Meaning of life - brainstorming

[Meeksauce]

Here's a list of my top values that I just came up with (no particular order)

Peace, intelligence, wisdom, love, music, fun, humor, meaning, truth

 

Would love to hear what you guys have to add.

[Someone here]

1- Peace .

2-Love.

3- Health .

4- Serenity.

5- Well being .

[oOo]

@Meeksauce

Distinguish between human meaning, individual meaning, collective meaning, group meaning, and life meaning.

Then distinguish between life meaning and non-life meaning.

Are the answers all the same? Distinguishing gives a chance to see extra layers, and those, perhaps overarching principles and or ideas, even phenomena that are relevant to the question.

Each of these answers as well, let's hypothetically say the final answer is no different for any of these categories of meaning, how is meaning itself formed across each? All of them clearly differ.

What is the constant across all of them however? 

To me, without expressing too much about the subject in this single breath, its psi.

Great topic. Looking forward to others answers.

[Meeksauce]

31 minutes ago, oOo said:

@Meeksauce

Distinguish between human meaning, individual meaning, collective meaning, group meaning, and life meaning.

Then distinguish between life meaning and non-life meaning.

Are the answers all the same? Distinguishing gives a chance to see extra layers, and those, perhaps overarching principles and or ideas, even phenomena that are relevant to the question.

Each of these answers as well, let's hypothetically say the final answer is no different for any of these categories of meaning, how is meaning itself formed across each? All of them clearly differ.

What is the constant across all of them however? 

To me, without expressing too much about the subject in this single breath, its psi.

Great topic. Looking forward to others answers.

What I've boiled it down to, is that life is basically a 3-way between consciousness, love, and intelligence. Those are what seem to be the most fundamental factors of life to me.

Thanks for your response!

Edited yesterday at 01:46 AM by Meeksauce

[Adrian colby]

Meaning of life? …. Someone in my spiritual circle asked me what life was about and as I answered… it turned into a book. I need to upload the audio file for you guys.😳

[oOo]

39 minutes ago, Meeksauce said:

What I've boiled it down to, is that life is basically a 3-way between consciousness, love, and intelligence. Those are what seem to be the most fundamental factors of life to me.

Thanks for your response!

Those are excellent.

Would you put these into a triad?

What does each one mean to you personally?

How would you turn those three into a practical measurement for each to help another human being?

What it the gain from following your triad? What does it lead to and where do you believe it led from?

Any other themes you notice from any or all of those three you've put forward?

[oOo]

And for the reader in general.

What are questions you could ask to propose other potential candidates?

I have some suggestions.

1. What is able to be expanded endlessly in a sustainable way?
- For example, 'evil' essentially fails this test as it bites its own tail through self-destruction.

2. Across how many categories of meaning is the candidate able to satisfy?
- For example, individual 'power' may satisfy one's own personal category, however it fails many other categories or just simply does much worse by comparison. 

What are other questions a reader believes would be suitable as a litmus test for testing the validity of a potential candidate for the meaning of life, or at least, one of the categories proposed?

Best.

 

Edited yesterday at 02:52 AM by oOo

[Someone here]

Is the question “what’s the meaning of life ?” Or “ what are your top values “ ?

Edited yesterday at 03:12 AM by Someone here

[James123]

To be known

[VeganAwake]

There is no ultimate meaning of life, but we can make up stories about it meaning numerous things. 😇

[LastThursday]

I agree with you @VeganAwake that there is no ultimate meaning to life. On the other hand life is so in your face it's hard to ignore.

If there is meaning then it's: we're not meant to just sit passively and watch it all go by, we should constantly push ourselves to be active participants in it. The top things I seek are: beauty, intelligence, love, connection and all those things are Truth.

[Hayato]

1. Self-expression

2. To know God

3. Improvement of the soul

4. Love

[kavaris]

Quote

Title: Meaning of life ~

Sure, i can answer that.... Just define "meaning" and ill start on it.

"Life" is easier, its part of the spectrum of living, abitual, inhabitants (persons, but not as in the persona/identity sortve way, though its part of it), its closer towards lifestyle, way, way/manner, they way you feel and present yourself, the way you experience, perceive, and interpret.

Its something you assoc., w/ "yourself, inside", of which you want (and need) to learn about, in order to perform said life actions to the fullest. Its a kind of action you take, a detachment, and a union w/ yourself. Its a mode of thinking, since life is a kind of basis.

"Meaning" is agreed on meaning. Meaning can mean many things. You can think one thing, say another, and the truth, or the meaningful origin of a word can represent something diff., for you can believe things that you yourself also dont believe. That is, you can have undiscovered meaning (truths, feelings) within you, that you havent confronted or unveiled to yourselves. In that way, meaning (and the meaning of life) might mean many things.

If "meaning've life" is just "values", a list of em, then we are listing values.

 

Edited yesterday at 12:09 PM by kavaris

[oOo]

@VeganAwake @LastThursday

I won't try and sway either of you. Or any reader a part of the same.

What I will briefly argue however, is that the very act of awareness is the creation of meaning itself; to this end, however the heights of consciousness we experience it as, we are imminently, always time bound, and therefore concerning any perception thereto, meaning bound. 

