What is the meaning of life?

According to http://www.dictionary.com, "life" means:

"1. a) The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms
from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such
as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or
adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.
    b) The characteristic state or condition of a living organism. 
2. Living organisms considered as a group: plant life; marine life. 
3. A living being, especially a person: an earthquake that claimed
hundreds of lives.
4. The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute
existence: the artistic life of a writer.
5.  a) The interval of time between birth and death: She led a good,
long life.
    b) The interval of time between one's birth and the present: has
had hay fever all his life.
    c) A particular segment of one's life: my adolescent life. 
    d) The period from an occurrence until death: elected for life;
paralyzed for life.
    e) Slang. A sentence of imprisonment lasting till death. 
6. The time for which something exists or functions: the useful life
of a car.
7. A spiritual state regarded as a transcending of corporeal death. 
8. An account of a person's life; a biography. 
9. Human existence, relationships, or activity in general: real life;
everyday life.
10. a) A manner of living: led a hard life. 
    b) A specific, characteristic manner of existence. Used of
inanimate objects: “Great institutions seem to have a life of their
own, independent of those who run them” (New Republic).
    c) The activities and interests of a particular area or realm:
musical life in New York.
11. a) A source of vitality; an animating force: She's the life of the
show.
    b) Liveliness or vitality; animation: a face that is full of life.
12. a) Something that actually exists regarded as a subject for an
artist: painted from life.
    b) Actual environment or reality; nature. 

adj. 
1. Of or relating to animate existence; involved in or necessary for
living: life processes.
2. Continuing for a lifetime; lifelong: life partner; life
imprisonment.
3. Using a living model as a subject for an artist: a life sculpture.

Idioms:
"as big as life"
1. Life-size. 
2. Actually present. 
"bring to life"
1. To cause to regain consciousness. 
2. To put spirit into; to animate. 
3. To make lifelike. 
"come to life"
1. To become animated; grow excited.
"for dear life"
1. Desperately or urgently: I ran for dear life when I saw the tiger.
"for life"
1. Till the end of one's life.
"for the life of (one)"
1. Though trying hard: For the life of me I couldn't remember his
name.
"not on your life" (Informal)
1. Absolutely not; not for any reason whatsoever.
"take (one's) life"
1. To commit suicide.
"take (one's) life in (one's) hands"
1. To take a dangerous risk.
"take (someone's) life"
1. To commit murder.
"the good life"
1. A wealthy, luxurious way of living.
"the life of Riley" (Informal)
1. An easy life.
"the life of the party" (Informal) 
1. An animated, amusing person who is the center of attention at a
social gathering.
"to save (one's) life"
1. No matter how hard one tries: He can't ski to save his life. 
"true to life"
1. Conforming to reality."

And that, my friend, is undeniably the meaning of life...

Thanks!

bobby_d

---

Request for Answer Clarification by googlsky-ga on 01 Nov 2002 16:00 PST

No, no that's not it.

---

Clarification of Answer by bobby_d-ga on 01 Nov 2002 16:03 PST

If you want to know what some other researchers think life means, check these out:

Important question 
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=75873

The meaning of life 
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=2573

Life, the universe and everything? 
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=13017

If you need any further clarification, please ask!

Thanks again, 

bobby_d

---

Clarification of Answer by bobby_d-ga on 01 Nov 2002 16:09 PST

I believe that is it - I mean, what else can the word "life" mean?

If you want to direct your question along a certain strand of
philosophy, please clarify this.  For example, life in terms of
ourselves, or life in terms of the universe, or life in terms of
"God".

Thanks,
bobby_d

(Is the answer you're looking for "42"?!?!  Have a look here if you
don't understand what I mean:

Meaning of Life - a whatis definition - see also:42
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211501,00.html)

---

Request for Answer Clarification by googlsky-ga on 01 Nov 2002 16:11 PST

Would an extra dollar get me a real answer?

---

Clarification of Answer by bobby_d-ga on 01 Nov 2002 17:50 PST

"would an extra dollar get me a real answer?"

What is a "real answer"?  What particular line of philosophy would you
like me to follow?

