the chances of survival for the individual organism and its descendants respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.una.edu/pdavis/BI%20101/Overview%20Fall%202004.htm |title=How to Define Life |access-date=17 October 2008 |last=Davison |first=Paul G. |publisher=The University of North Alabama |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101024755/http://www2.una.edu/pdavis/BI%20101/Overview%20Fall%202004.htm |archive-date=1 November 2008 }}</ref>

Non-cellular replicating agents, notably [[Biology:Virus|virus]]es, are generally not considered to be organisms because they are incapable of independent reproduction or metabolism. This classification is problematic, though, since some [[Biology:Parasite|parasite]]s and [[Biology:Endosymbiont|endosymbiont]]s are also incapable of independent life. [[Astronomy:Astrobiology|Astrobiology]] studies the possibility of different forms of life on other worlds, including replicating structures made from materials other than DNA.

===Origins and ultimate fate of the universe===
[[File:CMB Timeline300 no WMAP.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Modern view of the expansion of space. The inflationary epoch is a period of rapidly accelerating expansion at left.]]

Though the [[Astronomy:Big Bang|Big Bang]] theory was met with much skepticism when first introduced, it has become well-supported by several independent observations.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Helge Kragh |title=Cosmology and Controversy |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-691-00546-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/cosmologycontrov00helg }}</ref> However, current physics can only describe the early universe from around 10<sup>−43</sup> seconds after the Big Bang (where zero time corresponds to infinite temperature); a theory of [[Physics:Quantum gravity|quantum gravity]] would be required to understand events before that time. Nevertheless, many physicists have speculated about what would have preceded this limit, and how the universe came into being.<ref name="Prantzos & Lyle">{{Cite book |author1=Nikos Prantzos |author2=Stephen Lyle |title= Our Cosmic Future: Humanity's Fate in the Universe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-77098-9}}</ref> For example, one interpretation is that the Big Bang occurred coincidentally, and when considering the [[Astronomy:Anthropic principle|anthropic principle]], it is sometimes interpreted as implying the existence of a [[Physics:Multiverse|multiverse]].<ref name="Edwards">{{Cite book |author=Rem B. Edwards |title=What Caused the Big Bang? |publisher=Rodopi |date=2001 |isbn=978-90-420-1407-7}}</ref>

The ultimate fate of the universe, and implicitly of humanity, is hypothesized as one in which biological life will eventually become unsustainable, such as through a Big Freeze, [[Astronomy:Big Rip|Big Rip]], or [[Astronomy:Big Crunch|Big Crunch]].

Theoretical [[Astronomy:Cosmology|cosmology]] studies many alternative speculative models for the origin and fate of the universe beyond the Big Bang theory. A recent trend has been models of the creation of 'baby universes' inside black holes, with our own [[Astronomy:Big Bang|Big Bang]] being a [[Physics:White hole|white hole]] on the inside of a [[Astronomy:Black hole|black hole]] in another parent universe.<ref name="Poplawski">{{Cite book |title=Radial motion into an Einstein-Rosen bridge, Physics Letters B | first=Nikodem J. |last=Poplawski |volume=687 | date=April 2010 |pages=110–113}}</ref> Many-worlds theories claim that every possibility of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanics]] is played out in parallel universes.

===Scientific questions about the mind===
The nature and origin of [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]] and the [[Philosophy:Mind|mind]] are also widely debated in science. The [[Philosophy:Explanatory gap|explanatory gap]] is generally equated with the [[Philosophy:Hard problem of consciousness|hard problem of consciousness]], and the question of [[Philosophy:Free will|free will]] is also considered to be of fundamental importance. These subjects are mostly addressed in the fields of [[Cognitive science|cognitive science]], [[Biology:Neuroscience|neuroscience]] (e.g. the [[Philosophy:Neuroscience of free will|neuroscience of free will]]) and [[Philosophy:Philosophy of mind|philosophy of mind]], though some evolutionary biologists and theoretical physicists have also made several allusions to the subject.<ref name="Whitehouse">{{Cite book |author=Harvey Whitehouse |title=The Debated Mind: Evolutionary Psychology Versus Ethnography |publisher=Berg Publishers |date=2001 |isbn=978-1-85973-427-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/debatedmindevolu0000unse }}</ref><ref name="Gray">{{Cite book |author=Jeffrey Alan Gray |title=Consciousness: Creeping Up on the Hard Problem |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-852090-0}}</ref>

[[File:Hieronymus Bosch 013.jpg|thumb|Hieronymus Bosch's ''Ascent of the Blessed'' depicts a tunnel of light and spiritual figures, often described in reports of near-death experiences.]]
Reductionistic and [[Philosophy:Eliminative materialism|eliminative materialistic]] approaches, for example the Multiple Drafts Model, hold that consciousness can be wholly explained by neuroscience through the workings of the [[Biology:Human brain|brain]] and its [[Biology:Neuron|neuron]]s, thus adhering to [[Philosophy:Biological naturalism|biological naturalism]].<ref name="Gray"/><ref name="Churchland">{{Cite book |author=Paul M. Churchland |title=A Neurocomputational Perspective: The Nature of Mind and the Structure of Science |url=https://archive.org/details/neurocomputation0000chur |url-access=registration |publisher=MIT Press |date=1989 |isbn=978-0-262-53106-1}}</ref><ref name="Dennett">{{Cite book |author=Daniel Clement Dennett |author-link=Daniel Dennett |title=Consciousness Explained |publisher=Little, Brown and Co. |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-316-18066-5|title-link=Consciousness Explained }}</ref>

On the other hand, some scientists, like [[Biography:Andrei Linde|Andrei Linde]], have considered that [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]], like [[Physics:Spacetime|spacetime]], might have its own intrinsic degrees of freedom, and that one's perceptions may be as real as (or even more real than) material objects.<ref name="Barrow, Davies, Harper">{{Cite book |author1=John D. Barrow |author2=Paul C.W. Davies |author-link2=Paul Davies |author3=Charles L. Harper |title=Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-83113-0}}</ref> Hypotheses of consciousness and spacetime explain consciousness in describing a "space of conscious elements",<ref name="Barrow, Davies, Harper"/> often encompassing a number of extra dimensions.<ref name="Millay, Heinze">{{Cite book |author=Jean Millay |author2=Ruth-Inge Heinze |title=Multidimensional Mind: Remote Viewing in Hyperspace |publisher=North Atlantic Books |date=1999 |isbn=978-1-55643-306-1}}</ref> [[Physics:Electromagnetic theories of consciousness|Electromagnetic theories of consciousness]] solve the [[Binding problem|binding problem]] of consciousness in saying that the [[Physics:Electromagnetic field|electromagnetic field]] generated by the brain is the actual carrier of conscious experience; there is however disagreement about the implementations of such a theory relating to other workings of the mind.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McFadden |first1=J. |date=2002 |title=Synchronous Firing and Its Influence on the Brain's Electromagnetic Field: Evidence for an Electromagnetic Field Theory of Consciousness |url=http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/news/electromagnetic-field-theory-of-consciousness.htm |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=23–50 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051218171922/http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/news/electromagnetic-field-theory-of-consciousness.htm |archive-date=18 December 2005 }}</ref><ref name="Buccheri & Di Gesù & Saniga">{{Cite book |author=R. Buccheri |author2=V. Di Gesù |author3=Metod Saniga |title=Studies on the Structure of Time: From Physics to Psycho(patho)logy |publisher=Springer |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-306-46439-3}}</ref> [[Physics:Quantum mind|Quantum mind]] theories use [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum theory]] in explaining certain properties of the mind. Explaining the process of [[Philosophy:Free will|free will]] through [[Physics:Quantum|quantum]] phenomena is an alternative to [[Determinism|determinism]].

==== Parapsychology ====

Based on the premises of non-materialistic explanations of the mind, some have suggested the existence of a cosmic consciousness, asserting that consciousness is actually the "ground of all being".<ref name="Walker"/><ref name="Bruce">{{Cite book |author=Alexandra Bruce |title=Beyond the Bleep: The Definitive Unauthorized Guide to What the Bleep Do We Know!? |publisher=The Disinformation Company |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-932857-22-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondbleep00alex }}</ref><ref name="Ho">{{Cite book |author=Mae-Wan Ho |title=The Rainbow and the Worm: The Physics of Organisms |url=https://archive.org/details/rainbowwormphysi00homa_253 |url-access=limited |publisher=World Scientific |date=1998 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/rainbowwormphysi00homa_253/page/n239 218]–231 |isbn=978-981-02-3427-0}}</ref> Proponents of this view cite accounts of [[Unsolved:Paranormal|paranormal]] phenomena, primarily [[Unsolved:Extrasensory perception|extrasensory perception]]s and [[Unsolved:Psychic|psychic]] powers, as evidence for an incorporeal [[Philosophy:Higher consciousness|higher consciousness]]. In hopes of proving the existence of these phenomena, parapsychologists have orchestrated various experiments, but successful results might be due to poor experimental controls and might have alternative explanations.<ref name="Akers">{{Cite journal |author=Akers, C. |title=Methodological Criticisms of Parapsychology, Advances in Parapsychological Research 4 |publisher=PesquisaPSI |date=1986 |url=http://www.pesquisapsi.com/books/advances4rape/7_Methodological_Criticisms.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924071708/http://www.pesquisapsi.com/books/advances4rape/7_Methodological_Criticisms.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=30 July 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Child, I.L. |title=Criticism in Experimental Parapsychology, Advances in Parapsychological Research 5 |publisher=PesquisaPSI |date=1987 |url=http://www.pesquisapsi.com/books/advances5/6_Criticism_in_Experimental.html |access-date=30 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223410/http://www.pesquisapsi.com/books/advances5/6_Criticism_in_Experimental.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiseman |first=Richard |author2=Smith, Matthew |display-authors=0 |title=Exploring possible sender-to-experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld experiments – Psychophysical Research Laboratories |journal=The Journal of Parapsychology |date=1996 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n2_v60/ai_18960809 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709230555/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n2_v60/ai_18960809/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 July 2012 |access-date=30 July 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Lobach |first=E. |author2=Bierman, D. |title=The Invisible Gaze: Three Attempts to Replicate Sheldrake's Staring Effects |work=Proceedings of the 47th PA Convention |url=http://www.parapsych.org/papers/07.pdf |date=2004 |pages=77–90 |access-date=30 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810173433/https://www.parapsych.org/papers/07.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2007 }}</ref>

=== Nature of meaning in life ===

Reker and Wong define personal meaning as the "cognizance of order, coherence and purpose in one's existence, the pursuit and attainment of worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfillment" (p.&nbsp;221).<ref>Reker, G.T., & Wong, P.T.P. (1988). Aging as an individual process: Towards a theory of personal meaning. In J.E. Birren, & V.L. Bengston (Eds.), ''Emergent theories of aging'' (pp. 214–246). New York: Springer.</ref> In 2016, Martela and Steger defined meaning as coherence, purpose, and significance.<ref>Martela, F., & Steger, M.F. (2016). The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance. ''The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11''(5), 531–545.</ref> In contrast, Wong has proposed a four-component solution to the question of meaning in life,<ref>Wong, P.T.P. (2011). Positive psychology 2.0: Towards a balanced interactive model of the good life. ''Canadian Psychology, 52''(2), 69–81.</ref><ref name=":3">Wong, P.T.P. (2012). From Logotherapy to Meaning-Centered Counseling and Therapy. In P.T.P. Wong (Ed.), ''The Human Quest for Meaning: Theories, Research, and Applications'' (2nd ed., pp. 619–647). New York: Routledge.</ref> with the four components purpose, understanding, responsibility, and enjoyment (PURE):

# You need to choose a worthy ''purpose'' or a significant life goal.
# You need to have sufficient ''understanding'' of who you are, what life demands of you, and how you can play a significant role in life.
# You and you alone are ''responsible'' for deciding what kind of life you want to live, and what constitutes a significant and worthwhile life goal. 
# You will ''enjoy'' a deep sense of significance and satisfaction only when you have exercised your responsibility for [[Social:Self-determination|self-determination]] and actively pursue a worthy life-goal.
Thus, a sense of significance permeates every dimension of meaning, rather than standing as a separate factor.

Although most psychology researchers consider meaning in life as a subjective feeling or judgment, most philosophers (e.g., Thaddeus Metz, Daniel Haybron) propose that there are also objective, concrete criteria for what constitutes meaning in life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Metz |first=Thaddeus |title=Meaning in Life |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-959931-8 |location=Oxford}}
</ref><ref>
{{Cite book
|title= Happiness: A Very Short Introduction
|last= Haybron|first= Daniel M.
|publisher= Oxford University Press
|year= 2013|isbn= 978-0-19-959060-5
|location= Oxford}}
</ref> Wong has proposed that whether life is meaningful depends not only on subjective feelings but, more importantly, on whether a person's goal-striving and life as a whole is meaningful according to some objective [[Philosophy:Normative ethics|normative standard]].<ref name=":3" />

==Western philosophical perspectives==
The philosophical perspectives on the meaning of life are those ideologies that explain life in terms of ideals or abstractions defined by humans.

===Ancient Greek philosophy===
[[File:Sanzio 01 Plato Aristotle.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Plato and Aristotle in ''The School of Athens'' fresco by Raphael. Plato is pointing heavenwards, and Aristotle is gesturing to the world.]]

====Platonism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Platonism}}
[[Biography:Plato|Plato]], a pupil of [[Biography:Socrates|Socrates]], was one of the earliest, most influential philosophers. His reputation comes from his idealism of believing in the existence of universals. His [[Philosophy:Theory of forms|theory of forms]] proposes that universals do not physically exist, like objects, but as heavenly forms. In the [[Philosophy:Dialogue|dialogue]] of the ''[[Social:Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', the character of [[Biography:Socrates|Socrates]] describes the [[Philosophy:Form of the Good|Form of the Good]]. His theory on justice in the soul relates to the idea of happiness relevant to the question of the meaning of life.

In [[Philosophy:Platonism|Platonism]], the meaning of life is in attaining the highest form of knowledge, which is the [[Philosophy:Platonic idealism|Idea]] ([[Philosophy:Platonic realism|Form]]) of the Good, from which all good and just things derive utility and value.

