The Meaning of life

[Zebez]

Ok this might sound dumb but I have had this question in my head for a long time. What do you think the meaning of life is?
No answer is correct I think I just want to know what you think.

[cslrobert]

Life should be about enjoyment, but most importantly is to become an expert in a field and to mentor someone in that field so they may pick up where you left off. So there may be progression, without that role you have a world of headless chickens wasting time figuring out what has allready been found.

And sampling every type of beer ever made...oh my sweet nectar.

[InuShonen]

The point of life is to LIIIIIVE

[Zebez]

Yes living is the point. But what is the meaning to life in general like life is living.

[bluesign2k]

The meaning of life is 42..... I thought everybody knew that

[ChadH]

What was the question again??

[cslrobert]

The meaning of life is 42..... I thought everybody knew that

Damn it, I know I forgot to carry the 2. I thought it was 22 this whole time. That explains alot.

[Zebez]

The Question was type what you think the meaning of life is.

[mvamis]

It's simple. The answer to the meaning of life is to do the will of God. We are here for his pleasure.

That is the meaning of life.

Matt

[cslrobert]

You mean we are his ant farm. For his amusement?

[Zebez]

mvamis thats funny I asked my mom and she said the same thing!

[getsis]

The Meaning of Life

Once upon a time, there was a disaffected hamster called Doris who had spent her entire life alone in a metal cage. When she was very young, the children had played with her frequently but, after a few months, they stopped visiting her altogether. Since then, she would walk for hours and hours each day inside the little plastic treadmill in the cage just to pass the time.

Of course, she had plenty of time to think and ponder. She would often ask herself questions like: ?What purpose does my life serve??, ?Was I really put on this Earth just to walk round and round inside a treadmill all day long??, ?What?s the point? It doesn?t even produce electricity.?

Such musings did not help Doris?s state of mind in the least. On the contrary, they just made her more and more disaffected about her r?in The Great Scheme of Things. Her frustration grew stronger and stronger with every turn of the wheel until one day she realised what she had to do.

?I must escape,? she said aloud to herself as the wheel came to a sudden halt. ?That?s it! I must escape and travel far and wide throughout the world until I find someone who can answer my questions once and for all.?

Doris was delighted with herself for finally having made the decision to take action rather than constantly wallow in self pity. Her excitement grew day by day at the thought of eventually discovering The Meaning of Life but first she had to be patient. Every so often, the person who brought her food would accidentally leave the door to her cage unlatched. She would just have to bide her time until it happened again.

It was several days before the opportunity to carry out her escape plan arose. When it did, she waited until after dark and then gently eased open the door to her cage. She made her way stealthily across the kitchen floor and then out through a window that had been conveniently left open. Off into the night she sped, her heart singing as she ran.

Time passed and Doris did indeed travel far and wide throughout the world. Unfortunately, however, she still hadn?t found a single living creature who could give her a satisfactory answer to The Ultimate Question. Her disaffection returned steadily until she had almost reached the point of abandoning her quest for good. And then, one day, she found herself in what was probably the deepest and darkest jungle on the planet.

?Right,? she said to herself. ?This is my last chance. If I don?t find the answer here, then I?m off back to the treadmill for good.?

Venturing warily into the jungle ? because, as I said, it was very deep and very dark and, after all, Doris was just a small hamster ? the first creature she came across was a baboon.

?Excuse me,? said Doris politely, ?but could you tell me The Meaning of Life??

?The Meaning of Life?? repeated the baboon. ?Well, that?s obvious, isn?t it.?

Doris?s heart leapt in anticipation. At last she would have her answer.

?The Meaning of Life, my little furry friend, is having the reddest bottom in the jungle!? and, with that, the baboon abruptly turned its back on Doris and pointed to what she had to admit was probably the reddest bottom she?d ever seen in her life.

?Er, I see,? muttered Doris. ?Well, I really must be off now. Thank you for your time. Most ? er ? informative.?

Crestfallen once again, Doris delved even further into the jungle until she met a vulture. In response to her question, the bird merely scowled and curled its beak: ?What do I care about The Meaning of Life? I feed on Death.?

Some hours later, a fox suddenly appeared in front of her.

?The Meaning of Life, eh?? said the fox, slowly stroking his chin with his paw. ?Yes, I think I can help you with that. The only thing is, I can?t actually remember the answer off the top of my head but I know I?ve got it written down somewhere in my lair. If you?d care to come back there with me, I?m sure I could find it in an instant.?

The little hamster gulped. She had heard about foxes and knew exactly what this one had in mind so she made her excuses and dashed off into the undergrowth before the fox could make a grab for her.

For days she continued on her journey deeper and deeper into the jungle. She met all manner of animals and asked each one her question. She asked a hyena who just laughed at her, a parrot who just kept repeating ?Pretty Polly? over and over again, and, most disappointingly of all, an elephant who told her that he had known the answer at one time but couldn?t remember it now.