You do not need to pay anything extra in order to obtain the "real
answer" that you seek, merely clarify what answer you are looking for
- I could give you a broad answer, which we have seen the past:

"Our role in the cosmos is to become or create our successors."
FAQ about the meaning of life
http://sysopmind.com/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html

But every single person has a different belief of what life would mean
for them.  Personally, I believe that life is a gift given to us, and
our role is to utilise this gift in ways would satisfy the giver of
life (ie by following christian values, and satisfying myself and
others around me).  One could consider this a religious line of
philosophy in regard to the question.

I hope that you can retrieve the answer you are looking for from me -
please clarify your question in order for me to obtain your answer.

Thanks again,

bobby_d-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by bobby_d-ga on 02 Nov 2002 14:58 PST

(Aceresearcher - mind if I borrow some of your words?)

"Please post a Clarification specifying what attributes your Answer
must include for you to consider it acceptable. "

Thanks googlsky, and I hope you can clarify this soon.

bobby_d

Don't humor him.  I will.

Life is what you make it.

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

=)

googlsky,

As you can imagine, "What is the meaning of life?" is a very
open-ended question. If you are not willing to accept whatever a
Researcher may post as an Answer, then you should provide guidelines,
in your question or in a subsequent Clarification, as to what sort of
Answer you WILL be willing to accept.

While many of the Answers posted here by Researchers may seem eerily
prescient, surprisingly, Researchers are not telepathic or psychic (I
know, that's so hard to believe, given how good they seem to be at
reading people's minds!). They are actually just people who are
EXTREMELY good at conducting searches for information.

So, if you are willing to post a Clarification specifying what
attributes your Answer must include, I'll bet bobby_d will do a good
job of hunting down the proper answer for you.

Regards,

aceresearcher

It was a very straightforward question....no telepathy required.

"One definition of life, albeit not a particularly useful one, might
run something like this.
Life is that property which a being will lose as a result of falling
out of a cold and mysterious cave thirteen miles above ground level."
So there you have it, the meaning of life. What were philosophers so
confused about? That seemed pretty easy. Perhaps those old
philosophers were concerned about the purpose of life. This really is
quite difficult, and no dictionary will be able to answer this one for
you."
http://brkn.net/parse.php?content=life2

Can I get my two bucks back?

Thank you for the comment aceresearcher - well put.

googlsky - you have several options.

You can clarify your question so that I can answer it to suit your
needs.  You would generally do this before requesting a refund.

You do have an option to request a refund from Google Answers, as
stated in the Google Answers FAQ:

"What if I don't like my answer? Can I get a refund?

If you are not fully satisfied with your answer for whatever reason,
the first step is to request a clarification of your answer from the
original Researcher. If you are still dissatisfied after
clarification, you can request your question be re-posted once again.
If you receive a second answer and are still not satisfied, you may
apply for a full refund, less the non-refundable $0.50 listing fee,
using our refund request form. Finally, you can give the Researcher a
poor rating. If you want a refund, you'll be asked to explain why you
were unsatisfied with your answer, and this information, along with
the question and returned answer, will be posted on the Google Answers
website. Google grants full refunds for all reasonable requests for up
to 30 days after answers are posted."
https://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html

Here is the refund request page:
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=refundrequest

Please clarify your question before requesting a refund.

I hope this helps you.

Thanks,
bobby_d-ga

The Meaning of Life: (1983) by Monty Python
Directed by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
Starring: Grahm Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry
Jones & Michael Palin.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0085959

(I saw that someone had already posted the HHTG answer of 42)

There ya go, a straightforward answer to a (cough-cough)
straightforward question. Although I liked bobby_d's answer better.

Nice one Flajason - I hadn't thought of that!

bobby_d

I need a concrete answer on this by Monday.

googlsky,

You say that you need an answer for this by Monday. As you can see by
the Comments above, several Researchers have attempted to assist you
in your quest. You say you do not find any of the Answers so far
acceptable. I will reiterate what I said in my first comment.

"What is the meaning of life?" is a very open-ended question. IF YOU
ARE NOT WILLING TO ACCEPT WHATEVER A RESEARCHER MAY POST AS AN ANSWER,
then you should provide guidelines, in your question or in a
subsequent Clarification, as to what sort of Answer you WILL be
willing to accept.

Or perhaps you were only interested in starting an open-ended
question, and there is NO answer you are willing to accept?

Please post a Clarification specifying what attributes your Answer
must include for you to consider it acceptable. Otherwise, Researchers
will be unable to assist you, and they will all move on to someone
else's questions.

