The Meaning of Life

According to Wikipedia, "the meaning of life constitutes a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of human existence." It's a loaded question. A question that has occupied the minds of our greatest thinkers for centuries. And at one time or another, I'm sure its something that you have entertained (knowing my audience, probably while being high). Answers run the gamut and include "to realize one's potential," "to evolve," "to be fruitful and multiply," "to follow one's destiny," "to seek wisdom and knowledge," "to leave the world a better place than you found it," "to attain spiritual enlightenment," and of course the dog-chasing-the-tail answer of "to find the meaning of life."

As the preeminent thinker of our generation, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. There is no meaning of life. Now, before you start crying and reading me a laundry list of moments in your life that prove there is a meaning of life, consider the following:

The age of the universe is around 14 billion years. The age of the earth is around 4.5 billion years. Homo sapiens have been around for about 250,000 years (that's you and I for the uneducated). Doing the math, humans have been around for 1/18,000 of the earth's existence and 1/56,000 of the universe's existence.

Furthermore, within about 900 million years, all animal life on earth will be extinct. In about 5.5 billion years, the sun will expand to 250 times its current radius and probably consume the earth. In about 10 to the power of 100 years (that's a one followed by a hundred zeros) the universe will enter a dark era, where it will be almost entirely empty. After that, it's all speculative, but lets just say that most of the scenarios are not very encouraging for the future of any form of life (if you have a problem with any of these numbers/concepts, your problem isn't with me, but with the general scientific consensus.)

I think it would be fair to say that trying to explain the "significance of human existence" is akin to explaining the significance of an ant hill in the middle of Africa. And just like the ant hill, if (when) the human race disappears, our existence would (will) be but a brief footnote in history of the universe.

Yet, we continue to search for more complicated answers to our existence. Why does something always have to be bigger than it is? Why do we feel the need to give certainty to our lives by defining it through questions and answers that are ambiguous and only succeed in bringing more uncertainty (actually, I know the answer. Because it's easy to manipulate people that way.)?

No, there is no meaning OF life. There is only meaning to YOUR life. And the meaning you give to OTHER lives.

So stop making life so complicated and go out and define your own life. Discover what hobbies you enjoy doing. Spend more quality time with your loved ones. Become knowledgeable on subjects that you've always been intrigued about, but have never found the time to pursue. Stop sweating the small stuff. Call your sibling that you're in a fight with and apologize, whether its your fault or not. Go set some goals...and accomplish them. Have fun. Have a positive outlook. Help those in need of help. Stand up for what is right. And do it, not because I told you so, but because it personifies the best of who you are.

So, please keep in mind, that EVERYTHING will one day come to an end, including your life. And when that time comes, I promise you, we will be no closer to "solving" a meaning for human existence. But hopefully, you succeeding in giving meaning to your life and the lives of the ones you love.