====Aristotelianism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Aristotelian ethics}}
[[Biography:Aristotle|Aristotle]], an apprentice of [[Biography:Plato|Plato]], was another early and influential philosopher, who argued that ethical knowledge is not ''certain'' knowledge (such as [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]] and [[Philosophy:Epistemology|epistemology]]), but is ''general'' knowledge. Because it is not a theoretical discipline, a person had to study and practice in order to become "good"; thus if the person were to become virtuous, he could not simply study what virtue ''is'', he had to ''be'' virtuous, via virtuous activities. To do this, Aristotle established what is virtuous:
{{blockquote|Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly, every action and choice of action, is thought to have some good as its object. This is why the good has rightly been defined as the object of all endeavor [...]<br />Everything is done with a goal, and that goal is "good".|''Nicomachean Ethics'' 1.1}}

Yet, if action A is done towards achieving goal B, then goal B also would have a goal, goal C, and goal C also would have a goal, and so would continue this pattern, until something stopped its infinite regression. Aristotle's solution is the ''[[Philosophy:Summum bonum|Highest Good]]'', which is desirable for its own sake. It is its own goal. The Highest Good is not desirable for the sake of achieving some other good, and all other "goods" desirable for its sake. This involves achieving ''eudaemonia'', usually translated as "happiness", "well-being", "flourishing", and "excellence".
{{blockquote|What is the highest good in all matters of action? To the name, there is an almost complete agreement; for uneducated and educated alike call it happiness, and make happiness identical with the good life and successful living. They disagree, however, about the meaning of happiness.|''Nicomachean Ethics'' 1.4}}

====Cynicism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Cynicism}}
[[File:Antisthenes Pio-Clementino Inv288.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Antisthenes. Roman copy after a Hellenistic original. From the Villa of Cassius at Tivoli, 1774.]]
[[Biography:Antisthenes|Antisthenes]], a pupil of [[Biography:Socrates|Socrates]], first outlined the themes of Cynicism, stating that the purpose of life is living a life of [[Philosophy:Virtue|Virtue]] which agrees with [[Earth:Nature|Nature]]. Happiness depends upon being self-sufficient and master of one's mental attitude; suffering is the consequence of false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a concomitant vicious character.

The Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, by being free of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional.<ref>Kidd, I., "''Cynicism''," in ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy,'' (eds. J.O. Urmson and [[Biography:Jonathan Rée|Jonathan Rée]]), Routledge, (2005).</ref><ref>Long, A.A., "''The Socratic Tradition: Diogenes, Crates, and Hellenistic Ethics,''" in ''The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy.'' (eds. Branham and Goulet-Cazé), University of California Press, (1996).</ref> As reasoning creatures, people could achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to [[Biology:Human|human]] beings. The [[Philosophy:World|world]] equally belongs to everyone, so [[Social:Suffering|suffering]] is caused by false judgments of what is valuable and what is worthless per the [[Philosophy:Tradition|customs]] and [[Philosophy:Convention (norm)|conventions]] of [[Organization:Society|society]].

====Cyrenaicism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Cyrenaics}}
Aristippus of Cyrene, a pupil of [[Biography:Socrates|Socrates]], founded an early Socratic school that emphasized only one side of Socrates's teachings—that happiness is one of the ends of moral action and that pleasure is the supreme good; thus a hedonistic world view, wherein bodily gratification is more intense than mental pleasure. Cyrenaics prefer immediate gratification to the long-term gain of delayed gratification; denial is unpleasant unhappiness.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/|title=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|work=utm.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hedonism.org|title=The Future of Hardcore Hedonism|work=hedonism.org|access-date=30 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522152806/https://www.hedonism.org/|archive-date=22 May 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Epicureanism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Epicureanism}}

[[Biography:Epicurus|Epicurus]], a pupil of the Platonist Pamphilus of Samos, taught that the greatest good is in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear ([[Philosophy:Ataraxia|ataraxia]]) via knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living; bodily pain (aponia) is absent through one's knowledge of the workings of the world and of the limits of one's desires. Combined, freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. Epicurus' lauded enjoyment of simple pleasures is quasi-ascetic "abstention" from sex and the appetites:
<blockquote>"When we say ... that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do, by some, through ignorance, prejudice or willful misrepresentation. By pleasure, we mean the absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish, and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul."<ref>[[Biography:Epicurus|Epicurus]], "Letter to Menoeceus", contained in Diogenes Laertius, ''Lives of Eminent Philosophers'', Book X.</ref></blockquote>

The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as mortal as the body. There is no [[Philosophy:Afterlife|afterlife]], yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us."<ref name="Russel">[[Biography:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]] (1946). ''A History of Western Philosophy'', New York: Simon and Schuster; London: George Allen and Unwin.</ref>

====Stoicism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Stoicism}}
[[File:Bust of Zeno of Citium-Ancient Roman busts in the Neues Museum.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Bust of Zeno of Citium at the Neues Museum]]
[[Biography:Zeno of Citium|Zeno of Citium]], a pupil of [[Biography:Crates of Thebes|Crates of Thebes]], established the school which teaches that living according to reason and virtue is to be in harmony with the universe's divine order, entailed by one's recognition of the universal ''[[Philosophy:Logos|logos]]'', or reason, an essential value of all people. The meaning of life is "freedom from [[Social:Suffering|suffering]]" through ''[[Philosophy:Apatheia|apatheia]]'' (Gr: απαθεια), that is, being [[Philosophy:Objectivity|objective]] and having "clear judgement", ''not'' indifference.

Stoicism's prime directives are [[Philosophy:Virtue|virtue]], [[Philosophy:Reason|reason]], and [[Philosophy:Natural law|natural law]], abided to develop personal self-control and mental fortitude as means of overcoming destructive [[Philosophy:Emotion|emotion]]s. The Stoic does not seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional troubles, by developing clear judgment and inner calm through diligently practiced logic, reflection, and concentration.

The Stoic ethical foundation is that "good lies in the state of the soul", itself, exemplified in [[Philosophy:Wisdom|wisdom]] and self-control, thus improving one's spiritual well-being: "''Virtue'' consists in a ''will'' which is in agreement with Nature."<ref name="Russel"/> The principle applies to one's personal relations thus: "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy".<ref name="Russel"/>

===Enlightenment philosophy===
The [[Philosophy:Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and the [[Social:Colonialism|colonial era]] both changed the nature of European philosophy and exported it worldwide. Devotion and subservience to God were largely replaced by notions of inalienable natural rights and the potentialities of reason, and universal ideals of love and compassion gave way to civic notions of freedom, equality, and citizenship.

The meaning of life changed as well, focusing less on humankind's relationship to God and more on the relationship between individuals and their society. This era is filled with theories that equate meaningful existence with the social order.

====Classical liberalism====
[[Philosophy:Classical liberalism|Classical liberalism]] is a set of ideas that arose in the 17th and 18th centuries, out of conflicts between a growing, wealthy, propertied class and the established aristocratic and religious orders that dominated Europe. Liberalism cast humans as beings with inalienable natural rights (including the right to retain the wealth generated by one's own work), and sought out means to balance rights across society. Broadly speaking, it considers [[Philosophy:Individualism|individual]] [[Philosophy:Liberty|liberty]] to be the most important goal,<ref>A: "'Liberalism' is defined as a social ethic that advocates liberty, and equality in general." — C.A.J. (Tony) Coady ''Distributive Justice'', A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, editors Goodin, Robert E. and Pettit, Philip. Blackwell Publishing, 1995, p. 440. B: "Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end." — Lord Acton.</ref> because only through ensured liberty are the other inherent rights protected.

There are many forms and derivations of liberalism, but their central conceptions of the meaning of life trace back to three main ideas. Early thinkers such as [[Biography:John Locke|John Locke]], [[Biography:Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] and [[Biography:Adam Smith|Adam Smith]] saw humankind beginning in the [[Philosophy:State of nature|state of nature]], then finding meaning for existence through labor and property, and using social contracts to create an environment that supports those efforts.

====Kantianism====
[[File:Immanuel Kant (portrait).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Immanuel Kant is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the late Enlightenment.]]

[[Philosophy:Kantianism|Kantianism]] is a philosophy based on the ethical, epistemological, and [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysical]] works of [[Biography:Immanuel Kant|Immanuel Kant]]. Kant is known for his [[Philosophy:Deontology|deontological]] theory where there is a single moral obligation, the "Categorical Imperative", derived from the concept of [[Philosophy:Duty|duty]]. Kantians believe all actions are performed in accordance with some underlying [[Philosophy:Maxim|maxim]] or principle, and for actions to be ethical, they must adhere to the categorical imperative.

Simply put, the test is that one must universalize the maxim (imagine that all people acted in this way) and then see if it would still be possible to perform the maxim in the world without contradiction. In ''Groundwork'', Kant gives the example of a person who seeks to borrow money without intending to pay it back. This is a contradiction because if it were a [[Philosophy:Moral universalism|universal action]], no person would lend money anymore as he knows that he will never be paid back. The maxim of this action, says Kant, results in a contradiction in conceivability (and thus contradicts perfect duty).

Kant also denied that the consequences of an act in any way contribute to the moral worth of that act, his reasoning being that the physical world is outside one's full control and thus one cannot be held accountable for the events that occur in it.

===19th-century philosophy===

====Utilitarianism====
[[File:Jeremy Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill detail.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Jeremy Bentham]]

The origins of [[Philosophy:Utilitarianism|utilitarianism]] can be traced back as far as [[Biography:Epicurus|Epicurus]], but, as a school of thought, it is credited to [[Biography:Jeremy Bentham|Jeremy Bentham]],<ref>Rosen, Frederick (2003). ''Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill''. Routledge, p. 28. {{ISBN|0-415-22094-7}}. "It was Hume and Bentham who then reasserted most strongly the Epicurean doctrine concerning utility as the basis of justice."</ref> who found that "nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure"; then, from that moral insight, he derived the ''Rule of Utility'': "that the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people". He defined the meaning of life as the "greatest happiness principle".

[[Biography:Jeremy Bentham|Jeremy Bentham]]'s foremost proponent was [[Biography:James Mill|James Mill]], a significant philosopher in his day, and father of [[Biography:John Stuart Mill|John Stuart Mill]]. The younger Mill was educated per Bentham's principles, including transcribing and summarizing much of his father's work.<ref name="Mill">Mill, John Stuart. ''On Liberty'', ed. Himmelfarb. Penguin Classics, 1974, ed.'s introduction, p. 11.</ref>

====Nihilism====
[[Philosophy:Nihilism|Nihilism]] suggests that life is without objective meaning.

[[Biography:Friedrich Nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche]] characterized nihilism as emptying the world, and especially human existence, of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, and essential value; succinctly, nihilism is the process of "the devaluing of the highest values".<ref name="Bindé">{{Cite book |author=Jérôme Bindé |title=The Future of Values: 21st-Century Talks |publisher=Berghahn Books |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-57181-442-5}}</ref> Seeing the nihilist as a natural result of the idea that [[Philosophy:God is dead|God is dead]], and insisting it was something to overcome, his questioning of the nihilist's life-negating values returned meaning to the Earth.<ref name="Reginster">{{Cite book |author=Bernard Reginster |title=The Affirmation of Life: Nietzsche on Overcoming Nihilism |title-link= |date=2006 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02199-0 |}}</ref>

To [[Biography:Martin Heidegger|Martin Heidegger]], nihilism is the movement whereby "[[Philosophy:Being|being]]" is forgotten, and is transformed into value, in other words, the reduction of being to exchange value.<ref name="Bindé"/> Heidegger, in accordance with Nietzsche, saw in the so-called "[[Philosophy:God is dead|death of God]]" a potential source for nihilism:
<blockquote>If God, as the supra-sensory ground and goal, of all reality, is dead; if the supra-sensory world of the Ideas has suffered the loss of its obligatory, and above it, its vitalizing and up-building power, then nothing more remains to which Man can cling, and by which he can orient himself.<ref>Heidegger, "The Word of Nietzsche," 61.</ref>[[File:John Martin - The Great Day of His Wrath - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''The End of the World'' by John Martin]]</blockquote>

The French philosopher [[Biography:Albert Camus|Albert Camus]] asserts that the [[Philosophy:Absurdity|absurdity]] of the [[Philosophy:Human condition|human condition]] is that people search for external values and meaning in a world which has none and is indifferent to them. Camus writes of value-nihilists such as Meursault,<ref>Camus (1946) ''L'Etranger.''</ref> but also of values in a nihilistic world, that people can instead strive to be "heroic nihilists", living with dignity in the face of absurdity, living with "secular saintliness", fraternal solidarity, and rebelling against and transcending the world's indifference.<ref>Camus (1955) ''The Myth of Sisyphus.''</ref>

===20th-century philosophy===
{{Further|Philosophy:20th-century philosophy}}
The current era has seen radical changes in both formal and popular conceptions of human nature. The knowledge disclosed by modern science has effectively rewritten the relationship of humankind to the natural world. Advances in medicine and technology have freed humans from significant limitations and ailments of previous eras;<ref>For example, see hygiene, [[Chemistry:Antibiotic|antibiotic]]s and [[Biology:Vaccination|vaccination]].</ref> and philosophy—particularly following the [[Philosophy:Linguistic turn|linguistic turn]]—has altered how the relationships people have with themselves and each other are conceived. Questions about the meaning of life have also seen radical changes, from attempts to reevaluate human existence in biological and scientific terms (as in pragmatism and logical positivism) to efforts to meta-theorize about meaning-making as a personal, individual-driven activity (existentialism, secular humanism).

====Pragmatism====
[[Philosophy:Pragmatism|Pragmatism]] originated in the late-19th-century US, concerning itself (mostly) with [[Truth|truth]], and positing that "only in struggling with the environment" do data, and derived theories, have meaning, and that ''consequences'', like utility and practicality, are also components of truth. Moreover, pragmatism posits that ''anything'' useful and practical is not always true, arguing that what most contributes to the most human good in the long course is true. In practice, theoretical claims must be ''practically verifiable'', i.e. one should be able to predict and test claims, and, that, ultimately, the needs of humankind should guide human intellectual inquiry.

Pragmatic philosophers suggest that the practical, useful understanding of life is more important than searching for an impractical abstract truth about life. [[Biography:William James|William James]] argued that truth could be made, but not sought.<ref name="James">{{Cite book |author=William James |title=The Meaning of Truth |publisher=Prometheus Books |date=1909 |isbn=978-1-57392-138-1}}</ref><ref name="Corti">{{Cite book |author=Walter Robert Corti |title=The Philosophy of William James |publisher=Meiner Verlag |date=1976 |isbn=978-3-7873-0352-6}}</ref> To a pragmatist, the meaning of life is discoverable only via experience.

