User:Truth is relative, understanding is limited/Meaning of life
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The meaning of life is a concept that concerns the possible purpose and significance that may be attributed to human existence and one's personal life. It has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific and theological speculation, and there is a huge variety of views concerning this philosophical problem.[1][2][3][4] Many have discussed and debated various related questions in their search for the meaning of life.[5] As the stereotypical short answers to the question "What is the meaning of life?"[4][6][7][8][9][10] are often found to be wanting, proving to be as elusive and disputable as the meaning of life itself, we need to elaborate on a multitude of related concepts if an adequate understanding of the meaning of life is to be achieved.
Most directly, the meaning of life refers to what life is supposed to mean. An affirmative answer implies that life in itself has significance, value and a general reason for occurring, and thus a purpose. A complete explanation should also reveal what is to be considered truly meaningful, valuable and worthwhile in life and about life, as the reason one asks for .
- Why are we here?[1][11][12][13][14] What are we here for?[15]
- What is the origin of life?[16]
- What is the nature of life (and of reality itself)?[16][17]
- What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life?[1][8][17][18][19]
- What is the significance of life?[19]
- What is meaningful or valuable in life?[20]
- What is the value of life?[21]
- What is the reason to live?[22] What are we living for?[15]
Analytic philosophers have questioned the meaning of the question "What is the meaning of life?"[23] and the meaningfulness of asking such a question.[24] Other philosophers have considered whether life would be meaningless if there are no objective values.[25] Existentialists hold that meaning can be created by oneself, rejecting the nihilist view. Some, notably Humanists, have aimed to develop an understanding of life that explains, regardless of how we came to be here, what we should do now that we are here.
Theologians and others have considered the human need for some higher or supernatural ideal, for instance, in reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's postulation of the "death" of God, Martin Heidegger puts the problem as "If God as the suprasensory ground and goal of all reality is dead, if the suprasensory world of the Ideas has suffered the loss of its obligatory and above it its vitalizing and upbuilding power, then nothing more remains to which man can cling and by which he can orient himself."[26]
Religious answers to the question "What is the meaning of (my) life?" tend to include a certain moral demand[27] and to soothe the grief associated with death.[28] Mystical and spiritual traditions focus more on direct experience than religions generally do, the overall view is that life is an unfolding, an inner-awakening or a discovery and transforming of one's understanding and insight, and the ultimate goal of life is living a life in accordance with this spiritual insight, which can be summarized as understanding the meaning of life, all of life and reality itself.[29][7][30]