I googled the meaning of life. I need some input.

[JStreetDream]

This is my first post on here. It's a little ridiculous but I googled "the meaning of life" because I'm at a complete and total feeling of purposelessness in life. I'm an atheist, and I've always prided myself on being positive despite my lack of belief in a god, but lately, I just wish some train would come run me over because I don't feel like there is any point to life. So I read the article on here, "Life sucks, then you die" and It rang very true. So, taking the advice given I want to try and actively change my life. I'm miserable and the fact is I know suicide is not an option. I lost my dad to it three years ago, my mom couldn't bare to loose me too. So I'm here for the long hall and to quote the article, "You’re here to create the life you really want, not to endure a life you don’t want." I am just at a total loss for where to start. How do you create meaning in life? Does anyone have any advise on how to "reboot" your life? Anything. Your experiences, quotes, books, exercises? I need to know there is something worth living for. Motivation. Because where I'm at now, it's an all time low. This depression is sucking me in and I can't live life like this anymore. I'm at the end of my rope. What can I do?

[kpugh]

JStreet,
I commend you for taking ownership of your life like that. I've heard from lots of people who have found "The Personal Vision Workbook" helpful for "rebooting" their lives, and "re-calibrating" their sense of personal identity and purpose. I know this is going to sound like a sales pitch since I'm one of the authors, but just to prove it's not, I'll gladly send you a copy for free. Just contact me at our website and tell me where to send it.

The workbook provides a structure in which you can gain clarity on your core values and personal identity, and gives you a process for discovering or creating your personal vision from that. It's still up to you to do the work for yourself, but it may provide the guidance and the path you're looking for. The activities in the book are fun and diverse, and it doesn't require you to go through the book in any specific order. If you're interested, let me know. I'd be happy to help you make the most of the book as a tool that could help you on your journey. You can see more about the book on the website below. In addition, there's a growing online community of folks who are working through the book at our vision portal site too.

It's not the answer to "what's the meaning of life", but it might help you to figure out how to organize your clues and make meaning of them. Hope to hear from you!

[Sam988]

This may sound banal but the best advice i can give you is this: find what you want to do/be/achieve in life, and go after it. What would be something you dream about in life and would love to have/be/do? Then go after it...


You will say "it's not that simple" but i think it really is, we are the ones making it more complicated than it really is.



The good thing about being at the bottom is that you have nothing to lose, so do whatever you feel like doing! Go after whatever you want, and do whatever it takes!



Life keeps the biggest rewards for those who endure and never give up; to those, life will give them what they want. If you quit at the first sight of difficulties, you won't get anything from life.





edit: by the way, life has no more meaning than the one you give it.

[missing]

if you want practical advice then you need to give some specifics. Why are you depressed? What in your life is bothering you? Would you still be depressed if things were different? Are you capable of changing things so you are less depressed? etc. etc.

I'd say you should try and figure some things worth living for to start. Small things especially. Taking a walk or a hike usually works wonders for me. So does traveling to places I haven't been. Across town works just as good as across the world here. Maybe there is a TV show you love or even a video game? Maybe not as healthy as going out but the point here is that there must be something very small that you enjoy about your life. Start with that.

For more general tips that can be applied across the board, you'll probably have to go read more of Steve's articles. Very few people can write about these things in a generalized manner like he does.

[Excellent Lodestar]

I find hanging out or even talking on the phone(internet doesn't seem to cut it) with people who give me a "charge" can be a foundation to build my momentum needed to "feel good". Some people just have that "heart energy", as I call it that puts me in the now.

I remember googling 'Meaning of life" as well ---LOL I was lead to a site that basically explained why computer programming was the answer. Really. Big fans of Douglas Hofstadter, no doubt...Ironic that Hof says most of his "fans" misunderstand his meaning and interests.

[SonoranBob]

Sometimes I think the hardest thing for us humans to say is "I don't know". I don't know the meaning of life and I'm convinced that no one else does either.

Not knowing the ultimate meaning doesn't mean that one can't find meaning and purpose for one's life, though. I kind of like the Zen concept that you can't succeed at finding the meaning of life but you can succeed at shedding your illusions and when they are all gone, what is left IS the meaning of life. But I believe that meaning is somewhat individual / personal rather than universal. We're all different and what floats my boat may well not float yours.