====Theism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Philosophical theism}}
Theists believe God created the universe and that God had a purpose in doing so. Theists also hold the view that humans find their meaning and purpose for life in God's purpose in creating. Some theists further hold that if there were no God to give life ultimate meaning, value, and purpose, then life would be absurd.<ref name="Theistic Perspectives on the Meaning of Life">{{Cite web |title=Philosophy 446: Theistic Perspectives on the Meaning of Life |url=http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~morourke/446-phil/05%20Spring/Handouts/Philosophical/Theistic%20Perspectives-MOL.htm |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=www.webpages.uidaho.edu}}</ref>

====Existentialism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Meaning (existential)}}
[[File:The Scream.jpg|thumb|upright|Edvard Munch's ''The Scream'', a representation of existential angst]]
According to existentialism, each person creates the essence (meaning) of their life; life is not determined by a supernatural god or an earthly authority, one is free. As such, one's ethical prime directives are ''action'', ''freedom'', and ''decision'', thus, existentialism opposes [[Philosophy:Rationalism|rationalism]] and positivism. In seeking meaning to life, the existentialist looks to where people find meaning in life, in course of which using only reason as a source of meaning is insufficient; this gives rise to the emotions of anxiety and [[Philosophy:Angst|dread]], felt in considering one's [[Philosophy:Free will|free will]], and the concomitant awareness of death. According to [[Biography:Jean-Paul Sartre|Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Philosophy:Existence precedes essence|existence precedes essence]]; the ([[Philosophy:Essence|essence]]) of one's life arises ''only'' after one comes to [[Philosophy:Existence|existence]].

[[Biography:Søren Kierkegaard|Søren Kierkegaard]] spoke about a "leap", arguing that [[Philosophy:Absurdism|life is full of absurdity]], and one must make his and her own values in an indifferent world. One can live meaningfully (free of despair and anxiety) in an unconditional commitment to something finite and devotes that meaningful life to the commitment, despite the vulnerability inherent to doing so.<ref name="Hall">{{Cite book |author=Amy Laura Hall |title=Kierkegaard and the Treachery of Love |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-89311-4}}</ref>

[[Biography:Arthur Schopenhauer|Arthur Schopenhauer]] answered: "What is the meaning of life?" by stating that one's life reflects one's will, and that the will (life) is an aimless, irrational, and painful drive. Salvation, deliverance, and escape from suffering are in aesthetic contemplation, sympathy for others, and [[Philosophy:Asceticism|asceticism]].<ref name="Jacquette">{{Cite book |author=Dale Jacquette |title=Schopenhauer, Philosophy, and the Arts |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-47388-0}}</ref><ref name="Murray">{{Cite book |author=Durno Murray |title=Nietzsche's Affirmative Morality |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=1999 |isbn=978-3-11-016601-9}}</ref>

For [[Biography:Friedrich Nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche]], life is worth living only if there are goals inspiring one to live. Accordingly, he saw nihilism ("all that happens is meaningless") as without goals. He stated that asceticism denies one's living in the world; stated that values are not objective facts, that are rationally necessary, universally binding commitments: our evaluations are interpretations, and not reflections of the world, as it is, in itself, and, therefore, [[Philosophy:Perspectivism|all ideations take place from a particular perspective]].<ref name="Reginster"/>

====Absurdism====
{{Main|Philosophy:Absurdism}}
{{Quote box |quote="... in spite of or in defiance of the whole of existence he wills to be himself with it, to take it along, almost defying his torment. For to hope in the possibility of help, not to speak of help by virtue of the absurd, that for God all things are possible—no, that he will not do. And as for seeking help from any other—no, that he will not do for all the world; rather than seek the help he would prefer to be himself—with all the tortures of hell if so it must be."|source=[[Biography:Søren Kierkegaard|Søren Kierkegaard]], ''[[Philosophy:The Sickness Unto Death|The Sickness Unto Death]]''<ref name="KierkegaardSuD">{{Cite book|last=Kierkegaard|first=Søren|title=The Sickness Unto Death|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189042|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=1941|isbn=978-1-4486-7502-9}}</ref> |width=30% |align=right}}
In absurdist philosophy, the Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between the individual's search for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma. Kierkegaard and Camus describe the solutions in their works, ''[[Philosophy:The Sickness Unto Death|The Sickness Unto Death]]'' (1849) and ''The Myth of Sisyphus'' (1942):
* [[Medicine:Suicide|Suicide]] (or, "escaping existence"): a solution in which a person simply ends one's own life. Both Kierkegaard and Camus dismiss the viability of this option.
* Religious belief in a [[Religion:Transcendence|transcendent]] realm or being: a solution in which one believes in the existence of a reality that is beyond the Absurd, and, as such, has meaning. Kierkegaard stated that a belief in anything beyond the Absurd requires a non-rational but perhaps necessary religious acceptance in such an intangible and empirically unprovable thing (now commonly referred to as a "[[Philosophy:Leap of faith|leap of faith]]"). However, Camus regarded this solution as "philosophical suicide".
* Acceptance of the Absurd: a solution in which one accepts and even embraces the Absurd and continues to live in spite of it. Camus endorsed this solution (notably in his 1947 allegorical novel ''The Plague'' or ''La Peste''), while Kierkegaard regarded this solution as "demoniac madness": "''He rages most of all at the thought that eternity might get it into its head to take his misery from him!''"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |title=The Sickness Unto Death |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189042 |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1941 |isbn=978-1-4486-7502-9}}, Part I, Ch. 3.</ref>

====Secular humanism====
{{Further|Philosophy:Secular humanism}}
[[File:HumanismSymbol.PNG|left|thumb|upright=0.7|The "[[Happy Human|Happy Human]]" symbol representing secular humanism]]

Per secular humanism, the [[Biology:Human|human species]] came to be by reproducing successive generations in a progression of [[Biology:Evolution|unguided evolution]] as an integral expression of [[Earth:Nature|nature]], which is self-existing.<ref name="humanifesto1">{{cite web|title=Humanist Manifesto I |url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto1.html |work=American Humanist Association |date=1933 |access-date=26 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070730070437/http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto1.html |archive-date=30 July 2007 }}</ref><ref name="humanifesto2">{{cite web |title=Humanist Manifesto II |work=American Humanist Association |date=1973 |url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto2.html |access-date=1 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809102124/http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto2.html |archive-date=9 August 2007 }}</ref> Human knowledge comes from human observation, experimentation, and rational analysis (the [[Scientific method|scientific method]]), and not from supernatural sources; the nature of the [[Astronomy:Universe|universe]] is what people discern it to be.<ref name=humanifesto1/> Likewise, "[[Philosophy:Intrinsic value (ethics)|values]] and realities" are determined "by means of intelligent inquiry"<ref name=humanifesto1/> and "are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience", that is, by [[Critical thinking|critical intelligence]].<ref name="humanifesto3">{{cite web|title=Humanist Manifesto III |work=American Humanist Association |date=2003 |url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/3/HumandItsAspirations.php |access-date=1 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809103515/http://www.americanhumanist.org/3/HumandItsAspirations.php |archive-date=9 August 2007 }}</ref><ref name="CDSH">{{cite web |title=A Secular Humanist Declaration |work=Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (now the Council for Secular Humanism) |date=1980 |url=http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=declaration |access-date=1 August 2007 |archive-date=17 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080817084107/http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=declaration |url-status=dead }}</ref> "As far as we know, the total personality is [a function] of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context."<ref name=humanifesto2/>

People determine human purpose without supernatural influence; it is the human personality (general sense) that is the purpose of a human being's life which [[Philosophy:Secular humanism|humanism]] seeks to develop and fulfill:<ref name= humanifesto1/> "Humanism affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity".<ref name=humanifesto3/> Humanism aims to promote [[Philosophy:Enlightened self-interest|enlightened self-interest]] and the [[Philosophy:Common good|common good]] for all people. It is based on the premises that the [[Philosophy:Happiness|happiness]] of the individual person is inextricably linked to the well-being of all humanity, in part because humans are social animals who find meaning in [[Social:Interpersonal relationship|personal relations]] and because cultural progress benefits everybody living in the [[Social:Culture|culture]].<ref name= humanifesto2/><ref name=humanifesto3/>

The philosophical subgenres [[Philosophy:Posthumanism|posthumanism]] and [[Transhumanism|transhumanism]] (sometimes used synonymously) are extensions of humanistic values. One should seek the advancement of humanity and of [[Philosophy:Biocentrism (ethics)|all life]] to the greatest degree feasible and seek to reconcile [[Philosophy:Renaissance humanism|Renaissance humanism]] with the 21st century's technoscientific culture. In this light, every living creature has the right to determine its personal and social "meaning of life".<ref>{{cite web |author=Nick Bostrom |title=Transhumanist Values |work=Oxford University |date=2005 |url=http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html |access-date=28 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701062134/http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html |archive-date=1 July 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

From a [[Philosophy:Secular humanism|humanism]]-psychotherapeutic point of view, the question of the meaning of life could be reinterpreted as "What is the meaning of ''my'' life?"<ref>Irvin Yalom, ''Existential Psychotherapy'', 1980.</ref> This approach emphasizes that the question is personal—and avoids focusing on cosmic or religious questions about overarching purpose. There are many therapeutic responses to this question. For example, Viktor Frankl argues for "Dereflection", which translates largely as to cease endlessly reflecting on the self; instead, engage in life. On the whole, the therapeutic response is that the question itself—what is the meaning of life?—evaporates when one is fully engaged in life. (The question then morphs into more specific worries such as "What delusions am I under?"; "What is blocking my ability to enjoy things?"; "Why do I neglect loved-ones?".)<ref>See also: [[Philosophy:Existential therapy|Existential therapy]] and Irvin D. Yalom.</ref>

====Logical positivism====
Logical positivists ask: "What is the meaning of life?", "What is the meaning in asking?"<ref>{{Cite book |author=Richard Taylor |title=Good and Evil |chapter= Chapter 5: The Meaning of Life |publisher=Macmillan Publishing Company |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-02-616690-4}}</ref><ref>Wohlgennant, Rudolph. (1981). "Has the Question about the Meaning of Life any Meaning?" (Chapter 4). In E. Morscher, ed., ''Philosophie als Wissenschaft''.</ref> and "If there are no objective values, then, is life meaningless?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=McNaughton |first=David |date=August 1988 |title=Moral Vision: An Introduction to Ethics |chapter=Section 1.5: Moral Freedom and the Meaning of Life |publisher=Oxford: Blackwell Publishing |isbn=978-0-631-15945-2}}</ref> [[Biography:Ludwig Wittgenstein|Ludwig Wittgenstein]] and the logical positivists said:{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} "Expressed in language, the question is meaningless"; because, ''in'' life the statement the "meaning of x", usually denotes the ''consequences'' of x, or the ''significance'' of x, or ''what is notable'' about x, etc., thus, when the meaning of life concept equals "x", in the statement the "meaning of x", the statement becomes [[Recursion|recursive]], and, therefore, nonsensical, or it might refer to the fact that biological life is essential to having a meaning in life.

The things (people, events) in the life of a person can have meaning (importance) as parts of a whole, but a discrete meaning of (the) life, itself, aside from those things, cannot be discerned. A person's life has meaning (for themselves, others) as the life events resulting from their achievements, legacy, family, etc., but, to say that life, itself, has meaning, is a misuse of language, since any note of significance, or of consequence, is relevant only ''in'' life (to the living), so rendering the statement erroneous. [[Biography:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]] wrote that although he found that his distaste for torture was not like his distaste for broccoli, he found no satisfactory, empirical method of proving this:<ref name="Russel"/>
<blockquote>When we try to be definite, as to what we mean when we say that this or that is "the Good," we find ourselves involved in very great difficulties. Bentham's creed, that pleasure is the Good, roused furious opposition, and was said to be a pig's philosophy. Neither he nor his opponents could advance any argument. In a scientific question, evidence can be adduced on both sides, and, in the end, one side is seen to have the better case—or, if this does not happen, the question is left undecided. But in a question, as to whether this, or that, is the ultimate Good, there is no evidence, either way; each disputant can only appeal to his own emotions, and employ such rhetorical devices as shall arouse similar emotions in others ... Questions as to "values"—that is to say, as to what is good or bad on its own account, independently of its effects—lie outside the domain of science, as the defenders of religion emphatically assert. I think that, in this, they are right, but, I draw the further conclusion, which they do not draw, that questions as to "values" lie wholly outside the domain of knowledge. That is to say, when we assert that this, or that, has "value", we are giving expression to our own emotions, not to a fact, which would still be true if our personal feelings were different.<ref>{{Citation |first=Bertrand |last=Russell |date=1961 |title=Science and Ethics |url=http://www.solstice.us/russell/science-ethics.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114144956/http://www.solstice.us/russell/science-ethics.html |archive-date=14 November 2007 }}.</ref></blockquote>

====Postmodernism====
{{Further|Philosophy:Postmodernism}}
Postmodernist thought—broadly speaking—sees human nature as constructed by language, or by structures and institutions of human society. Unlike other forms of philosophy, postmodernism rarely seeks out ''[[Philosophy:A priori and a posteriori|a priori]]'' or innate meanings in human existence, but instead focuses on analyzing or critiquing ''given'' meanings in order to rationalize or reconstruct them. Anything resembling a "meaning of life", in postmodernist terms, can only be understood within a social and linguistic framework and must be pursued as an escape from the power structures that are already embedded in all forms of speech and interaction. As a rule, postmodernists see [[Philosophy:Awareness|awareness]] of the constraints of language as necessary to escaping those constraints, but different theorists take different views on the nature of this process: from a radical reconstruction of meaning by individuals (as in deconstructionism) to theories in which individuals are primarily extensions of language and society, without real autonomy (as in poststructuralism).

====Naturalistic pantheism====
According to [[Philosophy:Naturalistic pantheism|naturalistic pantheism]], the meaning of life is to care for and look after nature and the environment.

====Embodied cognition====
[[Embodied cognition]] uses the neurological basis of emotion, speech, and cognition to understand the nature of thought. [[Philosophy:Cognitive neuropsychology|Cognitive neuropsychology]] has identified brain areas necessary for these abilities, and genetic studies show that the gene [[Biology:FOXP2|FOXP2]] affects neuroplasticity which underlies language fluency.

