The Meaning of Life

"What is the meaning of life?"

An all-time favourite philosophical question. This is one of the basic questions that has got philosophists pondering about for hundreds of years.

Is there any reason why we are around? Is there any purpose in life that we should fulfill? Why are we who we are? ... Questions that has bogged mankind for ages. But I'm afraid there wouldn't be answers to any of the questions soon, if at all.

It is easy to be confused about life, especially when we look at it from a macro perspective. We are born to the world, we go through life, studying, working, getting married, having your own family, and then finally we slowly age and die off. A repetitive cycle that has repeated itself for thousands of years at least. And what have we achieved in the past thousands of years? What achievements do we have to be proud of?

Scientific advancements?
People are doing more things more efficiently, getting to places faster and enjoying various comforts of they can afford. But at what cost? All this technology saves time, yet people are getting more busier and busier and have less and less time for themselves.

More comforts of life?
Granted.. But at what expense? Look at the destruction of the flora and fauna around the world. Extinction rates are alarming. Look at the effects of pollution. Look at the severe climate changes.

Richer?
On the average, we have grown richer over the years. Yet, it is known that the top 20% of the world's population earns 80% of the world's income. In other words, the richer get richer, while the poor... Millions of people around the world are umemployed or starving, and billions worry about not having enough to pay their bills.

Civilisation
Some claim we have become more civilised. Have we? Has the situation of politics, competition and back-stabbing decreased? Have we stopped being aggressive against others? Have we become more selfless?

The list can go on forever. But it does seem that our thousands of years of "advancement" isn't as wonderful as we think it is. Have we really achieved something? If history shows that we cannot achieve anything, it is reasonable to assume that we can't achieve anything as well, isn't it?

But at the end of all that thought, I think I have realised the answer... While some people have been trying to search for the answer to the question, they have not realised that it is the question that is wrong.

Life by itself has no meaning. It is like asking the meaning of a group of friends playing board games. Is there a reason? Is there a meaning to it? The simple reason for us playing is that we enjoy doing so. The same thing with life... We are live, because we want to, because we enjoy doing so. Along the way, we give life more meaning, by doing things that we want to achieve. It may not be anything significant, but so long as you enjoy doing so, it's great.

Largely put, there is a high chance that we would not achieve anything really great in our lives. We are limited by our human abilities. Yet, what we can do is to find happiness in the everyday activities we do. It's really not so much of the goal that's important. It's the journey.

So, what meaning do you give your life?
Perhaps one answer to "Why do we do the things we do?" is simply "Because I want to."