Sounds like you are off to a good start.

Best,

--Bob

[Athena Arianna]

This is my first post here too. I had to respond as I think I too found this site via googling "The Meaning of Life"... was disappointed at all the "find god" advice I had to wade through, then found this and the abundance of logic & reasoning applied to issues was like rain on a desert...

Anyway, to the OP, I'm in at a similar point in life as you I think. In here for the long haul, know I have some issues, but looking for ways to make the best of it. Thinking of it as a journey helps, I think. I've had times where I'm too tired or just not motivated to try, but then I get by just existing for awhile. Then something spurs me into trying again, and thats where I am now.

Good luck, may we both progress favorably!

Athena Arianna

[Angela]

You are in such a great spot! How fabulous to find yourself realizing that there is no purpose in life. Now you are completely and utterly free to make one up!

It can be daunting, I know, to be faced with all the possible potentials in the universe and try to narrow it down to something that inspires you. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources around to help you do that! On Steve's blog and in his articles are helpful tips for distinguishing a life purpose that lights you on fire -- that's a great place to start. I've read a few books that have been very helpful and practical in distinguishing what really has me loving my life, including: Your Genius At Work, The Passion Test, A New Earth, and Change Your Life in 7 Days.

How fun to be starting at a point where there is nothing, and you have the opportunity to create ANYTHING YOU WANT IN LIFE. You are so lucky!

Lots of love and good wishes in distinguishing your inspiration, and welcome to the forums!

Welcome to you, too, Athena Arianna, you little magical Greek Goddess of Delight!

Angela

[Plato]

It sounds crazy (I know, as an atheist myself in the typical sense of the word) but finding God is the path to finding meaning and experiencing a feeling of richness in life. That means either an external God... or you. Performing action as sacrifice (to yourself) because you know it's the right thing to do will set you free. Sounds kind of lame worshipping yourself right? It's really just a metaphor though for treating yourself with the respect a good Christian would treat God. This means recognising yourself as deciding what is morally right or wrong. YOU decide what is right and wrong and once you know that you dilligently perform the action required of you. Just a different way of viewing things that provides an objective morality in this society which currently acts as though emotivism were true.

[annie]

My answer will definitely not be popular...but I still can't resist.

I've done the Personal Development thing for over 25 years now. And I can say that it been truly a blessing as I've developed in areas of knowledge, expertise, etc.

But within it, I could never find the answers to:

Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?

That was a completely different personal quest. And that quest took me to God. I understand and believe that there is God and divinity within us all...but I personally believe that there is also a REAL God.

In my opinion....true, real, and lasting happiness comes from something called Charity. I would define Charity as the love of God and unconditional love that we can give to others. It can be found through many avenues such as prayer, mediation, and serving others with no expectation of anything in return.

Once you step out of the "ME" centeredness and find a way to serve humanity....you'll find in your own unique way....your personal meaning of life. I have no doubt that personal development serves us in many ways...but I would never put it as the center of "who I am!"

my 2 cents

[verbors]

Asking "what is the answer to life" is too general.

Break it down a bit. Ask what is your ambition, what is your goal, where do you see yourself in 10 years time.

I tend to just ignore the question and move on with my life. I found that when I ask the question the answer I get is nothing. There is no point of life. So I avoid the question

[Sylvia]

pretend you're invisible, or a kid again (as in, no responsibilities ) and think of something you would really enjoy doing RIGHT NOW. then go do it. or pretend you have really wealthy parents and could pick anything.

Im an artist. that's what i picked. it took me YEARS of dwelling in unproductive hell to figure it out. now i just embrace it and have chosen to flourish at it. its gonna be a great life, i have never been more focused on life as i am right now.

as for a greater PURPOSE? well, i kinda stole steve's "greatest good of all" because its so ambiguous. i could have ANY career/mission and find some way for it to serve all of humanity and existence. but it really helped me to realize that what i want most of all is the greatest good i could possibly contribute to the universe because it makes my soul burn brighter than it ever has.

but who knows, i might want to go into green architecture next week. :P

[Sushi]

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

[abbiejoice]

I, too have sought the answers to questions such as those you ask, and it is really not easy to find them.