[[Biography:George Lakoff|George Lakoff]], a professor of cognitive linguistics and philosophy, advances the view that metaphors are the usual basis of meaning, not the logic of verbal symbol manipulation.<ref>{{cite web |title=BLENDING AND METAPHOR |url=https://markturner.org/blendaphor.html |website=markturner.org |access-date=28 February 2023}}</ref> Computers use [[Logic programming|logic programming]] to effectively query databases but humans rely on a trained biological neural network. Postmodern philosophies that use the indeterminacy of symbolic language to deny definite meaning ignore those who feel they know what they mean and feel that their [[Social:Interlocutor (linguistics)|interlocutors]] know what they mean.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} Choosing the correct metaphor results in enough common understanding to pursue questions such as the meaning of life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Landau |first1=Mark J. |title=Using Metaphor to Find Meaning in Life |journal=Review of General Psychology |date=March 2018 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=62–72 |doi=10.1037/gpr0000105 |pmid=29632431 |pmc=5889147 }}</ref> Improved knowledge of brain function should result in better treatments producing healthier brains. When combined with more effective training, a sound personal assessment as to the meaning of one's life should be straightforward.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}

== East Asian philosophical perspectives ==

===Mohism===
{{further|Philosophy:Mohism}}
The Mohist philosophers believed that the purpose of life was universal, impartial [[Philosophy:Love|love]]. Mohism promoted a philosophy of impartial caring—a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship with him or her.<ref name="philosophers">''One Hundred Philosophers: A Guide to the World's Greatest Thinkers'' Peter J. King.</ref> The expression of this indiscriminate caring is what makes a man a righteous being in Mohist thought. This advocacy of impartiality was a target of attack by the other Chinese philosophical schools, most notably the Confucians who believed that while love should be unconditional, it should not be indiscriminate. For example, children should hold a greater love for their parents than for random strangers.

===Confucianism===
{{further|Philosophy:Confucianism}}
[[Philosophy:Confucianism|Confucianism]] recognizes human nature in accordance with the need for discipline and education. Because humankind is driven by both positive and negative influences, Confucianists see a goal in achieving virtue through strong relationships and reasoning as well as minimizing the negative. This emphasis on normal living is seen in the Confucianist scholar Tu Wei-Ming's quote, "We can realize the ultimate meaning of life in ordinary human existence."<ref>Tu, Wei-Ming. ''Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation.'' Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985.</ref>

===Legalism===
{{further|Philosophy:Legalism (Chinese philosophy)}}
The Legalists believed that finding the purpose of life was a meaningless effort. To the Legalists, only practical knowledge was valuable, especially as it related to the function and performance of the state.

==Religious perspectives==
The religious perspectives on the meaning of life are those ideologies that explain life in terms of an implicit purpose not defined by humans. According to the [[Philosophy:Charter for Compassion|Charter for Compassion]], signed by many of the world's leading religious and secular organizations, the core of religion is the golden rule of 'treat others as you would have them treat you'. The Charter's founder, Karen Armstrong, quotes the ancient Rabbi [[Biography:Hillel the Elder|Hillel]] who suggested that 'the rest is commentary'. This is not to reduce the commentary's importance, and Armstrong considers that its study, interpretation, and ritual are the means by which religious people [[Social:Internalisation (sociology)|internalize]] and live the golden rule.
<!--Note: the following two commented sections were commented out when I re-classified the sections. It is preserved here in case someone can make use of it later-->
<!--The rise of universal religions marks a shift from concerns about personal potential and relationships to the natural world to a focus on more profound forms of devotion and all-inclusive salvation. In the Christian, Muslim, and Sikh faiths, this manifested as subjection to God: salvation was not a personal achievement, but rather a token of God's grace to be earned by the devout. Eastern traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism, likewise, moved from their primary focus on individual liberation to more abstract ideals of liberation for all. In all, this era magnified and generalized ideals of love, compassion, and relief of human suffering that had little or no place in earlier philosophy.-->
<!--Prior to the expansion of the major Hindu relationship between ''atman'' and ''brahman'', or as a social relationship, as in the Jewish covenant). Other traditions relied heavily on reason, discipline, or the development of other human faculties, either as meaningful in their own right or as tools to reach other decisions.-->

===Abrahamic religions===
[[File:ReligionSymbolAbr.PNG|thumb|left|Symbols of the three main Abrahamic religions – [[Religion:Judaism|Judaism]], Christianity, and Islam]]

====Judaism====
In the [[Religion:Judaism|Judaic]] worldview, the meaning of life is to elevate the physical world ('Olam HaZeh') and prepare it for the world to come ('Olam HaBa'), the messianic era. This is called Tikkun Olam ("Fixing the World"). Olam HaBa can also mean the spiritual afterlife, and there is debate concerning the eschatological order. However, Judaism is not focused on personal salvation, but on communal (between man and man) and individual (between man and God) spiritualised actions in this world.

Judaism's most important feature is the worship of a single, incomprehensible, [[Religion:Transcendence|transcendent]], one, indivisible, [[Religion:God in Judaism|absolute Being]], who created and governs the universe. Closeness with the God of Israel is through a study of His Torah, and adherence to its mitzvot (divine laws). In traditional Judaism, God established a special covenant with a people, the people of Israel, at Mount Sinai, giving the Jewish commandments. Torah comprises the written Pentateuch and the transcribed oral tradition, further developed through the generations. The Jewish people are intended as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"<ref>Exodus 19:6.</ref> and a "light to the Nations", influencing the other peoples to keep their own religio-ethical [[Seven Laws of Noah]]. The messianic era is seen as the perfection of this dual path to God.

Jewish observances involve ethical and ritual, affirmative, and prohibitive injunctions. Modern Jewish denominations differ over the nature, relevance, and emphases of mitzvot. Jewish philosophy emphasises that God is not affected or benefited, but the individual and society benefit by drawing close to God. The rationalist [[Biography:Maimonides|Maimonides]] sees the ethical and ritual divine commandments as a necessary, but insufficient preparation for philosophical understanding of God, with its love and awe.<ref>''Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism'', Menachem Kellner, Littman Library. Particularly the parable of the King's Palace in divine worship, in the Guide for the Perplexed.</ref> Among fundamental [[Religion:Jewish ethics|values]] in the Torah are pursuit of justice, compassion, peace, kindness, hard work, prosperity, humility, and education.<ref name="Cohn-Sherbok">{{Cite book |author=Dan Cohn-Sherbok |title=Judaism: History, Belief, and Practice |publisher=Routledge |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-23661-4}}</ref><ref name="Heschel">{{Cite book |author=Abraham Joshua Heschel |title=Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-8264-0802-0}}</ref> The world to come,<ref name="Shuchat">{{Cite book |author=Wilfred Shuchat |title=The Garden of Eden & the Struggle to Be Human: According to the Midrash Rabbah |publisher=Devora Publishing |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-932687-31-6}}</ref> prepared in the present, elevates man to an everlasting connection with God.<ref name="Braham">{{Cite book |author=Randolph L. Braham |title=Contemporary Views on the Holocaust |publisher=Springer |date=1983 |isbn=978-0-89838-141-2}}</ref> Simeon the Righteous says, "The world stands on three things: on Torah, on worship, and on acts of loving kindness." The [[Religion:Siddur|prayer book]] relates, "Blessed is our God who created us for his honor ... and planted within us everlasting life." Of this context, the Talmud states, "Everything that God does is for the good." including suffering.

The Jewish mystical [[Unsolved:Kabbalah|Kabbalah]] gives complementary esoteric meanings of life. As well as Judaism providing an immanent relationship with God (personal [[Philosophy:Theism|theism]]), in Kabbalah, the spiritual and physical creation is a paradoxical manifestation of the immanent aspects of God's Being ([[Religion:Panentheism|panentheism]]), related to the [[Religion:Shekhinah|Shekhinah]] (Divine feminine). Jewish observance unites the sephirot (Divine attributes) on high, restoring harmony to creation. In [[Religion:Lurianic Kabbalah|Lurianic Kabbalah]], the meaning of life is the messianic rectification of the shattered sparks of God's persona, exiled in physical existence (the Kelipot shells), through the actions of Jewish observance.<ref>''Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction'', Joseph Dan, Oxford University Press, Chapter "Early modern era: Safed spirituality".</ref> Through this, in Hasidic Judaism the ultimate essential "desire" of God is the revelation of the Omnipresent Divine essence through materiality, achieved by a man from within his limited physical realm when the body will give life to the soul.<ref>Habad intellectual Hasidic thought: source text Tanya I: 36, 49; secondary text ''Heaven on Earth'', Faitel Levin, Kehot publications.</ref>

====Christianity====
[[File:Cristo Redentor - Rio.jpg|thumb|upright|''Christ the Redeemer'' statue on Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro is symbolic of Christianity,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/the-new-seven-wonders-of-the-world/story-s994IbVb38xNOwRFjoCr2L.html |title=The new Seven Wonders of the World |work=Hindustan Times |date=8 July 2007 |access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref> illustrating the concept of seeking redemption through Jesus Christ.]]

[[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] has its roots in Judaism, and shares much of the latter faith's [[Philosophy:Ontology|ontology]]. Its central beliefs derive from the teachings of Jesus Christ as presented in the [[Religion:New Testament|New Testament]]. Life's purpose in Christianity is to seek divine [[Religion:Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] through the grace of God and intercession of Christ.<ref>John 11:26.</ref> The New Testament speaks of God wanting to have a relationship with humans both in this life and the life to come, which can happen only if one's [[Religion:Atonement in Christianity|sins are forgiven]].<ref>John 3:16–21; 2 Peter 3:9.</ref>

In the Christian view, humankind was made in the [[Religion:Image of God|Image of God]] and perfect, but the Fall of Man caused the progeny of the [[Religion:Adam and Eve|First Parents]] to inherit Original Sin and its consequences. Christ's [[Religion:Passion of Jesus|passion]], [[Religion:Crucifixion of Jesus|death]] and [[Religion:Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] provide the means for transcending that impure state (Romans 6:23). That this restoration from sin is possible is called the [[Religion:Gospel|gospel]].

The specific process of appropriating salvation through Christ and maintaining a relationship with God varies between different denominations of Christians, but all rely on faith in Christ and the gospel as the fundamental starting point. Salvation through faith in God is found in Ephesians 2:8–9<sup>[8] "</sup>For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;<sup>[9]</sup> not as a result of works, that no one should boast." (NASB; 1973). The gospel maintains that through this belief, the barrier that sin has created between man and God is destroyed, thereby allowing believers to be [[Religion:Regeneration (theology)|regenerated]] by God and to instill in them a new heart after God's own will with the ability to live righteously before him. This is what the term [[Religion:Salvation in Christianity|saved]] almost always refer to.

In Reformed theology, it is believed the purpose of life is to glorify God. In the ''Westminster Shorter Catechism'', an important creed for Reformed Christians,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bower |first=John |title=9 Things You Should Know About The Westminster Confession |date=25 March 2021 |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-westminster-confession/}}</ref> the first question is: "What is the chief end of Man?" (that is, "What is Man's main purpose?"). The answer is: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever". God requires one to obey the revealed moral law, saying: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself".<ref name="Westminster">{{cite web |title=The Westminster Shorter Catechism |url=http://www.creeds.net/reformed/Westminster/shorter_catechism.html |access-date=21 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311000717/http://www.creeds.net/reformed/Westminster/shorter_catechism.html |archive-date=11 March 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ''[[Religion:Baltimore Catechism|Baltimore Catechism]]'' answers the question "Why did God make you?" by saying "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Baltimore Catechism |url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/balt/balt1.htm |access-date=12 June 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Areopagus from the Acropolis.jpg|thumb|Areopagus from the Acropolis (Athens, 2006)]]
The Apostle Paul also answers this question in his speech on the Areopagus in [[Place:Athens|Athens]]: "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."<ref>[[Religion:Bible|Bible]], Acts 17:26–27, NKJV.</ref>

Catholicism's way of thinking is better expressed through the Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius of Loyola: "The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul. All other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created. It follows from this that one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one's end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one's end. To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, provided the matter is subject to our free choice and there is no other prohibition. Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a-long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/prs/stign/ignatian_spirit.html |title=St. Ignatius {{!}} Ignatian Spirituality |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003044600/http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/prs/stign/ignatian_spirit.html |archive-date=3 October 2013 |work=Bc.edu |access-date=29 October 2013}}</ref>

[[Religion:Mormonism|Mormonism]] teaches that the purpose of life on Earth is to gain knowledge and experience and to have joy.<ref name="Gospel Principles">{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles?lang=eng|title=Gospel Principles|website=churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=27 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710171937/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles?lang=eng|archive-date=10 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mormons believe that humans are literally the spirit children of God the Father, and thus have the potential to progress to become like Him. Mormons teach that God provided his children the choice to come to Earth, which is considered a crucial stage in their development—wherein a mortal body, coupled with the freedom to choose, makes for an environment to learn and grow.<ref name="Gospel Principles"/> The Fall of Adam is not viewed as an unfortunate or unplanned cancellation of God's original plan for a paradise; rather, the opposition found in mortality is an essential element of God's plan because the process of enduring and overcoming challenges, difficulties, and temptations provides opportunities to gain wisdom and strength, thereby learning to appreciate and choose good and reject evil.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2 Nephi 2 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/2 |access-date=2022-07-14 |website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Moses 6 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/eng/scriptures/pgp/moses/6 |access-date=2022-07-14 |website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org |language=en}}</ref> Because God is just, he allows those who were not taught the gospel during mortality to receive it after death in the spirit world,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/138?lang=eng|title=Doctrine and Covenants 138|work=churchofjesuschrist.org}}</ref> so that all of his children have the opportunity to return to live with God, and reach their full potential.

A recent alternative Christian theological discourse interprets Jesus as revealing that the purpose of life is to elevate our compassionate response to human suffering;<ref>{{cite book |last=Drake-Brockman |first=Tom |url=http://christianhumanism.webs.com/ |title=Christian Humanism: The Compassionate Theology of a Jew Called Jesus |date=2012}}</ref> nonetheless, the conventional Christian position is that people are justified by belief in the [[Religion:Propitiation|propitiatory sacrifice]] of Jesus' death on the cross.

====Islam====
In [[Religion:Islam|Islam]], humanity's ultimate purpose is to worship their creator, [[Religion:Allah|Allah]] ({{lang-en|The God}}), through his signs, and be grateful to him through sincere love and devotion. This is practically shown by following the divine guidelines revealed in the Qur'an and the tradition of the [[Biography:Muhammad|Prophet]] (with the exception of [[Religion:Quranism|Quranists]]). Earthly life is a test, determining one's position of closeness to [[Religion:Allah|Allah]] in the hereafter. A person will either be close to him and his love in ''[[Religion:Jannah|Jannah]]'' (Paradise) or far away in ''[[Religion:Jahannam|Jahannam]]'' (Hell).

