What is the meaning of life?
What is the meaning of life? To answer that, first we must answer, “What is meaning?” Meaning is the implication or the purpose of something. “My illness means that I can’t go to the party tonight” is equivalent to “The implication of my illness (for me) is that I can’t go to the party tonight.” “My illness means that I need to eat healthier” is equivalent to “The purpose of my illness (for me) is to let me know that I want to change my diet.”
So, what is the meaning of life? It is the implications of life, for you, or the purpose of life, for you. “The implication of my life is that, as someone who can play piano, I am able to entertain by playing piano. The implication of your life is that, as someone who can paint, you are able to entertain by painting.” “The purpose of my life is to see my children flourish. The purpose of your life is to commune with nature.”
But, need life have implications or purpose? Not at all. You are doing what you are doing. What you are doing doesn’t need to imply anything except that you are doing it. What is the meaning of what is in your peripheral vision now? That is part of your life. Perhaps it has no implications for you. What is the purpose of what is in your peripheral vision now? Perhaps it has no purpose; it just is what it is. Things have meaning for you if they have meaning for you, and they do not if they do not.
There are no secrets about the meaning of your life, because you already know perfectly what implications events have for you, and what purposes you have for yourself. That is because implications and purposes are a form of knowing, and you can no more not know these than not know your own experience.
There are no secrets about the meaning of your life
There are no secrets about the meaning of your life. There are nothing but “secrets” about the meaning of “Life” (in the abstract). You are the meaning of your life. You give it meaning.
“Meaning” usually means “equals”, ” implies”, “purpose”, “is defined as”, “has connotations of”, “translation” etc.
Meaning also means “the use of” or “the usable information”. Meaning points out, in order to point toward a lesson, a learning. “What does it mean?” means “What can I learn from it?”, “How can I use it?”,” What are its secrets?”
Any thing or concept can have any meaning or no meaning. No thing can be usable apart from a learner desiring to use, and a learner can desire to use anything in any way he or she chooses.
Fire means heat if heat is how it is used. Fire means light if that is how it is used. Fire used as light may not mean heat. Fire used as heat may not mean light.
The ultimate determiner of meaning is the learner’s beliefs or desires. Learners learn meanings that they believe they ought to learn or that they want to learn. Conversely they can not learn meanings that they believe they ought not to learn (even if they wish they could).
What does learning meaning mean? It means anything or nothing. If it means anything, it means either interpreting data into “should’s”, “ought’s”, “supposed to’s”, or it means using meaning as a means to another end.
Another use of meaning other than “what should it mean?” is: “what could it mean? Or “what does it mean to me?”
Why do things?
Since no thing needs to or must have a given meaning, then meaning can be anything or nothing. There is no such thing as meaning (in itself) if something does not have to mean something. Or there really is incontrovertible meaning, for you.