Regards,

aceresearcher

You can find an FAQ of the Meaning of Life at
http://sysopmind.com/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html

googlesky,

Like all questions, yours either has a right answer or it doesn't.
If it does not have a right answer, then there is no point in even
asking the question--I would suggest not concerning yourself with
questions which don't have a correct answer.  If the question has
a correct answer, then you either know that answer or you don't.
If you believe that you know the answer, why did you ask the
question?  If you don't know the answer, you really aren't in a
position to say whether or not the answer you were given is the
right one or not.

Since you are unhappy with the answer which aceresearcher
provided, you must think that you have some idea of what the right
answer is.  Perhaps you could provide us with some idea of what
*you* think the answer is.

Your question is frequently asked, not only in this forum, but
elsewhere as well.  Personally, I think the question is a little
vague.  Are you asking for a definition of the word life?  Or are
assuming a definition of the word, and want to know why you are
alive (or not alive depending on your definition of the word)?

I have a definition of life, and I believe that it is the one
correct definition.  The question is a serious one to me; one
which I and others have spent literally years considering.  The
answer is also priceless.  If you are truly interested in *my*
answer to the question, I can point you to a forum where we can
discuss it further.  Don't expect an answer by Monday, though.  It
is a time-consuming question.

Regards,
bikerman-ga

bikerman.ga

I didn't ask for a definition of the word life.  I asked for the
meaning of life.  Aceresearcher gave a definition of the word life
from dictionary.com then stated it was "undeniably the meaning of
life".

I can know something is incorrect and yet not know the right answer. 
You are saying my not knowing the correct answer means I can't say an
answer is wrong.  Therefore any answer would be correct because I
don't know the answer.  I don't understand that logic.

I need an answer by tomorrow.

Sincerely,
googlsky.ga

I should have paid three bucks.

googlsky.

Please note that:

1. aceresearcher did not answer this question, I did.
2. I am more than willing to provide the answer you need, but you need
to specify - PLEASE READ THE CLARIFICATION NOTES ON MY ANSWER.

Thanks again, and I hope that you can provide a scope for the
question,

bobby_d

bobby_d.ga

1. I was wrong about aceresearcher.
2. Guess I will have to live with your definition of the word life
rather than know the meaning of Life.  Sigh.

Are you sure googlsky?  

I have offered frequently to provide further research if you would
only clarify your answer - please note the comments and the
clarifications, and their dates.

Thanks again,

bobby_d

The question "What is the meaning of life?" makes a supposition that
there is a meaning to life.

Why does it have to have a meaning? Because we are questioning animals
does not mean that our questions are necesarily proper.

What is the meaning of a rock? None, it just exists; it has no
meaning!  There are reasons for what it is made of, why it is there &
where it is going, but those do not give it meaning.

The computer that gave the answer of "42" was not an "all knowing"
"perfect" computer, it obviously had a glitch somewhere it its inners.
The correct answer(and it doesn even come from a computer, but me, a
"thinking" human being) is that there are no questions.

Life just is, everything just is; it is man, the "thinking" human
being that comes up with questions.  Life has no questions. Life just
exists in its "complex simpleness".

Because I ask the question what color is love? should we try to answer
it?

The cave man had unaswerable questions about fire, thunder, etc. 
Since there was no answer he had thunder gods and fire gods in order
to understand the unknowable.  Today we know all except three things:
where did we come from?, why are we here?, and where are we going? 
Since we don't know the answer we have created the term God to answer
these three unknows*.  Most people believe in God so they don't have
to spend the time & effort thinking about the questions; some people
like to think about them knowing that it is unlikely that we will ever
have a correct answer, and some people like to do both.

[*Some (realists) think that the 3 unknowns are: we come from
evolution, we are here to contribute our genes to the big gene pool to
blindly make sure that our species does not perish, & when we die we
decompose back into basic elements. But the real question is where did
it all start from, why, and where does it all end. By calling GOD
eternal (always existing) then we don't have to think about it
anymore, but what was there before God?  Eternity is a very difficult
concept!  Perhaps it is one of those crazy things than "thinking" man
invented.]


Now if you thnk my anwer is full of crap (and I certainly don't blame
you if you do as I am sure it is full of misspellings and
punctionalation errors also), then perhaps the proper way to answer
the question is to define the word "meaning" and not the word "life".