For Allah's satisfaction, via the Qur'an, all Muslims must believe in God, his revelations, his angels, his messengers, and in the "Day of Judgment".<ref>{{qref|2|4|b=y}}, {{qref|2|285|b=y}}, {{qref|4|136|b=y}}.</ref> The Qur'an describes the purpose of creation as follows: "Blessed be he in whose hand is the kingdom, he is powerful over all things, who created death and life that he might examine which of you is best in deeds, and he is the almighty, the forgiving." (Qur'an 67:1–2) and "And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should be obedient (to Allah)." (Qur'an 51:56). Obedience testifies to the [[Religion:Tawhid|oneness of God]] in his lordship, his names, and his attributes. Terrenal life is a test; how one ''acts'' (behaves) determines whether one's soul goes to Jannat (Heaven) or to Jahannam (Hell).<ref>In most English translations of Qur'an 51:56 translates the last word to "worship", but any Arabic (and Urdu) speaking person can confirm that "ABADON" means to follow the Will of Allah (NOT worship). This is relevant because the Will of Allah is not just to worship HIM; to be just and good with humanity is equally important.</ref>{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} However, on the day of Judgement the final decision is of Allah alone.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://iqra.net/Hadith/judgement.php |title=The Day of Judgement |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530225629/http://iqra.net/Hadith/judgement.php |archive-date=30 May 2013 |work=Iqra.net |access-date=29 October 2013}}</ref>

The [[Religion:Five Pillars of Islam|Five Pillars of Islam]] are duties incumbent to every Muslim; they are: [[Religion:Shahada|Shahada]]h (profession of faith); [[Religion:Salah|Salat]] (ritual prayer); [[Religion:Zakat|Zakat]] (charity); Sawm (fasting during [[Religion:Ramadan|Ramadan]]), and [[Religion:Hajj|Hajj]] (pilgrimage to [[Place:Mecca|Mecca]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Pillars of Islam |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/295625/Pillars-of-Islam |access-date=2 May 2007}}</ref> They derive from the [[Religion:Hadith|Hadith]] works, notably of Sahih Al-Bukhari and [[Religion:Sahih Muslim|Sahih Muslim]]. The five pillars are not mentioned directly in the Quran.

Beliefs differ among the [[Religion:Kalam|Kalam]]. The Sunni and the Ahmadiyya concept of pre-destination is divine decree;<ref>{{hadith-usc|usc=yes|Muslim|1|1}}.</ref> the Shi'a concept of pre-destination is divine justice; in the esoteric view of the Sufis, the universe exists only for God's pleasure; Creation is a grand game, wherein Allah is the greatest prize.

The Sufi view of the meaning of life stems from the hadith qudsi that states "I (God) was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known." One possible interpretation of this view is that the meaning of life for an individual is to know the nature of God, and the purpose of all of creation is to reveal that nature and to prove its value as the ultimate treasure, that is God. However, this hadith is stated in various forms and interpreted in various ways by people, such, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá of the [[Social:Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí Faith]],<ref name='Commentary on the Islamic Tradition "I Was a Hidden Treasure ..."'>{{cite web|last=Bahá|first=Abdu'l|title=Commentary on the Islamic Tradition "I Was a Hidden Treasure ..."|url=http://bahai-library.com/abdulbaha_kuntu_kanzan_makhfiyyan|work=Baháʼí Studies Bulletin|access-date=3 August 2013}}</ref> and in [[Biography:Ibn Arabi|Ibn'Arabī]]'s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam.<ref name="SUMMARY OF THE FUSÛS">{{cite web|last=Chittick|first=William C.|title=The Imprint of the Bezels of the Wisdom|url=http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articlespdf/naqshalfusus.pdf|work=Ibn 'Arabi's Own Summary of the Fusûs|access-date=3 August 2013}}</ref>

====Baháʼí Faith====
[[File:Ringstone.svg|thumb|The Ringstone symbol represents humanity's connection to God.]]

The [[Social:Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí Faith]] emphasizes the unity of humanity.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bahaism |title="Bahaism." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |date=2007 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |edition=Fourth |volume=}}</ref> To Baháʼís, the purpose of life is focused on spiritual growth and service to humanity. Human beings are viewed as intrinsically spiritual beings. People's lives in this material world provide extended opportunities to grow, to develop divine qualities and virtues, and the prophets were sent by God to facilitate this.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=P. |date=1999 |title=A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford |pages=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/325 325–328] |isbn=978-1-85168-184-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/325 }}</ref><ref>For a more detailed Baháʼí perspective, see {{cite web |title={{-'}}The Purpose of Life' Baháʼí Topics An Information Resource of the Baháʼí International Community |url=http://info.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-6.html |access-date=13 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829233333/http://info.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-6.html |archive-date=29 August 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===South Asian religions===

====Hindu philosophies====
{{Further|Religion:Hinduism|Philosophy:Hindu philosophy|Philosophy:Dharma}}
[[File:Golden Aum.png|left|thumb|A golden [[Philosophy:Om|Aum]] written in Devanagari. The Aum is sacred in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions.]]

[[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]] is a religious category including many beliefs and traditions. Since Hinduism was the way of expressing meaningful living for a long time before there was a need for naming it as a separate religion, Hindu doctrines are supplementary and complementary in nature, generally non-exclusive, suggestive, and tolerant in content.<ref name="weightman">{{Cite book |author=Simon Weightman |date=1998 |title=The new Penguin handbook of living religions |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780140514070 |url-access=registration |editor=Hinnells, John |publisher=Penguin books |chapter=Hinduism |isbn=978-0-14-051480-3}}</ref> Most believe that the [[Philosophy:Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]] (spirit, soul)—the person's true ''self''—is eternal.<ref name="monierwilliams">{{Cite book |author=Monier Monier-Williams |date=1974 |title=Brahmanism and Hinduism: Or, Religious Thought and Life in India, as Based on the Veda and Other Sacred Books of the Hindus |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5IBXA4UpT0C |access-date= 8 July 2007 |series=Elibron Classics |isbn=978-1-4212-6531-5}}</ref> In part, this stems from Hindu beliefs that spiritual development occurs across many lifetimes, and goals should match the state of development of the individual. There are four possible aims to human life, known as the ''purusharthas'' (ordered from least to greatest): (i) ''Kāma'' (wish, desire, love and sensual pleasure), (ii) ''[[Philosophy:Artha|Artha]]'' (wealth, prosperity, glory), (iii) ''[[Philosophy:Dharma|Dharma]]'' (righteousness, duty, morality, [[Philosophy:Virtue|virtue]], [[Philosophy:Ethics|ethics]]), encompassing notions such as ''[[Philosophy:Ahimsa|ahimsa]]'' (non-violence) and [[Philosophy:Satya|satya]] (truth) and (iv) ''[[Philosophy:Moksha|Moksha]]'' (liberation, i.e. liberation from [[Philosophy:Saṃsāra|Saṃsāra]], the cycle of [[Philosophy:Reincarnation|reincarnation]]).<ref>For dharma, artha, and kama as "brahmanic householder values" see: Flood (1996), p. 17.</ref><ref>For the ''Dharma Śāstras'' as discussing the "four main goals of life" (dharma, artha, kama, and moksha) see: Hopkins, p. 78.</ref><ref>For definition of the term पुरुष-अर्थ ({{IAST|puruṣa-artha}}) as "any of the four principal objects of human life, i.e. {{lang|sa|धर्म}}, {{lang|sa|अर्थ}}, {{lang|sa|काम}}, and {{lang|sa|मोक्ष}}" see: Apte, p. 626, Middle column, Compound #1.</ref>

In all schools of Hinduism, the meaning of life is tied up in the concepts of [[Philosophy:Karma|karma]] (causal action), sansara (the cycle of birth and rebirth), and [[Philosophy:Moksha|moksha]] (liberation). Existence is conceived as the progression of the ātman (similar to the western concept of a soul) across numerous lifetimes, and its ultimate progression towards liberation from karma. Particular goals for life are generally subsumed under broader [[Philosophy:Yoga|yoga]]s (practices) or [[Philosophy:Dharma|dharma]] (correct living) which are intended to create more favorable reincarnations, though they are generally positive acts in this life as well. Traditional schools of Hinduism often worship [[Religion:Deva (Hinduism)|Devas]] which are manifestations of [[Philosophy:Ishvara|Ishvara]] (a personal or chosen God); these Devas are taken as ideal forms to be identified with, as a form of spiritual improvement.

In short, the goal is to realize the fundamental truth about oneself. This thought is conveyed in the [[Philosophy:Mahāvākyas|Mahāvākyas]] ("[[Philosophy:Tat Tvam Asi|Tat Tvam Asi]]" (thou art that), "Aham Brahmāsmi", "Prajñānam Brahma" and "Ayam Ātmā Brahma" (This Ātman is Brahman)).

=====Advaita and Dvaita Hinduism=====
{{Further|Philosophy:Advaita Vedanta|Philosophy:Dvaita Vedanta}}
Later schools reinterpreted the [[Religion:Vedas|vedas]] to focus on [[Philosophy:Brahman|Brahman]], "The One Without a Second",<ref name="bhaskaranandaessential">{{Cite book |last=Bhaskarananda |first=Swami |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781884852022 |title=The Essentials of Hinduism: A Comprehensive Overview of the World's Oldest Religion |date=1994 |publisher=Viveka Press |isbn=978-1-884852-02-2 |place=Seattle, WA}}</ref> as a central God-like figure.

In monist Advaita Vedanta, ātman is ultimately indistinguishable from Brahman, and the goal of life is to know or realize that one's [[Philosophy:Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] (soul) is identical to [[Philosophy:Brahman|Brahman]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vivekananda |first=Swami |date=1987 |title=Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda |place=Calcutta |publisher=Advaita Ashrama |isbn=978-81-85301-75-4}}</ref> To the [[Religion:Upanishads|Upanishads]], whoever becomes fully aware of the Ātman, as one's core of self, realizes identity with Brahman, and, thereby, achieves [[Philosophy:Moksha|Moksha]] (liberation, freedom).<ref name="monierwilliams"/><ref name="werner">{{Cite book |last=Werner |first=Karel |date=1994 |title=A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism |place=Richmond, Surrey |editor=Hinnells, John |publisher=Curzon Press |chapter=Hinduism |isbn=978-0-7007-0279-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/populardictionar0000wern }}</ref><ref>See also the Vedic statement "Ayam Ātmā Brahma" (This [[Philosophy:Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] is [[Philosophy:Brahman|Brahman]]).</ref>

Dvaita Vedanta and other [[Philosophy:Bhakti|bhakti]] schools have a dualist interpretation. [[Philosophy:Brahman|Brahman]] is seen as a supreme being with a personality and manifest qualities. The Ātman depends upon Brahman for its existence; the meaning of life is achieving Moksha through the love of God and upon His grace.<ref name="werner"/>

=====Vaishnavism=====
[[Religion:Vaishnavism|Vaishnavism]] is a branch of Hinduism in which the principal belief is the identification of [[Religion:Vishnu|Vishnu]] or Narayana as the one supreme God. This belief contrasts with the [[Religion:Krishnaism|Krishna-centered]] traditions, such as Vallabha, Nimbaraka and Gaudiya, in which [[Religion:Krishna|Krishna]] is considered to be the One and only Supreme God and the [[Philosophy:Svayam Bhagavan|source of all avataras]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Gupta |first=Ravi M. |title=The Chaitanya Vaishnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami When Knowledge Meets Devotion |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-40548-5 |editor1=Gavin Flood |editor2=University of Stirling}}</ref>

Vaishnava theology includes the central beliefs of Hinduism such as [[Philosophy:Monotheism|monotheism]], [[Philosophy:Reincarnation|reincarnation]], samsara, [[Philosophy:Karma|karma]], and the various [[Philosophy:Yoga|Yoga]] systems, but with a particular emphasis on devotion ([[Philosophy:Bhakti|bhakti]]) to Vishnu through the process of Bhakti yoga, often including singing Vishnu's name's (bhajan), meditating upon his form (dharana) and performing [[Religion:Deity|deity]] worship ([[Religion:Puja (Hinduism)|puja]]). The practices of deity worship are primarily based on texts such as Pañcaratra and various [[Religion:Samhita|Samhita]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tantric Literature And Gaudiya Vaishnavism |url=http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9901/ET05-2795.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525061446/http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET9901/ET05-2795.html |archive-date=25 May 2011 }}</ref>

One popular school of thought, [[Religion:Gaudiya Vaishnavism|Gaudiya Vaishnavism]], teaches the concept of [[Philosophy:Achintya Bheda Abheda|Achintya Bheda Abheda]]. In this, Krishna is worshipped as the single true God, and all living entities are eternal parts and the Supreme Personality of the Godhead Krishna. Thus the constitutional position of a living entity is to serve the Lord with love and devotion. The purpose of human life especially is to think beyond the animalistic way of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending and engage the higher intelligence to revive the lost relationship with Krishna.

====Jainism====

{{Further|Philosophy:Jainism|Philosophy:Jain philosophy}}

[[Philosophy:Jainism|Jainism]] is a religion originating in ancient India, its ethical system promotes self-discipline above all else. Through following the [[Philosophy:Asceticism|ascetic]] teachings of [[Religion:Tirthankara|Jina]], a [[Biology:Human|human]] achieves enlightenment (perfect knowledge). Jainism divides the universe into living and non-living beings. Only when the living becomes attached to the non-living does suffering result. Therefore, happiness is the result of self-conquest and freedom from external objects. The meaning of life may then be said to be to use the physical body to achieve self-realization and bliss.<ref>Shah, Natubhai. ''Jainism: The World of Conquerors.'' Sussex Academic Press, 1998.</ref>

Jains believe that every human is responsible for his or her actions and all living beings have an eternal soul, ''[[Philosophy:Jiva|jiva]]''. Jains believe all souls are equal because they all possess the potential of being liberated and attaining Moksha. The [[Unsolved:Karma in Jainism|Jain view of karma]] is that every action, every word, every thought has effect on the soul.

