Is the Meaning of Life really 42?

@Till23

I absolutely think that my purpose in life has changed as I've gotten older. My understanding of meaning and purpose has definitely changed a lot. I think my overarching meaning in life is pretty settled; just experiencing life. BUT I think we can have multiple purposes and that they change throughout our lifetime. An incredibly simplified demonstration of this is that my purpose as an infant is obviously very different to my day-to-day purposes now.

Yes I agree about those changes @0ddsidian so can Meaning possibly be survival then at the very base level?

You've already said existence and to experience life, which of course is able to be done at any age.

Hey @Till23 , very thought-provoking indeed.

Meaning of life? I think it's what you make it. Everyone has their own meaning, their own quest, their own journey.

I feel my life is filled when I can reach out and support others. I'm mindful I've got a lot to learn, but I'm open to it and this is part of finding meaning too I reckon... always learning.

Hello @Cuddlebear

How are you?

Yes I know that with my dogs they seem to just live in the moment but they do remember because they are able to learn and they react to things in the "now" based on their previous experiences.

I know my boy dog was very depressed when my girl dog passed away, they had been together for over 14 years. I actually thought he may pass away in the first couple of weeks after her passing. At the time I wished I knew what he was thinking, so that I could make it easier for him. He lived a further two years after her passing.

Hey @tyme

I am not asking these questions in the search for a "correct" answer, because I do not think there is one answer, I think it is a personal thing, but just interested to know what people consider to be a meaning.

I think it very much depends on your circumstances, possibly your culture and spirituality.

Other things I'm considering is whether it changes over time and whether having a meaning is important at all.

Sometimes I think when we wonder these things it can stall us as we search or go looking for answers.
i think the answer is something some of us might find or find out, albeit late in life, but when we try desperately to search for the answer it eludes us.

If I was to give a disappointing, less romanticised answer I might say the meaning of life is survival of our species or more specifically our bloodline based on when we observe animal behaviour and prepare the next generation to do the same (but better)

Hey @Thinkalot , thanks for your input. As @Till23 mentioned, it's good to read other people's input.

@Till23 , absolutely, I don't think anyone can confidently give the 'final' response to what the meaning of life is.

From my experiences, I reckon it's static. Why I'm saying this is that as a kid, your meaning of life is generally very different to your menaing of life as a older person. We learn so much in between.

Totally an interesting topic and we can give our whole lifetime to looking into it!

@Thinkalot I think all answers are valid and a number of people have eluded to survival or existence itself.

I also think it changes throughout life and that people do not usually think about it early in life (or late adolescence/early in adulthood).

Propagation of your DNA has been called a biological imperative (although on a species basis not everyone needs to propagate their own DNA, just enough to keep species going)

Yes @tyme many philosophers spend their lives studying the meaning of life.

There are whole "divisions" of psychotherapy based on meaning such as logotherapy which arose from Viktor Frankl

And what did they get from it @Till23 ? I'm interested. I guess I'm interested in the idea, but I wouldn't go to the extent of looking for an answer 🙂

We're all different 🙂