This theory dawned on me recently and it is so basic that I wondered why I never thought of it. I guess it's embedded into cultures and becomes a part of our lives:

My theory on the meaning of life is to strive for happiness. This doesn't mean self-gratification and short term highs from drugs and alcohol. I think we all want to be happy, but in a sense of accomplishment and pride. Think about it- how the greatest feeling in the entire world is pure joy, not sex or drugs. Furthermore, this should extend to make us strive for happiness in our brethren, our neighbors. I feel if everybody in the world tried to be happy and tried to make others happy, we would have a perfect world.

Unfortunately, there are many deranged people out there that don't see the world this way and strive for self-gratification or happiness through others' pain. But why don't we just put all of those people on a deserted island or on Mars? Then they could all hurt each other and we could all live in peace. :)

Meaning denotes purpose, and as far as I'm concerned there is no actual ultimate purpose. We weren't put here to live out a scenario, we're here simply because of chance and the fact that the environment allowed us to be here.

However, just because there is no ultimate purpose doesn't mean that we can't entrench meaning into our own lives through family, friends, work, etc. We have been gifted with life, and to me that gift would be cheapened if I thought that we were placed here by a god rather than the course of events that have actually occured leading up to this point in time. The wonders of the universe are far more spectacular then any creation from an intelligent being could possibly be.

For me, there is no afterlife. When I die, I won't be rewarded for the things I did or didn't do on Earth. This is my only chance, and for those who are ignorant to an atheist way of thinking it might seem as if that would cause me to be selfish and life live only for myself. Unfortunately, any understanding of how we have evolved and just how complex interaction between humans is would allow those people to understand that atheists aren't social darwinists. The genes that have lead to me being here are selfish, and will continue to be selfish as they have now become fantastically adept at surviving. However, the selfish actions of my genes have given rise to a conciousness that can break free of its selfish upbringings. We have the ability to love, hate, empathise, etc, and these things (which are a part of my make up, and can't possibly be changed) allow us to live wholy unselfish lives if we want to.

I would give up anything for the people in my life that I care about (and often give up things for people I've never met, such as giving to charity) simply because that's who I am. That's what our extremely complex brains allows us to think, feel and do.

The meaning of life is to take heed or the amazing chance you've been given, and enjoy life. Equally, enjoying life doesn't mean being selfish and getting as much as possible. Enjoying life is as much about satisfying the parts of you that crave unselfish acts. When I die, I only live on through the memories that people have of me, and I hope that they will be happy ones.

Why were we put on this Earth?

I don't believe we were put.

What drives us to do good?

Selfishness. But civilized thought has turned our want for personal safety into a sense of public justice and niceties. Do onto others, et cetera...

In a sense, what do you think the meaning of life is?

Bow chicka whow whow.... ;P

I find the obsession with finding a meaning behind anything and everything to be mankind's biggest blessing and curse at the same time.

It is a quest created by the mind and it is not to be found in any other living being but in humans.

Which has led me to believe that it's a futile quest... :o)

So, I don't know what the meaning of life is but I know what I find meaningful.

I find work to be very meaningful. It keeps me sane and occupied.

I find heart to heart conversations with people to be meaningful. It reminds me how much I love people.

I find the occasional spiritual experience to be meaningful. It assures me that beauty extends beyond the world I see.

I find numbers to be very meaningful. There is so much beauty in them. We're the only animal that can comprehend them.

I find music and art to be meaningful. I love the way it moves me and then leaves me with a sense of catharsis (emotional cleansing).

Those are a few of the things I find meaningful. Yet not one of them can single handedly tell me what the meaning of life is.

However, I have found that when you help someone else, your sense of having a purpose for being here is heightened, so maybe there lies the key... :o)

I think the reason one is here shall be personal. We all find something that makes us want to "live." Usually, it's passion. Passion in just something. Anything. Find it. Do it. Enjoy it. Then you're happy.

Isn't the, erm, typical reason of life to procreate and raise a new generation of beings to be prepared for the their generation while we all pass away?

Alas, I 'think' most religious people find the meaning of life to be about following their bible of right and wrong and looking forward to life after this life.

For me? My whole purpose is to just take it a day at a time without killing myself. My passion is love, so having a good relationship/marriage is about all it takes to keep me grounded, but I also have a habit of contradicting EVERYTHING to the point I seem like a pessimistic and depressing person (but I usually keep all that side of me in a journal or to myself). In other words, I see the darkness in life more than the light, and I feel like not being here would be a way better life than living in all the darkness. :-) (And I don't believe in a life after this whatsoever. I'm entirely content with the idea of nothingness).

Why were we put on this Earth? What drives us to do good? In a sense, what do you think the meaning of life is?

1. I don't think we were so much put here, as when the earth was formed it contained chemicals in abundance that would be capable in the right circustances to create life. Then through billions of years and circumstances, different chemicals and atoms bonded constantly in every concievable way. While most didn't work, some inevitably (given the time and number) over billions of years formed intelligence. And of course once something had intelligence to want to survive, it continued to act and evolve in such a way to improve and continue its own existence.

This eventually lead to us, as well as every other thing we could call "living".

2. We do good for several reasons: We have maintained a pack instinct which for hundreds of thousands of years was necessary considering our physical inadequecies compared to the rest of the animals in things like hunting and avoiding predators. Unlike aligators who can eat their own young, we have limited young, so instinctually for our own survival we learned to protect them. Unlike bulls who only need one male to survive, we needed our neighbors to help us hunt, protect, and make more people.