Jainism includes strict adherence to ahimsa (or ''ahinsā''), a form of [[Social:Nonviolence|nonviolence]] that goes far beyond [[Philosophy:Vegetarianism|vegetarianism]]. Jains refuse food obtained with unnecessary cruelty. Many practice a lifestyle similar to [[Philosophy:Veganism|veganism]] due to the violence of modern dairy farms, and others exclude [[Biology:Root vegetable|root vegetable]]s from their diets in order to preserve the lives of the plants from which they eat.<ref>{{cite web |title=Viren, Jain |url=http://www.retoday.org.uk/pdfs/dre/viren.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614110256/http://www.retoday.org.uk/pdfs/dre/viren.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007 |access-date=14 June 2007 |publisher=RE Today}}</ref>

====Buddhism====

===== Early Buddhism =====
Buddhists practice embracing mindfulness, the ill-being (suffering) and well-being that is present in life. Buddhists practice seeing the causes of ill-being and well-being in life. For example, one of the causes of suffering is an unhealthy attachment to objects material or non-material. The Buddhist sūtras and [[Religion:Tantras|tantras]] do not speak about "the meaning of life" or "the purpose of life", but about the potential of human life to end suffering, for example through embracing (not suppressing or denying) cravings and conceptual attachments. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of [[Philosophy:Nirvana|Nirvana]]. Nirvana means freedom from both [[Philosophy:Dukkha|suffering]] and [[Philosophy:Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Four Noble Truths |url=http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html |publisher=Thebigview.com |access-date=6 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111202249/http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html |archive-date=11 November 2009}}</ref>

[[File:Dharma Wheel.svg|thumb|left|The eight-spoked [[Unsolved:Dharmachakra|Dharmachakra]]]]
[[Philosophy:Theravada|Theravada Buddhism]] is generally considered to be close to the early Buddhist practice. It promotes the concept of Vibhajjavada (Pali), literally "Teaching of Analysis", which says that insight must come from the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith. However, the Theravadin tradition also emphasizes heeding the advice of the wise, considering such advice and evaluation of one's own experiences to be the two tests by which practices should be judged. The Theravadin goal is liberation (or freedom) from suffering, according to the [[Philosophy:Four Noble Truths|Four Noble Truths]]. This is attained in the achievement of [[Philosophy:Nirvana|Nirvana]], or Unbinding which also ends the [[Philosophy:Reincarnation|repeated cycle]] of birth, old age, sickness, and death. The way to attain Nirvana is by following and practicing the [[Philosophy:Noble Eightfold Path|Noble Eightfold Path]].

=====Mahayana Buddhism=====
{{Further|Philosophy:Mahayana}}
Mahayana Buddhist schools de-emphasize the traditional view (still practiced in [[Philosophy:Theravada|Theravada]]) of the release from individual Suffering ([[Philosophy:Duḥkha|Duhkha]]) and attainment of Awakening ([[Philosophy:Nirvana|Nirvana]]). In Mahayana, the Buddha is seen as an eternal, immutable, inconceivable, omnipresent being. The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine are based on the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings, and the existence of the transcendent [[Philosophy:Buddha-nature|Buddha-nature]], which is the eternal Buddha essence present, but hidden and unrecognised, in all living beings.<ref>{{cite web |last1=University |first1=© Stanford |title="The Chief Characteristics and Doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism" |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/chief-characteristics-and-doctrines-mahayana-buddhism |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute |access-date=7 March 2023 |language=en |date=17 February 2015}}</ref>

Philosophical schools of Mahayana Buddhism, such as [[Philosophy:Zen|Chan/Zen]] and the [[Philosophy:Vajrayana|Vajrayana]] Tibetan and Shingon schools, explicitly teach that [[Philosophy:Bodhisattva|Bodhisattva]] should refrain from full liberation, allowing themselves to be reincarnated into the world until all beings achieve enlightenment. Devotional schools such as Pure Land Buddhism seek the aid of celestial buddhas—individuals who have spent lifetimes accumulating positive karma, and use that accumulation to aid all.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arana |first1=Juan Hincapié |title=A SEED IN AMITABHA'S HAND- Pure Land Buddhism's path to peace in this life and the next by Juan Hincapie Arana |url=https://www.academia.edu/52849607 |website=Amazon KDP |access-date=7 March 2023 |date=1 January 2021}}</ref>

====Sikhism====
[[File:Khanda.svg|thumb|The Khanda, an important symbol of Sikhism]]

The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten Sikh Gurus, or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture entitled the ''Gurū Granth Sāhib'', which includes selected works of many philosophers from diverse socio-economic and religious backgrounds.

The Sikh Gurus say that salvation can be obtained by following various spiritual paths, so Sikhs do not have a monopoly on salvation: "The Lord dwells in every heart, and every heart has its own way to reach Him."<ref name="Singh">{{Cite book |author=Daljeet Singh |title=Guru Tegh Bahadur |date=1971 |publisher= |location=Punjab}}</ref> Sikhs believe that all people are equally important before [[Religion:Waheguru|God]].<ref name="Mayled">{{Cite book |author=Jon Mayled |title=Modern World Religions: Sikhism |publisher=Harcourt Heinemann |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-435-33626-4}}</ref> Sikhs balance their moral and spiritual values with the quest for knowledge, and they aim to promote a life of peace and equality but also of positive action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sikhcoalition.org|title=The Sikh Coalition|work=sikhcoalition.org|access-date=30 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701031219/https://www.sikhcoalition.org/|archive-date=1 July 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A key distinctive feature of Sikhism is a non-anthropomorphic concept of God, to the extent that one can interpret God as the [[Astronomy:Universe|Universe]] itself ([[Philosophy:Pantheism|pantheism]]). Sikhism thus sees life as an opportunity to understand this God as well as to discover the divinity which lies in each individual. While a full understanding of God is beyond human beings,<ref name="p252">{{Cite book |last=Parrinder |first=Geoffrey |date=1971 |title=World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present |publisher=Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited |location=United States |isbn=978-0-87196-129-7}}</ref> Nanak described God as not wholly unknowable, and stressed that God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the "heart", of a human being: devotees must meditate to progress towards enlightenment and the ultimate destination of a Sikh is to lose the ego completely in the love of the lord and finally merge into the almighty creator. Nanak emphasized the revelation through meditation, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.<ref name="p252"/>

===East Asian religions===

====Taoism====
[[File:Yin yang.svg|thumb|''[[Taijitu|Taijitu]]'' symbolizes the unity of opposites between yin and yang.]]

Taoist [[Astronomy:Cosmogony|cosmogony]] emphasizes the need for all sentient beings and all men to return to the ''primordial'' or to rejoin with the ''Oneness'' of the Universe by way of self-cultivation and self-realization. All adherents should understand and be in tune with the ultimate truth.

Taoists believe all things were originally from [[Philosophy:Taiji|Taiji]] and [[Philosophy:Tao|Tao]], and the meaning in life for the adherents is to realize the temporal nature of the existence. "Only introspection can then help us to find our innermost reasons for living ... the simple answer is here within ourselves."<ref name="Ming-Dao">{{Cite book |author=Ming-Dao Deng |title=Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday Life |publisher=HarperCollins |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-06-250232-2}}</ref>

====Shinto====
[[File:Shinto torii vermillion.svg|thumb|Shinto [[Religion:Torii|torii]], a traditional Japanese gate]]

[[Philosophy:Shinto|Shinto]] is the native religion of Japan. Shinto means "the path of the [[Religion:Kami|kami]]", but more specifically, it can be taken to mean "the divine crossroad where the kami chooses his way". The "divine" crossroad signifies that all the universe is divine spirit. This foundation of [[Philosophy:Free will|free will]], choosing one's way, means that life is a creative process.

Shinto wants life to live, not to die. Shinto sees death as pollution and regards life as the realm where the divine spirit seeks to purify itself by rightful self-development. Shinto wants individual human life to be prolonged forever on earth as a victory of the divine spirit in preserving its objective personality in its highest forms. The presence of evil in the world, as conceived by Shinto, does not stultify the divine nature by imposing on divinity responsibility for being able to relieve human suffering while refusing to do so. The sufferings of life are the sufferings of the divine spirit in search of progress in the objective world.<ref name="Mason">{{Cite book |author=J.W.T. Mason |title=The Meaning of Shinto |publisher=Trafford Publishing |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-4122-4551-7}}</ref>

====New religions====
There are many new religious movements in East Asia, and some with millions of followers: Chondogyo, [[Religion:Tenrikyo|Tenrikyo]], Cao Đài, and Seicho-No-Ie. New religions typically have unique explanations for the meaning of life. For example, in Tenrikyo, one is expected to live a Joyous Life by participating in practices that create happiness for oneself and others.

===Iranian religions===

====Zoroastrianism====
Zoroastrians believe in a universe created by a transcendent God, [[Religion:Ahura Mazda|Ahura Mazda]], to whom all worship is ultimately directed. Ahura Mazda's creation is ''[[Philosophy:Asha|asha]]'', truth and order, and it is in conflict with its antithesis, ''druj'', falsehood and disorder.<ref>See also: Zoroastrian eschatology.</ref>

Since humanity possesses [[Philosophy:Free will|free will]], people must be responsible for their moral choices. By using free will, people must take an active role in the universal conflict, with good thoughts, good words and good deeds to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

==Popular views==
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"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?".<ref name="WITMOL" /> Some popular answers include:

===To realize one's potential and ideals===
*To chase dreams.<ref name="Seaman">{{Cite book |author=David Seaman |title=The Real Meaning of Life |publisher=New World Library |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-57731-514-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/realmeaningoflif0000unse }}</ref>
* To live one's dreams.<ref name="Ellerton" />
* To spend it for something that will outlast it.<ref name="Cook" />
* To matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.<ref name="Cook" />
* To expand one's potential in life.<ref name="Ellerton" />
* To become the person you've always wanted to be.<ref name="Chandler">{{cite book |author=Steve Chandler |title=Reinventing Yourself: How to Become the Person You've Always Wanted to Be |publisher=Career Press |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-56414-817-9}}</ref>
* To become the best version of yourself.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite book |author=Matthew Kelly |title=The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-7432-6510-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/rhythmoflife00matt }}</ref>
* To seek happiness<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lee |first=Dong Yul |author2=Park, Sung Hee |author3=Uhlemann, Max R. |author4= Patsult, Philip |title =What Makes You Happy?: A Comparison of Self-reported Criteria of Happiness Between Two Cultures |journal=Social Indicators Research |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=351–362 |date=June 2000 |doi=10.1023/A:1004647517069|s2cid=141773177 }}</ref> and flourish.<ref name="Baggini" />
* To be a true authentic human being.<ref name="Kultgen">{{cite book |author=John Kultgen |title=Autonomy and Intervention: Parentalism in the Caring Life |url=https://archive.org/details/autonomyinterven0000kult |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press US |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-508531-0}}</ref>
* To be able to put the whole of oneself into one's feelings, one's work, one's beliefs.<ref name="Cook" />
* To follow or submit to our destiny.<ref name="Cappannelli" /><ref name="West" /><ref name="Madorsky">{{cite book |author=Rachel Madorsky |title=Create Your Own Destiny!: Spiritual Path to Success |publisher=Avanty House |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-9705349-4-1}}</ref>
* To achieve [[Philosophy:Eudaimonia|eudaimonia]],<ref>A.C. Grayling. What is Good? The Search for the Best Way to Live''.'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003.</ref> a flourishing of human spirit.

===To evolve, or to achieve biological perfection===
* To [[Biology:Introduction to evolution|evolve]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Brooks |first=Mike |title= What Is the Purpose of Life? Why are we here? Here's a reasonable answer. |work=Psychology Today |date=8 October 2020 |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-happy-life/202010/what-is-the-purpose-life |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> changing from generation to generation.
* To [[Biology:Self-preservation|survive]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Lopez |first=Mike |title=Episode III: Relativism? A Jedi craves not these things |work=The Michigan Daily |date=22 September 1999 |url=http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/sep/09-22-99/edit/edit2.html |access-date=26 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070811185026/http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/sep/09-22-99/edit/edit2.html |archive-date=11 August 2007 }}</ref> that is, to live as long as possible,<ref>{{cite book |last=Lovatt |first=Stephen C. |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pharseas.world/Life.html |title=New Skins for Old Wine |date=2007 |publisher=Universal Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-960-1 |pages= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314071723/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pharseas.world/Life.html |archive-date=14 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> including pursuit of [[Unsolved:Immortality|immortality]] (through scientific means).<ref name="Kurweil & Grossmann">{{Cite web |title=Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever |url=http://www.fantastic-voyage.net/ |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=www.fantastic-voyage.net}}</ref>
* To [[Unsolved:Immortality|live forever]]<ref name="Kurweil & Grossmann" /> or die [[Philosophy:Life extension|trying]].<ref name="Appleyard">{{cite book |author=Bryan Appleyard |title=How To Live Forever Or Die Trying: On The New Immortality |date=2007 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-6868-4}}</ref>
* To maximize one's genes' advantage in terms of natural selection, by having many children or indirect descendants via relatives.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cameron |first=Donald |title=The Purpose of Life |publisher=Woodhill Publishing |date=2001 |url=http://www.woodhillpublishing.co.uk/summary.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011113210502/http://www.woodhillpublishing.co.uk/summary.asp |archive-date=2001-11-13 |isbn=978-0-9540291-0-4}}</ref>
* To replicate, to reproduce.<ref name="Seaman"/> "The 'dream' of every cell is to become two cells."<ref name="Lane">{{cite book |author=Nick Lane |title=Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life |url=https://archive.org/details/powersexsuicidem0000lane |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-280481-5|author-link=Nick Lane }}</ref><ref name="Weiss & Buchanan">{{cite book |author1=Kenneth M. Weiss |author2=Anne V. Buchanan |title=Genetics and the Logic of Evolution |publisher=Wiley-IEEE |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-471-23805-8}}</ref><ref name="Ackerman">{{cite book |author=Jennifer Ackerman |title=Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity |url=https://archive.org/details/chanceinhouseoff00acke_1 |url-access=registration |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-618-21909-4}}</ref><ref name="Rensberger">{{cite book |author=Boyce Rensberger |title=Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeitself00boyc |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-512500-9}}</ref>