By doing so it immediately takes the answer from objective to
subjective which is alll life is; our personal interpretations.

My interpretations is that life has no meaning! and if you really
think about it that might be truly correct.

Steve

PS Sorry for sounding as though I know it all - I don't - it's just
the way that this typing comes out.  If you could hear me you would
hear the doubts, smirks, humor, etc in my voice. I certainly switched
gears in there about 2/3 of the way through as I got myself into a
corner with no more BS to get me out.

Dear ifnotmethenwho.ga aka Steve,

I was being a wise guy, for the most part, when I asked google to find
the meaning of life for two bucks.

Your response was very thoughtful.  I do agree with you up to a point.
 I have always questioned if we created God to answer what couldn't be
answered.  Then I hear a Beethoven symphony and think that such music
could not possibly have come about solely as a result of evolution.

The ancients did have gods for what they didn't understand.  Because
we understand these things now may not mean the ancients were wrong in
having gods for them.  Their gods may have been a more primitive
understanding of God.

I enjoyed your thoughts on this.   

Sincerely,
googlsky.ga aka Tom

Tom,
You state, "Then I hear a Beethoven symphony and think that such music
could not possibly have come about solely as a result of evolution."
Why not???? Just because something is beyond our comprehension does
not mean that we have to assign a "more powerful creator" for it to
exist. Other people (myself for one) do not have any problem at all
"thinking that such music could....come about solely as a result of
evolution.  In a random universe there are going to be some really
neat things (humans) and some really ugly things (humans).  It  ALL
depends upon our INTERPRETATION. While you might INTERPRET Beethoven's
symphony as fantastic, there are other educated people who INTERPRET
it as poor, ok, or good.  That is the nature of humaness...we do not
all INTERPRET in the same ways as we have different education,
different experiences, different genes, and different value.

I remember, when I was about 15 years old, talking to a very smart
class mate of mine and she said "Just look at the human hand and how
it can grab, tightn, tickle, flex, etc. etc......there has to be a God
that made it"  and I said that if I was God I would make it so that
the fingers could flex in all directions (ie backwards 180° as well as
forwards) and been truly remarkable, but of course then Spideyman has
a remarkable "hand".

I have had a lot of fun "playing GOD".  "If I was God I would make
sure that no one (especially children) ever starved to death."  "If I
was God no one would die until they had made love". "If I was
God.......etc."  As much fun as it is, it really is not that easy to
put awhole system together and helps me understand a little more about
the unkown. When you get right down to it, life, the universe &
Beethoven are too complicated for even God....it has to be random,
chaotic, & whimsical......our INTERPRETORS (brains) are the ones that
say there is a plan, order, rationality, etc.......but that is only my
INTERPRETATION!

Speaking of knowing more (being GOD), the older I get (63) the more
that I realize that knowing nothing is a fantstic goal and that I am
closing in on it swiftly, yet will never realize it. {As an aside this
is tremendous progress on my part as I used to think I knew it all}
The term "To know nothing" can be taken several different ways....all
of which are fun to think about. One interpretation is that knowing
nothing is to realize  that there is nothing to know (Zen-like). All
just IS!  When we label it we will never "know" it...."dogwood tree",
"blue"....but it certainly does help with communications.

Enough. enough! I certainly do stray far afield.

Have a well interpreted day,

Steve

PS: I really enojoyed your remarks to the others who were trying so
earnestly and helpfully to answer your question...... "No, no that's
not it." & "Would an extra dollar get me a real answer?" & "It was a
very straightforward question....no telepathy required." & especially
"Can I get my two bucks back?"

PPS: Immediately following is an email that I receved this morning
which sums up in a extended method much of what I have said above:

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady,
who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock,
with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied,
even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home  today.
Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move
necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby
of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready.
As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator,
I provided a visual description of her tiny room,
including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old
having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room .... just wait."
That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied.
"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.
Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is
arranged...
it's how I arrange  my mind. I already decided to love it ... "
"It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up.
I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed
recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no
longer work,
or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.
Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open
I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away
...
just for this time in my life. "

"Old age is like a bank account ... you withdraw from what you've put
in ..
So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the
bank account of memories.

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still
depositing."