What is the Meaning of Life

When contemplating the purpose of life we may be better off using logic than using philosophy. Philosophy can be a great way to entertain a mind, but logic (in this particular instance) can offer its user a sense of being solidly grounded, which comes in handy in living life. There is at least the chance that living life is the only purpose of life. That's why this may be the best place to start in contemplating life's purpose.

In the process of applying logic we need to first be ready to face the possibility that life is an accident of the Universe, or else that a Creator created a basic framework of life while allowing life, itself, to follow its own course. In other words, there's the possibility that a Creator essentially started something comparable to an ant farm and then sat back and watched the ants build their community and reproduce.

If nobody has made some blueprint for the purpose of life then people would need to do one or two things: 1) Adjust to the ideas that life, itself, is a gift and worth living and that it's fine if there's no grand purpose; or 2) Build individual purpose into one's own life, since finding needing to know there is a purpose can be intrinsic for so many people. Those people who find or create a purpose to their lives could actually be doing the very thing that was originally intended by a Creator (if there is a Creator), because such a Creator may very have created the "ant farm", given each "ant" the drive to find purpose in life, and known that the rest would take care of itself. Again, though, there's the chance that even a Creator only went as far as to create the "ant farm" for the purpose of either giving a gift to the ants or else just for watching and learning.

On the other hand, if there is a Creator and a specific purpose and plan for each individual (and all other living things, as well) logic would tell us that this Creator either does not want us to know the purpose, doesn't want us to know the purpose today but may decide to reveal it at a later time in our Earthly existence, or may not want us to know it until we die.

If this Creator doesn't want us to ever know the purpose of life then it would seem our purpose, for the time being and while we're on Earth, would be to live our Earthly lives and concentrate on Earthly matters, rather than wasting our precious living moments pondering what we are not supposed to know. If the plan is that the purpose of life, or the purpose of our own lives, will be revealed with certainty to us later in our Earthly existence; again, that would tell us that we may be better off not wasting our precious thinking time imagining all the possible purposes. After all, imagining does not make for grounds for drawing accurate conclusions. Again, if and when a Creator wants us to know the purpose of life that purpose will be revealed to us. Since, in this scenario, we our understanding or any purpose would be dependent on, and at the mercy of, a Creator; trying to find answers when we are not supposed to have them would be a futile waste of time.

Whether there is no purpose or there is a purpose that we are not supposed to know (right now or ever), logic would tell us that contemplating the purpose of life can be a waste of one's precious time on Earth. If there's no purpose of life that's no such a bad thing. If life is nothing more than a great strawberry shortcake dessert, or the way we feel when we see a beautiful sunset or the ocean, would that be such a bad thing? If life has some purpose we're not supposed to know right now, so we, in the meantime, simply enjoy that dessert, sunset, or ocean, doesn't logic tell us that we are getting out of life what we are supposed to at this particular time? What if there is no purpose (or one we're not supposed to know right now), and we've spent a cozy afternoon napping or slept late on Saturday to get the rest our bodies needed? Aren't those things part of living too?

Suppose, on the other hand, some of us (not all of us, because not all people and certainly not animals contemplate the purpose of life) have been given a drive to figure out the purpose of life in order to move life forward - just the way the drive to procreate does. Logic would tell us that because we cannot know the purpose of life while we are on Earth (if ever) the only way to satisfy that need for purpose would be to create one's own purpose in one's own life. Logic would tell us that it is unlikely a Creator would give some humans a futile drive to find purpose for the purpose of advancing life. After all, such a Creator would most likely not see the benefit of humans' thinking about that for which there would be no answers if the reason for the drive to find purpose was to advance life on Earth (or other planets). One may ask whether the quest to find the purpose of life could potentially result in the advancement of life. Logic tells us that that is a possibility. If a Creator has given us the drive to learn the purpose of life then that Creator has also given us the ability to process logic. When considering whether the quest to learn the purpose of life (even without the possibility of ever knowing for sure) we can again use that logical reasoning we've been given to consider the following questions: 1) Would a Creator endow us with a quest to learn the purpose of life while also giving us the gift of reasoning that would help us realize we cannot know the answer? 2) Would not such a Creator make it impossible to realize that we cannot know the purpose of life while we're here, on Earth, if, in fact, the quest was designed to advance life?

Instead, we have been given the ability to easily see that we cannot figure out the grander purpose of life while we're here; so this brings us back to the idea that our quest to learn the purpose can only be met and satisfied with our choice to find our own purpose.

There are, of course, those who believe that life on Earth doesn't matter anyway, and that we are "going home" to some other place after we die. People who believe this way may, by thinking this way, find solace in a difficult Earthly existence. Those who fear that a Creator would condemn harming other life, and those who believe that "doing good" is doing God's work, often find that "doing God's work" while on Earth offers a sense of purpose while they wait to learn the purpose of life, in general. It is pure faith (and often the words of religious leaders) - not logic - that results in this type of thinking. That is not to belittle faith in any way, but the fact is when people accept religious beliefs about the purpose of life have been guided into answers about the purpose of life by their religion.

If we look at all the parts of life (in general - not just individual lives) we can easily see that everything intrinsic to life serves a purpose in relationship to life, itself. Whether - behind life, itself - there is yet a grander purpose is not something we cannot know. When people have a sense of purpose they feel more at peace in this life, and since we can't know for sure whether there is a grander purpose, the only thing any of us (particularly those of us who need to feel some sense of purpose) can do is to find or create our own purpose in this world.

Logic tells us that we may one day learn what the greater purpose of life is, but that trying to learn that when it isn't time is futile. Logic tells us, too, that there is at least the chance that we may be ants on a Creator's ant farm or even that life is nothing more than an accident. If this is true then trying to learn what the greater purpose is is nothing but a waste of our time, minds, and energies.

Logic tells us that if we can be at peace with not finding that greater purpose of life then our purpose must be to live our lives (if there's a purpose at all); and logical tells us that if we can't be at peace with that then we have no choice but to try to find, or create, our own purpose.

Contemplating the purpose of life is, to me, something we are supposed to address with logic. Once we have done that we will realize there is little point in pondering the purpose of life, and get on with the business of living a life into which we, ourselves, build purpose.