===To seek wisdom and knowledge===
* To expand one's perception of the world.<ref name="Ellerton">{{cite book |author=Roger Ellerton, CMC |title=Live Your Dreams... Let Reality Catch Up: NLP and Common Sense for Coaches, Managers and You |publisher=Renewal Technologies |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-9784452-7-0}}</ref>
* To follow the clues and walk out the exit.<ref name="Chris Grau">{{cite book |author=Chris Grau |title=Philosophers Explore the Matrix |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-518107-4}}</ref>
* To learn as many things as possible in life.<ref name="Cooper & Hutchinson">{{cite book |author1=John M. Cooper |author2=D. S. Hutchinson |title=Plato: Complete Works |publisher=Hackett Publishing |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-87220-349-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/completeworks00plat }}</ref>
* To know as much as possible about as many things as possible.<ref name="Findling & Thackeray">{{cite book |author1=John E. Findling |author2=Frank W. Thackeray |title=Events That Changed the World Through the Sixteenth Century |publisher=Greenwood Press |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-313-29079-4}}</ref>
* To seek [[Philosophy:Wisdom|wisdom]] and [[Philosophy:Knowledge|knowledge]] and to tame the [[Philosophy:Mind|mind]], as to avoid [[Social:Suffering|suffering]] caused by [[Philosophy:Ignorance|ignorance]] and find [[Philosophy:Happiness|happiness]].<ref name="Dalai Lama">{{cite book |author=Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama |title=The Meaning of Life: Buddhist Perspectives on Cause and Effect |publisher=Doubleday |date=1954|}}</ref>
* To face our [[Philosophy:Fear|fear]]s and accept the [[Philosophy:Lesson|lesson]]s life offers us.<ref name="Cappannelli">{{cite book |author1=George Cappannelli |author2=Sedena Cappannelli |title=Authenticity: Simple Strategies for Greater Meaning and Purpose at Work and at Home |publisher=Emmis Books |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-57860-148-6}}</ref>
* To find the meaning or purpose of life.<ref name="Simmons">{{cite book |author=Ernest Joseph Simmons |title=Tolstoy |url=https://archive.org/details/tolstoy0000simm |url-access=registration |publisher=Routledge |date=1973 |isbn=978-0-7100-7395-2}}</ref><ref name="Bowell">{{cite book |author=Richard A. Bowell |title=The Seven Steps of Spiritual Intelligence: The Practical Pursuit of Purpose, Success and Happiness |publisher=Nicholas Brealey Publishing |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-85788-344-2}}</ref>
* To find a reason to live.<ref name="Gibbs & Basinger & Fuller">{{cite book |author1=John C. Gibbs |author2=Karen S. Basinger |author3=Dick Fuller |title=Moral Maturity: Measuring the Development of Sociomoral Reflection |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-8058-0425-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/moralmaturitymea0000gibb }}</ref>
* To resolve the imbalance of the mind by understanding the nature of reality.<ref name="Tang">{{cite book |author=Timothy Tang |title=Real Answers to The Meaning of Life and Finding Happiness |publisher=iUniverse |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-595-45941-4}}</ref>

=== To do good, to do the right thing ===
* To leave the world as a better place than you found it.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To do your best to leave every situation better than you found it.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To benefit others.<ref name="Hua" />
* To give more than you take.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To end suffering.<ref name="Roberts">{{cite book |author=Tyler T. Roberts |title=Contesting Spirit: Nietzsche, Affirmation, Religion |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-691-00127-2}}</ref><ref name="Costigan">{{cite book |author=Costigan |first=Lucy |title=What is the Meaning of Your Life: A Journey Towards Ultimate Meaning |date=2004 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-0-595-33880-1}}</ref><ref name="Jeffers & Smith">{{cite book |author1=Steven L. Jeffers |author2=Harold Ivan Smith |title=Finding a Sacred Oasis in Grief: A Resource Manual for Pastoral Care |publisher=Radcliffe Publishing |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-84619-181-7}}</ref>
* To create [[Social:Social equality|equality]].<ref name="Jeffrey">{{cite book |author=David L. Jeffrey |title=A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-8028-3634-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbibl0000unse }}</ref><ref name="Williams">{{cite book |author=Williams |first=Dana A. |title=In the Light of Likeness-Transformed: The Literary Art of Leon Forrest |date=2005 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |isbn=978-0-8142-0994-3}}</ref><ref name="Muller">{{cite book |author=Jerry Z. Muller |title=Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present |url=https://archive.org/details/conservatismanth00mull |url-access=registration |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-691-03711-0}}</ref>
* To challenge [[Philosophy:Oppression|oppression]].<ref name="Nash & Stewart">{{cite book |author1=Mary Nash |author2=Bruce Stewart |title=Spirituality and Social Care: Contributing to Personal and Community Well-being |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-84310-024-9}}</ref>
* To [[Philosophy:Redistribution of income and wealth|distribute wealth]].<ref name="Yao">{{cite book |author=Xinzhong Yao |title=An Introduction to Confucianism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-64430-3}}</ref><ref name="Turner & Rojek">{{cite book |author1=Bryan S. Turner |author2=Chris Rojek |title=Society and Culture: Principles of Scarcity and Solidarity |url=https://archive.org/details/societyculturepr0000turn |url-access=registration |publisher=SAGE |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-7619-7049-1}}</ref>
* To be generous.<ref name="Goonewardene">{{cite book |author=Anil Goonewardene |title=Buddhist Scriptures |publisher=Harcourt Heinemann |date=1994 |isbn=978-0-435-30355-6}}</ref><ref name="Ferry">{{cite book |author=Luc Ferry |title=Man Made God: The Meaning of Life |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-226-24484-6}}</ref>
* To contribute to the [[Finance:Well-being|well-being]] and spirit of others.<ref name="Stephan & Pace">{{cite book |author1=Eric G. Stephan |author2=R. Wayne Pace |title=Powerful Leadership: How to Unleash the Potential in Others and Simplify Your Own Life |publisher=FT Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-13-066836-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Cumberland|first1=Dan|title=Finding Purpose in Life|url=http://themeaningmovement.com/finding-purpose-in-life-finding-your-vocation/|website=TheMeaningMovement|access-date=10 August 2015|date=18 May 2015}}</ref>
* To help others,<ref name="Baggini" /><ref name="Ferry" /> to help one another.<ref name="Steinberg">{{cite book |author=Dominique Moyse Steinberg |url=https://archive.org/details/mutualaidapproac00stei |title=The Mutual-Aid Approach to Working with Groups: Helping People Help One Another |date=2004 |publisher=Haworth Press |isbn=978-0-7890-1462-7 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
* To take every chance to help another while on your journey here.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To be creative and innovative.<ref name="Stephan & Pace" />
* To forgive.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To accept and forgive human flaws.<ref name="Caunt">{{cite book |author=John Caunt |title=Boost Your Self-Esteem |publisher=Kogan Page |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-7494-3871-5}}</ref><ref>Ho'oponopono.</ref>
* To be emotionally sincere.<ref name="Cook">{{cite book |author=John Cook |title=The Book of Positive Quotations |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofpositivequ00cook |url-access=registration |publisher=Fairview Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-57749-169-9}}</ref>
* To be responsible.<ref name="Cook" />
* To be honorable.<ref name="Cook" />
* To [[Social:Pacifism|seek peace]].<ref name="Cook" />

[[File:Paradiso Canto 31.jpg|thumb|Dante and Beatrice see God as a point of light surrounded by angels; from Gustave Doré's illustrations for the ''Divine Comedy.'']]

===Meanings relating to religion===
* To reach the highest heaven and be at the heart of the Divine.<ref name="Halevi">{{cite book |author=Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi |title=The Work of the Kabbalist |publisher=Weiser |date=1993 |isbn=978-0-87728-637-0|}}</ref>
* To have a pure soul and experience God.<ref name="Cook" />
* To understand the mystery of God.<ref name="Cappannelli" />
* To know or attain union with God.<ref name="Girard">{{cite book |author=Michael Joachim Girard |title=Essential Believing for the Christian Soul |publisher=Xulon Press |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-59781-596-3}}</ref><ref name="Kashmir Shaivism">{{cite book |author=Jaideva Singh |title=Vijñanabhairava|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |date=2003 |isbn=978-81-208-0820-1}}</ref>
* To know oneself, know others, and know the will of heaven.<ref name="Mahadevan">{{cite book |author=T.M.P. Mahadevan |title=Philosophy: Theory and Practice (Proceedings of the International Seminar on World Philosophy) |publisher=Centre for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras |date=1974}}</ref>
* To love something bigger, greater, and beyond ourselves, something we did not create or have the power to create, something intangible and made holy by our very belief in it.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To love God<ref name="Girard" /> and all of his creations.<ref name="Scully">{{cite book |author=John T. Scully |title=The Five Commandments |publisher=Trafford Publishing |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-4251-1910-2}}</ref>
* To glorify God by enjoying him forever.<ref name="Piper">{{cite book |author=John Piper |title=Desiring God |publisher=Multnomah Books |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-59052-119-9}}</ref>
* To spread your religion and share it with others.<ref name="Harrison"/><ref name="Worsham2">{{bibleverse||Matthew|28:18–20}}.</ref>
* To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.<ref name="Worsham">
{{bibleverse||Micah|6:8}}.</ref>
* To be fruitful and multiply.<ref name="Burke">{{cite book |author=Thomas Patrick Burke |title=The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-4051-1049-5}}</ref> ({{bibleverse||Genesis|1:28}})
* To obtain freedom. ({{bibleverse||Romans|8:20-21}})
* To fill the Earth and subdue it.<ref name="Burke" /> ({{bibleverse||Genesis|1:28}})
* To serve humankind,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/2.17?lang=eng|title=Book of Mormon: Mosiah 2:17|year= 1830|quote=And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.}}</ref> to prepare to meet<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/34.32-34?lang=eng|year=1830|title=Book of Mormon: Alma 32:32|quote=For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.}}</ref> and become more like God,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/3.22?lang=eng|title=Holy Bible: Genesis 3:22|quote=And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/matt/5.48?lang=eng|title=Holy Bible: Matthew 5:48|quote=Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/1.39?lang=eng|title=Pearl of Great Price: Book of Moses 1:37–39|year=1830|quote=And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: ... For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.|access-date=16 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715040406/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/1.39?lang=eng|archive-date=15 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-lorenzo-snow/chapter-5-the-grand-destiny-of-the-faithful?lang=eng|title=Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow|others=Lorenzo Snow|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|orig-year=1884|date=2011|page=83|quote=As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be.}}</ref> to choose good over evil,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/29.5?lang=eng|year=1830|title=Book of Mormon: Alma 29:5|quote=Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.}}</ref> and have joy.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/2.25?lang=eng|year= 1830|title=Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 2:25|quote=Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.11?lang=eng|title=Pearl of Great Price: Book of Moses 5:11|year=1830|quote=And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.}}</ref>
* ˹He is the One˺ Who created death and life in order to test which of you is best in deeds. And He is the Almighty, All-Forgiving. —{{qref|67|2|b=y}}
* To worship God and enter heaven in afterlife.<ref name="Quran">{{cite book|url=http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=51&verse=56|title=Holisiajay Quran 51:56|publisher=Quranic Arabic Corpus|quote=I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.}}</ref>

===To love, to feel, to enjoy the act of living===
* To love more.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To love those who mean the most. Every life you touch will touch you back.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To treasure every enjoyable sensation one has.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To seek [[Philosophy:Beauty|beauty]] in all its forms.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To have fun or enjoy life.<ref name="Cappannelli" /><ref name="Stephan & Pace" />
* To seek pleasure<ref name="Cook" /> and avoid pain.<ref name="Mitchell">{{cite book |author=T.W. Mitchell |title=Problems in Psychopathology |date=1927 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & Company}}</ref>
* To be compassionate.<ref name="Cook" />
* To be moved by the tears and pain of others, and try to help them out of love and compassion.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To love others as best we possibly can.<ref name="Seaman" />
* To eat, drink, and be merry.<ref name="Ecclesiastes8:15">{{Bibleverse|Ecclesiastes|8|15}}.</ref>

===To have power, to be better===
* To [[Philosophy:Will to power|strive for power]]<ref name="Reginster" /> and superiority.<ref name="Mitchell" />
* To rule the world.<ref name="West">{{cite book |author=John G. West |title=Celebrating Middle-Earth: The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization |publisher=Inkling Books |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-58742-012-2}}</ref>
* To know and master the world.<ref name="Harrison">{{cite book |author=Peter Harrison |title=The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-521-00096-3|author-link=Peter Harrison (historian) }}</ref><ref name="Dillon">{{cite book |author=Steven Dillon |title=The Solaris Effect: Art and Artifice in Contemporary American Film |publisher=University of Texas Press |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-292-71345-1}}</ref>
* To know and master nature.<ref name="Aron">{{cite book |author=Raymond Aron |title=The Century of Total War |publisher=Wisdom Publications |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-86171-173-4}}</ref>
* To help life become as powerful as possible.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/mar/05/meaning-life-evolution-universe |title=Is this the meaning of life? John Stewart argues that despite the perception that science has stripped the meaning from life, recent developments in evolutionary theory suggest that humans have a central role to play in the future of the universe |first=John |last=Stewart |date=2010-03-05 |newspaper={{wipe|The Guardian}}}}</ref>

===Life has no meaning===
* Life or human existence has no real meaning or purpose because human existence occurred out of a random [[Philosophy:Contingency|chance]] in nature, and anything that exists by chance has no intended purpose.<ref name="Tang" />
* Life has no meaning, but as humans we try to associate a meaning or purpose so we can justify our existence.<ref name="Seaman" />
* There is no point in life, and that is exactly what makes it so special.<ref name="Seaman" />

===One should not seek to know and understand the meaning of life===
* The answer to the meaning of life is too profound to be known and understood.<ref name="Tang" />
* You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.<ref name="Seaman" />
* The meaning of life is to forget about the search for the meaning of life.<ref name="Seaman" />
* Ultimately, a person should not ask what the meaning of their life is, but rather must recognize that it is they themselves who are asked. In a word, each person is questioned by life; and they can only answer to life by answering for their own life; to life they can only respond by being responsible.<ref>''Man's Search for Meaning'', Viktor Frankl. Beacon Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-8070-1426-4}}.</ref>

==In popular culture==
[[File:Allisvanity.jpg|thumb|Charles Allan Gilbert's ''All is Vanity,'' an example of ''vanitas,'' depicts a young woman amidst her makeup and perfumes, preoccupied with her own beauty at the mirror of her vanity. But all is positioned in such a way as to make the image of a skull appear, expressing ''memento mori'', that no matter how good she looks, it won't last, as death is inevitable.]]

The mystery of life and its true meaning is an often recurring subject in [[Social:Popular culture|popular culture]], featured in [[Social:Mass media|entertainment media]] and [[Social:The arts|various forms]] of art.