We are of course free to dismiss it as a reality, with good arguments being that humans often suck at the whole meaning thing, but it does not mean we can rationally dismiss the meaning of those consequences. 

On one category of meaning as a subject, let's take God, "Atheists" for example by the average, have a very different room temperature compared to deep "Believers". This room temperature, as in say the impact on their personality structure, can be observed to live outside the belief itself but not its consequence. 

This is an example of how sometimes the consequence of our beliefs, matter just as much as the belief itself. There is a cost to every belief, and there's a meaning in it every which way. That said, perhaps the burden of proof for 'non-meaning' is actually on the person proposing this absence in light of evidence seemingly being in the opposite direction. 

To assign any meaning, is not to hang yourself by it. You also have the liberty to invent a meaning where you are always open to new possibilities, or to contain your meanings by circles of alternate meanings. The world is yours to invent, so it be.

There is of course now however, the meaning you have both co-created together in your sharing, and now, the impact this has had on myself and other readers. But this is all yours.

I briefly speak of this "bind" of meaning in *Meaning Organisation* here just now for any useful reference needed:

 

Edited 22 hours ago by oOo

[VeganAwake]

We can certainly claim anything as anything.

I am whatever you say I am.

[oOo]

@VeganAwake Incorrect. For anything I say you are, there are metrics for its truth value; that which is closer vs further away from truth.

[LastThursday]

10 hours ago, oOo said:

and therefore concerning any perception thereto, meaning bound. 

This is what I meant, somewhat obliquely, by:

On 12/10/2026 at 9:05 AM, LastThursday said:

life is so in your face it's hard to ignore

From a more detached perspective it's possible to see that life is completely arbitrary, which implies that it has no inherent meaning. If you really look at reality it's utterly absurd. 

However life forces us, whatever us represents, to be an intimate part of that absurdity and as such there is meaning in every little thing. We're lost in a sea of meaning. It is only the "us" that conspires in that meaning, outside of that there is no meaning.

[Adrian colby]

Being (Source)

Mind (the universal organising principle through which infinite potential becomes finite possibility.)

Imagination (the activity/capacity of Mind through which possibility can take form without yet requiring physical actuality.)

Distinction (the differentiation of possibility into discernible forms and relationships and patterns.yin/yang two or more- multiplicity)

Life (the emergence of self-organising, self-sustaining patterns capable of maintaining, adapting and developing themselves through relationship with their environment.)

Experience (the conscious feedback through which life encounters and registers its relationships with itself, others and its environment.)

Meaning (the significance an experience holds for the self. the way an occurrence matters, affects, or leaves an impact upon the one experiencing it.)

Preference (the orientation that develops through meaningful experience, drawing us toward what we seek to return to and away from what we seek to avoid that becomes intrinsically part of the identity.)

Purpose (the direction that emerges from our preferences; what we are drawn to pursue, cultivate or bring into being through the patterns of what matters to us.)

Expression (the fully embodied and uninhibited living of purpose, integrating experience, meaning and preference into the self and allowing them to be lived outwardly with confidence and integrity; felt subjectively as joy, bliss, euphoria and the aliveness of being fully oneself. Singing, dancing, creating, exploring, flow states)

Love (Being) acknowledging, accepting and allowance of what is, the feeling of fulfilment and completeness, one and the same as source, full circle with a conscious growth or expansion.

Underpinning all of this is another important aspect. Authenticity the underlying consistency that runs through the entire process, allowing experience, meaning, preference, purpose and expression to arise from what is genuinely felt rather than what is imposed, expected or performed. It is the fidelity of the self to its own lived experience. The joy, bliss and aliveness of authentic expression arise from the absence of inhibition or contradiction between the lived self and its expression.

These are the chapters of a book I wrote after a friend asked me what the meaning of life was. The thing is meaning is an emergent phenomenon of life so prior to meaning being created from within lived experience, life has no inherent meaning of its own ( the non duality/nihilism that forgets to reintegrate everything that it deconstructs overlooks at what point meaning occurs and why it is relevant)

Each individual is unique and no one will have the exact same experiences or interpretation of their meaning. The question is whether you are choosing your preferences from authenticity or from social, familial or traumatic conditioning. 
 

you’re authentic meaning and purpose to your life are exclusively yours and no one should judge it, likewise your preferences and how you live are not inherently or universally ‘right’ so should not be used as demonstration of moral superiority or judgement over others ways of living.

 

my own personal expressions are certainly questioned within a society that is conditioned to thing only certain things are ‘right’ but if you are going to be authentic to your own lived experience, you can’t be anyone other than you regardless of what other people think or project so just be yourself. Don’t allow others to impose on you ( just remember you live in a shared reality so you also have relational responsibility within that)

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Adrian colby

[Nercohype]

To me, the meaning of life is that you get to decide what it means to you.

But if I had to name the values I consider most important, they would be truth, compassion, humility, peace, love, equality, and integrity.

[VeganAwake]

@LastThursday @oOo Nothing is closer or further away from truth because there isn't anything separate from everything.

There can be misunderstandings within everything, which seem to create a "true vs false comparison"

There isn't a right or wrong path to walk because there isn't real meaning or purpose.

And without meaning there can't be right vs wrong.

In other words, reality is complete anarchy. That's why religion was created, to control the population.