The Meaning of Life

A while ago, I asked a coworker “What is the meaning of life?” ( and I wasn’t talking about a Monty Python movie). The reply I got was “The meaning of life is to exist. To fulfill (hopefully) ones dreams.” To which was added “and I think I am in the wrong place....I should be traveling!”

I thought that this was an interesting concept. So, what is the meaning of life? Why do we exist or are we here only to exist? Is it to be bothersome to some people? Or to be helpful? Or should we all be traveling? Are we the only intelligent planet in the universe, (for some people, they are not even the most intelligent people on their street, but I digress). Or are we somebody’s practical joke that became a populated planet with scientific marvels?

What would you consider to be the meaning of your life? What were your greatest achievements? Now, think about this carefully. Was it the gold medal you won or the trophy you won playing hockey as a 12 year old? Was it a painting or a sculpture that you made with your own hands? Is it playing an instrument or singing with your lovely voice?

I am sure that we have all done things that we are proud of. For some of us, it is writing for newsletters at work. For others, it is helping their coworkers figure out how to use a computer properly. But is this the meaning of life? Should I be content with having an article published every few months or is there something else? Have you thought about it yet? Keep thinking. This is probably the hardest question that has ever been asked, and it has been asked for many hundreds of years by some of the greatest minds in history. (I don’t include myself with this bunch, because I don’t rate to be considered as part of this group).

So, do you have an answer yet? Well I don’t have one. So I thought I would confer with a priest and a friend of the family, who happens to be a psychologist, but I really didn’t get the answers I was searching. So what is next? I know, I will search the Internet.

The first thing I did was Google “The Meaning of Life” and I got the same silly Monty Python movie. So I figured, where can I look? I know, I will try the Vatican website, but it is too hard to get any information, unless you’re studying theology and have a password. So I thought, maybe the American Library of Congress. They have every book ever written, they should have the answer I was looking for. But no dice. So I thought of everything I read and everything that everybody told me and all of a sudden, it came to me. Like a flash of light it shot into my brain, as small as it is, and I finally got the answer. It was so easy that I was so surprised that I didn’t think of it sooner. The meaning of life is ...