What is the meaning of life? Correct answer: There is no underlying meaning to life. We are born and then we die. In between these two seminal dates (for us, and only for us), we are granted a finite number of days in which to experience this unique dimension called consciousness. How we choose to spend these precious days is entirely up to us. Time is the only common denominator linking us to both our ancestors and our descendants. Once you are gone from this planet someone new will step in immediately to take your place, and five hundred years from now–unless your name happens to be Jesus Christ, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, or some other overarching historical figure–no one will ever have heard of you. Furthermore, no one will give a shit that you ever existed either. This is not being cruel; it is being ruthlessly honest. There is no transcendent meaning to life, only a finite, wholly mathematical, undetermined number of days each individual is granted in which to experience consciousness, and you would be well advised to start relishing that relatively small allotment before the meter on your mortality tank drops down to less than a quarter tank and you “suddenly” face the risk of those incomparable days as a sentient being running out. And they will eventually come to an end too, let me assure you of that. There are no mulligans on life. When you pass away some day and your body eventually transforms back into the bare stardust from whence each of us came, no one will mourn for very long nor attach any significant “meaning” to the life you happened to live as a transient, puny resident on Earth’s timeless surface. You were here…..and then quickly and unceremoniously you were gone, and life as we know it and the Universe encasing us will continue on without skipping a beat. We are only important and indispensable in our own minds…..
Fred's Soapbox 