I will give you a link to an e-book I wrote which compiled the things I've learned while searching. I hope it could help you somehow. Don't worry because it's FREE. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE BOOK "I SEEK"

WHATEVER HAPPENS?

What is the meaning of our life

if we are but a mist that quickly goes away

like a rose that blooms but for a day

What does it matter then that we have

ever passed this way?

Whatever happens

to the smiles we have smiled

to the tears we have cried

Whatever happens

to dreams we dreamt and reached

to failures that turned out bitter-sweet

Whatever happens to raindrops that fell

if thou shall not rise again towards heaven

and be made purer than it has ever been

Whatever happens

O whatever happens

if thy fallen soul

shall not be redeemed

Yea by now I can only pray

I can only believe

that everything is not meaningless

that there is reserved a destiny

even for a withered flower

even for mist that quickly goes away

ITAKEOFFTHEMASK.COM

[John Murdoch]

YouTube - ~Abraham-Hicks~ The Meaning of Life

Q: What IS the meaning of life?

A: You mean, what is the purpose of life? It is joy.
What is the reason for life? It is joy.
What is the basis of life? It is freedom.
What is the result of life? It is expansion.
What is the reason that you came forth into this physical experience? You wanted more.
You wanted more exposure to more opportunity to have more feelings.
So, the meaning of life – it sounds strange to say it – but the meaning of life is life!
It’s to feel life pouring through you.
To feel the exhilaration of a new idea coming to fruition.
To feel yourself ‘not right on it’ and then work yourself until you are on it.
To have a new idea occur to you and recognize that you’re not a vibrational match to it
and then to deliberately become a vibrational match to it.
All of that is fun. And all of that is life.
And then,
to see manifestation happen in response to the alignment that you’ve achieved.
And then to now have a new platform, because now that you have achieved that,
your vantage point is different. And so now all of your opportunities are different.
And so now your birthing of ideas is different.
And now the crevasse between where you are and where you now want to be,
or that which part of you has become has changed ever so slightly.
And now you have yet another opportunity to come into alignment with that.
So, the meaning of life and the reason for life, is for the thrill of life!
That would be like saying, “Why does someone ride the wave on their surf board?
What is the practical purpose for it?”
“Well, we do it because we’re trying to smooth out the ocean.
No – that, that can’t be right.”
“Well, we’re doing it because we want to teach the fish how to swim on top of the water. No – that can’t be right. Why are we doing it?”
Well, because it gives us a sort of thrill when we do it.
Life, is life!

[Amanda Norris]

I like the Abraham-Hicks answer. The meaning of life is life.
Maybe this isn't complete, but here's what I want to add:
Life is life. Try to think about the power of life. The irrepressibility of life. I've also thought about suicide many times when I feel depressed and like there's no point to living. But I've never actually seriously considered it as an option. One reason is that I wouldn't want to hurt my family. But another reason is that it just feels so unnatural. Living creatures are meant to live. What other animal besides humans commits suicide? Every living thing's instinct is to live. To live and grow and reproduce. To survive and thrive. Think about life, about flowers growing and blooming in the sun. Those little weeds that grow up through the cracks in the sidewalk. Feel the blood pumping through your veins, feel the warm sunshine on your face. Now think about what else life means. Growth and experience. Joy and fun adventure. Love. I feel like there really is no choice. We must live. If there's really no point, no meaning, then we might as well just all kill ourselves now and get it over with. Otherwise, let's embrace life, and do our best to live the best lives we can. Give Life a personality and a power. Think of Life as an actual, tangible force that you can sense or feel. Like God, maybe. You're an atheist, so God doesn't exist, but Life exists. You can't deny that Life exists. Believe in Life. Feel the power of Life in you. The power and force, the instinct that keeps you alive. The reason you don't commit suicide. The reason you're searching for a meaning to life. Feel that force inside you and hold on to it. Let that power motivate you to take action in your life. To improve and grow and enjoy new experiences.
Hope this makes some sense and that you can get something from it.
Good luck with your search for the meaning in your life. Good luck to all of us as we search for meaning and purpose.