Intelligence allows us a level of empathy. Through imagination, we can feel what another living thing may (or may not) be feeling. In a way, by helping another we are helping ourselves on some level. Not everyone is capable of this, people who have had their frontal lobes removed for medical reasons, and some serial killers it's been found have some deformity in their frontal lobe, making them incapable of empathy. Most mammals have the capacity for empathy.

Recent studies of the human brain have uncovered chemical reactions in the brain, that really would appear to mean that on a deep instinctual level, most would rather give than recieve.

3. I would say that life is a happy circumstance for us, that given the amount of time, and the abundance of the necessary ingredients of life, was actually pretty much innevitable, and not any kind of miracle at all. (I would go further and say that, given the immensity of the universe; life, and intelligent life probably isn't that uncommon. Just given the sheer number of solar systems and galaxies and the trillions of years of existance - it would be nearly impossible for there not to be, have been, and will be eventually, all kinds of life bright enough to wonder about their own existance)

But there is no meaning but what we make. There is no great purpose except our own. And it is up to us, not some mythical being, to choose a "meaning" that makes having been alive for however short a time, worth it.

Now the religious love to say that it is selfish to not believe in some god. That we are too dumb and base to be "good" on our own, without a father in the sky, scolding, threatening with fire, and rewarding with vague promises of eternity.

I think it is selfish to only do good because one is looking for award, or afraid of punishment.

A person who dies in defense of a country, or for an idea, or for their family, is no less great a person to an aetheist, even more so, as their death we believe is permanent.

I think though, that some do not have the strength of character to imagine an eternity where they do not exist.

I however, am not so vain.

Probably a better question to ask is...,

Since we all know we are going to die, why not just go out there and have an adventure instead of wasting time in an office building making money? Uh..., aside from the fact that we need money to go out there and have an adventure ;)

Here's my philosophy, keep it in mind:

'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention

of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body,

but rather to skid in sideways -

Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other -

body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and

screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride'

Let's take a second to examine logic.

It's our mammalian way of understanding or mimicking the known order of the universe. 1 + 1 = 2, red pigment mixed with yellow pigment will yield orange pigment, objects of mass will gravitate towards each other.

If we algebraically and logically move among our observations and theories we will eventually find that living, breeding, then eventually dieing is a very bleak existence and has no logical "purpose" to it. Life, reduced to pure logic, has no meaning.

Picture a species that doesn't like other like creatures. It would die off in civil war. A species that doesn't mind dieing wouldn't fight for survival. A species that doesn't have a hunger would starve. A species that doesn't feel pleasure would feel meaningless.

Makes perfect natural, evolutionary sense.

It's this funny thing we have called an emotional consciousness. We have IRRATIONAL factors that provide a motivation for us: fear of death, seeking reward and self-sustenance, and an intuitive bond towards others. If you think about it, everything we do in life is designed to satisfy these emotions, because they are, in fact, our ultimate motive. To satisfy our emotions.

To begin, I am a self-described Pantheist. However, as with many philosophies, what I believe is far to complex to be summed up in one word.

Logically, we cannot choose much of who we are. We are born into a specific family, we carry specific genes, we are named and we are raised in certain environments. This is one factor that can be used to describe who we are, and why we are who we are. The other factor is the human potential. Potential which we all carry, yet may not know. Some of us have potential in the pure and theoretically, the applied, or the inane. However, we all have potential.

God is a complex topic, one without a prove-able answer. I believe that "God" consists of everything that ever was, is and will be (otherwise known as "God" is the every changing universe). Part of my proof for this is the complex relationships (both conscious and unconscious) which occur and are (relatively) subject to every object currently in existence (and arguably that had existed and will exist).

By this point, most of us are tired of reading seemingly random points. These points are not mutually exclusive. The do occur together, daily.

My definition for the meaning of life, is that each individual human co-exists with the rest of his/her environment, will attempted to discover who he/she is (with happiness being a bi-product). And, potential is not a definitive discovery, in fact, most of the time, in the end we discover what we wanted to discover; we are who we wanted to be.

"happiness is like a butterfly

the more you chase it,

the more it will elude you,

but is you turn your attention to other things,

it will come and sit softly on your shoulder"

like this poem makes me feel happy and people take the Mick out of me but i ignore it and yes happiness does sit on my shoulder for the fact is i cant feel sad for more a day (the day my Nan died) but if your not happy how can you live? the feeling of guilt and injustice weighs you down until you cant breathe and unless you cling to happiness you will die in a corner alone friendship is important to don't let old friends die call them talk to them at least try for a long time it will burn a hole in your soul, i know....

To live and understand. Everything else is your own mind's projection.

There is no meaning whatsoever. It doesn't matter what we do, who we are or where we go either in terms of location or advancement - we exist because we can. To imagine any kind of meaning or purpose is groundless fantasy. Sorry.

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"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

I meaning is to help others and respect things that God gave us. We should all lead good and healthy lives and thank God every day that we are here.

To be happy everyday and to share your happiness with others.

Well, just for fun lets say the atheists are right about everything. ............

The only thing I can think of is survival, selfish gain, and emotional attachments.

The emotional attachments are only temporary because when we die thats it. We will never see our loved ones again.