Soon afterwards, she came into a small clearing where an enormous lion lay dozing in the sun. Although Doris had heard about foxes, she knew almost nothing about lions and that was why she went straight up to him and poked him with her nose several times until he woke up.

?I?m terribly sorry to disturb you,? she said, ?but I wondered if you could tell me what The Meaning of Life is.?

?You woke me up to ask me that?? growled the lion. He yawned and examined the hamster closely but then decided she was far too small to even constitute a light snack. ?Well since I?m awake now anyway, I?ll tell you. The thing is, as King of the Jungle, all life revolves around me and so I am The Meaning of Life.?

Disappointed at having received yet another unsatisfactory response, Doris thanked the lion profusely and set off once again.

Some time later, she spotted an owl sitting in a nearby tree and knew immediately that her quest was almost at an end: ?Of course! A wise old owl. Why didn?t I think of it before? Owls know everything about everything.?

Doris greeted the owl politely and excitedly asked her question. The owl looked down at her from the branch it was perched on and tutted, haughtily raising its beak in a most disdainful manner: ?The Meaning of Life? Of course I know The Meaning of Life. Owls know everything about everything, or didn?t you know that??

?Well? Well?? Doris was beside herself with anticipation.

?Well what??

?What is it? What is The Meaning of Life??

?You don?t think I?m going to tell you, do you?? snorted the owl. ?I mean, you?d just go round telling everyone else then. Can you imagine the chaos that would cause??

No amount of coaxing or cajoling could get the owl to utter the words that Doris so desperately wanted to hear and eventually the owl grew more and more irritated with the conversation and flew away.

Doris sank wearily to the ground, the tears already beginning to gush from her little hamster eyes. ?What will I do now?? she wailed. ?What will I do now? I?ll never know the answer. Never. Never.?

?Answer to what?? came a small voice from behind her.

Doris turned to see who had spoken but there was no-one there.

?Down here,? said the voice, and the hamster scanned the patch of earth in front of her until she finally spotted a tiny dung beetle.

?Oh, hello,? she said, still sobbing.

?Answer to what?? repeated the dung beetle.

?Oh, it doesn?t matter. Really it doesn?t.? Secretly, Doris couldn?t imagine that something as lowly as a dung beetle would know what The Meaning of Life was so didn?t think it was even worth the bother of asking.

?Of course it matters. You?re sobbing your heart out. Now out with it.?

?Oh, alright,? said Doris, trying to stifle her sobs. ?I just wanted to know what The Meaning of Life is, that?s all.?

The dung beetle paused for a moment and then beckoned her with his head: ?Follow me.?

Realising she was in very little danger from a dung beetle and not wanting to appear rude, she did as she was told. However, she was not in the least hopeful that her quest was about to be concluded.

After a few yards, the dung beetle stopped and said, ?There you go,? nodding his head in the direction of a large earthenware bowl on the ground.

Doris looked inside the bowl and saw an enormous number of small brown-coloured balls.

?What are they?? she asked.

The dung beetle looked up at her and grinned with pride. ?Balls of dung,? he said. ?Made them myself I did.?

* * *

And the moral of this little tale?

? Not everyone thinks life has to be a bowl of cherries and, in any case, one person?s bowl of cherries can sometimes be another person?s bowl of dung balls!

[los75oul]

I think there is no meaning to life, life in itself is just a "freak of nature".

Present a monkey with a canvas, a painting brush and some paint, all of infinity, and he will eventually create something that we would recognize as a human work of art. Give the same monkey a typewriter and a huge pile of clean sheets and he will eventually write a novel. Would he know that he has written a novel? Probably not. Would he know that he had created a painting that humans can relate to? Probably not. It all comes down to chance. And chance will eventually have it's way.

Given the infinite number of possible outcomes following Big Bang, and take into account the huge amount of matter in the universe, and you will understand that EVENTUALLY something odd will come along. Humanity is one such odd thing. And of course, all the other weird things on this planet. If we look closer we will see that there is no meaning to the life of other living creatures here, they are all competing (and sometimes collaborating) for the same resources and only (usually) take what they need to secure a future for their offspring.

The only reason we are looking for a meaning of life is because we have become self-aware. But who stated that there needs to be a meaning to it all just because we are aware of our own existence? Can't we just accept that we are in fact a freak of nature that has evolved in such a way that we are now able to question our "purpose"? The only purpose I can see at the moment would have to be to remove ourselves from this planet and give it back to nature, because we are by far the worst "plague" this planet has ever seen, for there has never been a higher rate of species extinction than there is today.

Might come across as slightly pessimistic here, but I think of it as kind of funny :) We are doing what we want, not what we should :)

Words from a true atheist...

[thelightjockey]

nobody has thought of this yet..... linky