[The Cloud]

What's the meaning of life? It is to live. What do you consider to be living? More importantly, why do you consider these things to be living?

Don't go looking for an objective meaning to life, there isn't one. Meaning is necessarily a subjective definition in your mind. Once you see this, you don't need a meaning to your life. But until you do, your life's purpose is living, and living is whatever you want it to be. Just ask yourself if what you want what you think life is, and if it isn't ask why you want it.

[Plato]

Originally Posted by Sushi

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Nice. Interestingly it hasn't always been that way though. There used to be a predefined meaning of life but it was lost with the reformation and subsequent failure of the enlightenment project to find an objective morality.

[evelynlim]

JStreetDream, I can totally understand what you are going through. I also came upon this question some time back and went in search for answers. Here's a quote I like

“The standard of success in life is not the money or the stuff - the standard of success is absolutely the amount of joy you feel”. – Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks

I also recently posted my thoughts on this area here How To Measure Success | Attraction Mind Map

It can be quite hard if you find life meaningless and with no sense of direction. I strongly recommend that you find a purpose; for in living your purpose, you can experience much happiness and also, create a more powerful impact on others.

All the best,
Evelyn

[dream23]

true joy is achieved, when you live for others by using all your innate and learned skills to their potential. Think of all the times you have been immensely happy it's always a shared experience.

"you have to be good at your job, before you can enjoy the rest of your life."

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by dream23

Think of all the times you have been immensely happy it's always a shared experience.

I have been immensely happy in shared experiences, and immensely happy alone. In fact I would say that given the reality of the world we live in, more often than not people are a hindrance to being immensely happy. I don't take it so far as "hell is other people" but one certainly has to pick friends carefully if you wish to reliably interact with them in healthy, drama-free ways.

I think that people who make statements like the one quoted above tend to be extroverts. Nothing wrong with that. Whatever works. But it's not an automatic truism, IMO.

--Bob

[Stargirl]

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."
- Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

I have been feeling that overwhelming sense of meaninglessness and I'm learning to take on Viktor Frankl's philosophy on the meaning of life - we give it meaning.

I think this feeling of meaninglessness comes most often when we are bored and unchallenged by life. It's a sign that you need to do something new and challenging.

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by Stargirl

I think this feeling of meaninglessness comes most often when we are bored and unchallenged by life. It's a sign that you need to do something new and challenging.

I personally think it comes from life being different from what we expect, which means that we aren't getting our meaning from where we think we should. We look for meaning and it's right under our nose the whole time but we don't see it.

Someone said "life is the dancer and you are the dance." That is exactly backwards from what most of us start out expecting. Our ego does not like to think that we are just a cosmic sock puppet, so it tells us that life finding expression through us, rather than the inverse, is death, and meaningless.

Once you actually try to let life be what it wants to be, and express itself through you as it wishes, you find meaning. It's paradoxical / counterintuitive / humbling, but that's the way it works.

--Bob

[Christian223]

2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."

3 What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.

8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.

A little piece from The Book of Ecclesiastes in the bible, i recommend it very much

From the last chapter:

9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

(from BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 50 versions and 35 languages.)

[12345]

I know my response will definitely be despised by most, but there is one, and only one, meaning of life, and that is God. (I know, I know, you’re no doubt rolling your eyes right now . . .)

We are only here for one purpose, and that is to try to live as Godly a life as possible. Jesus was the only perfect human who ever lived or ever will live, and we should structure our lives around ways to become Godlier. I have always marveled at the fact that the word ‘good’ is simply the word ‘God’ with an extra ‘o’. All the things that are wrong in the world are simply due to the fact that people have fallen out of alignment with God’s word and thus, good ways.

Murder, rape, suicide, adultery, drugs, violence, etc. are evil and the complete opposite of good. However, I do think that God allows evil to exist because it allows us to *willingly choose* good over evil; He desires for us to have genuine love for Him. He could’ve *made* us perfect and *made* us love Him, but if He had, we would’ve been nothing more than robots. In human relationships, everyone knows that forcing someone to love you is meaningless; it is only when people truly love each other that it is special (corny and cliché I know, but nevertheless true).