''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' includes a character played by Michael Palin being handed an envelope containing "the meaning of life", which she opens and reads out to the audience: "Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."<ref name="useless website">{{cite web|url=http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/meanlife.asp|title=Monty Python's Completely Useless Web Site: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life: Complete Script|work=intriguing.com|access-date=17 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215164915/http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/meanlife.asp|archive-date=15 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Burnham">{{Cite book |author=Terry Burnham |title=Mean Markets and Lizard Brains: How to Profit from the New Science of Irrationality |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-471-71695-2}}</ref><ref name="Fernandez">{{Cite book |author=Yolanda Fernandez |title=In Their Shoes: Examining the Issue of Empathy and Its Place in the Treatment of Offenders |publisher=Wood 'N' Barnes Publishing |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-885473-48-6}}</ref>

In [[Biography:Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams]]' book ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is given the numeric solution "[[42 (number)|42]]", after seven and a half million years of calculation by a giant [[Supercomputer|supercomputer]] called Deep Thought. When this answer is met with confusion and anger from its constructors, Deep Thought explains that "I think the problem such as it was, was too broadly based. You never actually stated what the question was."<ref>{{cite AV media|last1=Adams|first1=Douglas|title=The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Fit the Fourth)|publisher=BBC Radio 4|language=en|type=Audio, Radio|date=29 March 1978|quote=I think the problem such as it was, was too broadly based. You never actually stated what the question was.}}</ref><ref name="Baggini"/><ref name="Yeffeth">{{Cite book |author=Glenn Yeffeth |title=The Anthology at the End of the Universe: Leading Science Fiction Authors on Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |publisher= BenBella Books, Inc |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-932100-56-3}}</ref><ref name="Badke">{{Cite book |author=William B. Badke |title=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Meaning of Everything |publisher=Kregel Publications |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-8254-2069-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/hitchhikersguide00badk }}</ref><ref name="Adams H2G2 book1">{{Cite book |title=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |author=Douglas Adams |isbn=978-0-330-25864-7 |date=1979 |publisher=Pan Books |location=London|title-link=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book) }}</ref> Deep Thought then constructs another computer—the Earth—to calculate what the Ultimate Question actually is. Later Ford and Arthur manage to extract the question as the Earth computer would have rendered it. That question turns out to be "what do you get if you multiply six by nine",<ref>{{cite AV media|last1=Adams|first1=Douglas|title=The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Fit the Sixth)|publisher=BBC Radio 4|type=Audio, Radio|date=12 April 1978|quote=That’s it. Six by nine… forty-two! I always said there was something fundamentally wrong about the universe!}}</ref> and it is realised that [[Garbage in, garbage out|the program was ruined by the unexpected arrival of the Golgafrinchans]] on Earth, and so the actual Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, And Everything remains unknown.

[[File:HamletSkullHCSealous.jpg|thumb|left|Hamlet meditating upon Yorick's skull has become the most lasting embodiment of the imagery of vanitas, conveying the theme ''memento mori'' ('Remember you shall die'). Whatever the meaning of life, it (life) is fleeting.]]

In ''Person of Interest'' season 5 episode 13, an artificial intelligence referred to as The Machine tells Harold Finch that the secret of life is "Everyone dies alone. But if you mean something to someone, if you help someone, or love someone. If even a single person remembers you then maybe you never really die at all." This phrase is then repeated at the very end of the show to add emphasis to the finale.<ref>{{cite news |title="Person of Interest" recap (5.13): The sound of my voice |url=https://www.afterellen.com/tv/492845-person-interest-recap-5-13-sound-voice |access-date=24 August 2019 |work=After Ellen}}</ref>
{{clear}}

== Related concepts ==
=== Existential crisis ===
Existential crises are crises of meaning. They are triggered by the impression that life lacks meaning.<ref name="APAExistentialCrisis">{{cite web |title=APA Dictionary of Psychology: existential crisis |url=https://dictionary.apa.org/existential-crisis |website=dictionary.apa.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Andrews2016"/><ref name="Butenaitė2016">{{cite journal |last1=Butenaitė |first1=Joana |last2=Sondaitė |first2=Jolanta |last3=Mockus |first3=Antanas |title=Components of existential crises: a theoretical analysis |journal=International Journal of Psychology: A Biopsychosocial Approach |date=2016 |volume=18 |pages=9–27 |doi=10.7220/2345-024X.18.1|doi-access=free }}</ref> This impression can lead to an inner conflict because there is a strong [[Social:Desire|desire]] to find some form of meaning in life. In the [[Philosophy:Existentialism|existentialist]] literature, the discrepancy between the individual's desire for meaning and the world's apparent lack thereof is termed [[Philosophy:Absurdism|the absurd]].<ref name="StanfordExistentialism">{{cite web |last1=Crowell |first1=Steven |title=Existentialism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=14 January 2022 |date=2020}}</ref><ref name="Blomme2013">{{cite journal |last1=Blomme |first1=Robert J. |title=Absurdism as a Fundamental Value: Camusian Thoughts on Moral Development in Organisations |journal=International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy |date=2013 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=116 |doi=10.1504/IJMCP.2013.055720 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/BLOAAA}}</ref><ref name="OxfordAbsurd">{{cite book |editor1-last=Honderich |editor1-first=Ted |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/HONTOC-2 |chapter=absurd, the}}</ref> It may be summarized by the question "How does a being who needs meaning find meaning in a universe that has no meaning?".<ref name="Yalom2020"/> While this conflict may affect different people at least to some extent, it reaches a more severe level in the case of existential crises. This level leads to various negative experiences, such as [[Medicine:Stress|stress]], [[Medicine:Anxiety|anxiety]], despair, and [[Medicine:Depression (mood)|depression]].<ref name="Yalom2020">{{cite book |last1=Yalom |first1=Irvin D. |title=Existential Psychotherapy |date=17 March 2020 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-1-5416-4744-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI7VDwAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=10. Meaninglessness}}</ref><ref name="Andrews2016">{{cite journal |last1=Andrews |first1=Mary |title=The existential crisis |journal=Behavioral Development Bulletin |date=April 2016 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=104–109 |doi=10.1037/bdb0000014}}</ref><ref name="Butenaitė2016"/> In the more serious cases, these symptoms disturb the individual's normal functioning in everyday life. A positive side effect of these negative experiences is that they push the affected individual to address the underlying issue. This opens the opportunity of developing as a person and improving one's way of life.<ref name="Yalom2020"/><ref name="Greer">{{cite journal |last1=Greer |first1=Frank |title=Toward a Developmental View of Adult Crisis: a Re-Examination of Crisis Theory |journal=Journal of Humanistic Psychology |date=October 1980 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=17–29 |doi=10.1177/002216788002000404 |s2cid=146743538 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/002216788002000404 |issn=0022-1678}}</ref>

Therapists often try to treat existential crises by helping their patients discover meaning in life. An important distinction in this regard is the difference between personal meaning and cosmic meaning.<ref name="Yalom2020"/><ref name="IEPNihilism">{{cite web |last1=Pratt |first1=Alan |title=Nihilism |url=https://iep.utm.edu/nihilism/ |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=25 January 2022}}</ref> In the cosmic sense, the term "meaning of life" refers to the purpose of the world as a whole or why we are here. One way to solve an existential crisis is to discover a satisfying answer to this question. This often takes the form of a religious explanation involving a divine entity that created the world for a certain purpose.<ref name="Yalom2020"/><ref name="Yang2010">{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=William |last2=Staps |first2=Ton |last3=Hijmans |first3=Ellen |title=Existential crisis and the awareness of dying: the role of meaning and spirituality |journal=Omega |date=2010 |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=53–69 |doi=10.2190/OM.61.1.c |pmid=20533648 |s2cid=22290227 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20533648/ |issn=0030-2228}}</ref><ref name="Zapffe1933">{{cite journal |last1=Zapffe |first1=Peter Wessel |title=The Last Messiah |journal=Philosophy Now |issue=45 |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/45/The_Last_Messiah}}</ref> Another approach to solving existential crises is to seek meaning not on the cosmic but on the personal level. This usually takes a more secular form: the therapist helps the individual realize what matters to them or why their life is worth living.<ref name="Yalom2020"/><ref name="IEPNihilism"/><ref name="BritannicaNihilism">{{cite web |title=nihilism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/nihilism |website=www.britannica.com |date=14 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> In this regard, they may discover how their personal life can be meaningful, for example, by dedicating themselves to their family or their career. This approach may mitigate or solve an existential crisis even if the individual still lacks an answer to the bigger question of the deeper meaning behind everything.<ref name="Yalom2020"/><ref name="Butenaitė2016"/><ref name="Yang2010"/>

=== Importance ===
The question of the meaning of life is closely related to the question of what has [[Philosophy:Importance|importance]] or what matters. This is reflected in the fact that finding meaning in life is often associated with dedicating oneself to some kind of higher purpose, which is seen as having special importance.<ref name="Kahane2022">{{cite book |last1=Kahane |first1=Guy |editor1-last=Landau |editor1-first=Iddo |title=The Oxford Handbook of Meaning in Life |date=10 June 2022 |url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190063504.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190063504-e-6 |language=en |chapter=Meaningfulness and Importance|pages=92–108 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190063504.013.6 |isbn=978-0-19-006350-4 }}</ref><ref name="Nozick1981">{{cite book |last1=Nozick |first1=Robert |title=Philosophical Explanations |date=1981 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-66479-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4zH86WogYwC |language=en |chapter=6. Philosophy and the meaning of life}}</ref> Nonetheless, some theorists have argued that the two concepts are not identical.<ref name="Kahane2022"/><ref name="Nozick1990"/> This distinction is often motivated by the observation that seeking the meaning of life is usually regarded as an admirable goal associated with [[Philosophy:Self-transcendence|self-transcendence]]. Craving importance, on the other hand, seems to be a more [[Philosophy:Egoism|egoistic]] or [[Philosophy:Narcissism|narcissistic]] aim in comparison.<ref name="Kahane2022"/>

Various theorists have argued that to be important means to have an impact on the world or to make a difference. Some only require that this causal impact is big enough. Others include as an additional element that the difference in question has to affect the value of the world.<ref name="Kahane2021a">{{cite journal |last1=Kahane |first1=Guy |title=Importance, Value, and Causal Impact |journal=Journal of Moral Philosophy |date=13 August 2021 |volume=19 |issue=6 |pages=577–601 |doi=10.1163/17455243-20213581 |s2cid=238678531 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jmp/aop/article-10.1163-17455243-20213581/article-10.1163-17455243-20213581.xml |issn=1745-5243}}</ref><ref name="Nozick1990">{{cite book |last1=Nozick |first1=Robert |title=Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations |date=15 December 1990 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-72501-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-8SvHlNMXAC |language=en |chapter=16. Importance and Weight}}</ref><ref name="Benatar2017">{{cite book |last1=Benatar |first1=David |title=The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions |date=5 May 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-063382-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VG7JDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |language=en |chapter=3. Meaninglessness}}</ref> This is often interpreted with reference to [[Finance:Well-being|well-being]]: the degree of importance of a thing is given by the extent to which it affects the well-being of sentient entities.<ref name="Benbaji2001">{{cite journal |last1=Benbaji |first1=Yitzhak |title=The Moral, the Personal, and the Importance of What We Care about |journal=Philosophy |date=2001 |volume=76 |issue=297 |pages=415–433 |doi=10.1017/S0031819101000365 |jstor=3751779 |s2cid=143737564 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3751779 |issn=0031-8191}}</ref><ref name="Nozick1990"/><ref name="Tugendhat2016">{{cite book |last1=Tugendhat |first1=Ernst |title=Egocentricity and Mysticism: An Anthropological Study |date=4 October 2016 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-54293-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NB_uDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 |language=en |chapter=2. "Good" and "Important"}}</ref> However, the relation to a purpose is usually not required for importance. In this regard, some things may be important accidentally or [[Philosophy:Intention|unintentionally]] without being guided by a higher goal. For example, a person may by chance bump into something and thereby unwittingly trigger a [[Butterfly effect|butterfly effect]] of extreme proportions. In such a case, the person's life has acquired high importance due to the consequences it caused. Nonetheless, this does not imply that it has also acquired some form of deeper meaning or higher purpose.<ref name="Kahane2022"/>

Another difference is that seeking and realizing the meaning of life is usually seen by most theorists as a positive and worthwhile undertaking. Importance, however, can be either positive or negative depending on the type of value difference involved.<ref name="Kahane2022"/><ref name="Nozick1990"/> For example, [[Biography:Alexander Fleming|Alexander Fleming]] was important in a positive sense since his discovery of [[Chemistry:Penicillin|penicillin]] helped many people cure their bacterial infections.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morris |first1=Chris |title=10 wonder drugs that changed our lives forever |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/28/10-wonder-drugs-that-changed-our-lives-forever.html |website=CNBC |access-date=24 June 2022 |language=en |date=28 March 2016}}</ref> Adolf Hitler, on the other hand, was important in a negative sense since his policies caused widespread suffering to innumerous people.<ref name="Kahane2021a"/>

==See also==
<!--Please insert links in alphabetical order and avoid repeating from the text above any but the most on-topic links. Thank you.-->

; Scientific explanations

; Origin and nature of life and reality
{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Biology:Abiogenesis}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Awareness}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Being}}
* {{annotated link|Biology:Biosemiotics}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Existence}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Human condition}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Logos}}
* {{annotated link|Metaphysical naturalism}}
* {{annotated link|Perception}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Reality}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Simulated reality}}
* {{annotated link|Physics:Theory of everything}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Teleology}}
* {{annotated link|Astronomy:Ultimate fate of the universe}}
{{div col end}}

; Value of life

{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Social:Culture of life}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Bioethics}}
* {{annotated link|Social:Meaningful life}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Quality of life}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Value of life}}
{{div col end}}

; Purpose of life

{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Destiny}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Life extension}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Means to an end}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Philosophy of life}}
{{div col end}}

; Miscellaneous

{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Unsolved:Human extinction}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Ikigai}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Life stance}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:Perennial philosophy}}
* {{annotated link|Religion:Vale of tears}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:World riddle}}
* {{annotated link|Philosophy:World view}}
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140713204824/http://www.iep.utm.edu/mean-ana/ Meaning of Life: The Analytic Perspective] article in the ''[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/life-meaning/ The Meaning of Life] in the ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''
* Wikiversity:Do living things on Earth have a purpose?

{{metaphysics}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Meaning of Life}}
[[Category:Existentialist concepts]]
[[Category:Philosophical problems]]
[[Category:Philosophy of life]]
[[Category:Religious philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Teleology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Meaning of life}}