We obviously cannot pray every second of the day, and God does not expect us to. Rather, He wants us to pursue our individual dreams, but He wants us to do so in a *Godly* way. The Godly way really is nothing more than plain ole common sense; everybody has common sense—but most people refuse to use it. When people choose to do evil, they usually know they are doing wrong. I think that our conscience that each and every one of us possesses is God speaking to our hearts.

Sure, the argument can always be made that people have a right to do whatever they want, and that is indeed true. However, there are always consequences to every action, and when people go against God and thus against doing good, they usually suffer. This is not to say that people who try to live sinless, Godly lives live easy lives—they suffer too, but not because of their sins, but often precisely because of their Godly lives through persecution (and I definitely feel I have the persecution coming to me after this post . . . ).

We should all have *individual* dreams, but everyone *collectively* should focus God at the center of our dreams. Whatever problems we have in life should only draw us closer to God. If life were perfect for everyone, no one would ever even think of God—they would be too self-absorbed and full of themselves; to realize that our lives are in His hands humbles us and helps to tear down the sin of pride that lies within all of us. I could ramble on and on, but I’ll spare everybody.

[Yennifer]

I think you need to fill all your time with actions. Try to adopt any pet, you will see that it depends on your love and need it a lot.

To be with somebody who needs you is a great seanse to live!

When I feel depressed, I usually try to have no free time to think about it. Try to create - start painting, cooking or wood engraving. For me cooking is the best way, because you cook not only for you. Bake a cake for your mom, making people happy makes you happy too!

Good luck!

[Louise Gilbert]

There are some fantastic responses here..this pursuit of finding meaning seems to commence when we realise that we have none, and find ourselves in a place that is unfamiliar territory - welcome my friend, come join the rest of us sitting here in the dark!! Sit, Listen, Feel, be Still, Experience.

Our purpose is far beyond what the mind can fathom, yet we can find purpose within the limitation of being human. As soon as we try to fathom it out with the mind, we commence a journey that will lead us to become humble, and accept that we are significantly insignificant and perfectly imperfect. Once we drop the 'act' that we seem to know what 'on earth' we are doing then we might start being what we are really here for...

Perhaps our purpose is to accept the limitation, accept we don't know, and do the best we can to find purpose in something that seems purposeless, find meaning in something that seems meaningless. This asks something of us much deeper, and only you can work out what that is.

Much love to you on your journey,

[Andrei]

I think one problem here is the difference between finding a purpose "in" life and finding the purpose "of" life.

The first can be solved by following rules how to feel better, how to find goals in life and so on. Steve Pavlina has a great post about this finding your life's purpose etc and then there is finding the purpose of life in general. These two meanings are dangerously mixed. They are different I feel. The purpose "of" life is about the structure of our universe. How does our universe work and how can you find the use of humans inside. You don't need to know how the universe works in order to find a more joyful and fulfilling life and I think often even the opposite is true. If you search both at the same time you're likely to get stuck, because it's awfully complicated. I think that getting more joy in your life is a good way to start and after to find what it is all about.

Of course, they are intertwined, but searching for one or the other gives different effects and searching for the meaning of life should better be done when you feel strong enough to go deep enough.

[Jonathan Mead]

The meaning of life is nothing other than life. How could the meaning of life be something outside of itself? There is nothing outside of it. Inside and outside are illusions.

Creating meaning though is beautiful. We all have the opportunity to create our own meaning because we are all writing our own story. We are divine artists creating and developing our stories each day. Choose to write your story with love, truth and following your heart.

[Stephen]

I couldnt resist joining this thread.

What is it all for? The meaning of life?

Well as a fellow atheist I can say that knowing we are wholly material and that there is no after life helps me just get on with enjoying life. I would really hate go through life deluding myself (with all those nagging doubts) that there is another place to go. The only fire some of us will be going to will be at the cemetery.
But what if? Pascals Wager? Refure Refute Refute!

I live my life as close to not hurting anyone as I can and that includes non human animals. the hypocrisy of mainstream religion poisons my thoughts.

We are but deriatives of carbon, floating around in the realm of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Live your life.

There's an old Scottish saying, let me share it with you....

Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead