‘What is the meaning of life?’ is one of the most frequently asked questions about human existence, right up there with ‘is God real?’ Which is hardly surprising, if you think about it. If we’re asking whether God is real, it’s probably because we’re trying to figure out if there’s any point to this existence and not because we wanted to kill a spare couple of minutes while the ads were on.
So, it’s an important question, and the answer depends on what we mean by ‘meaning’. A person can find meaning in relationships, work, family, values and achievements. But there is also a larger philosophical question: is there any point to our existence, or to the existence of life itself?
So, right away we should acknowledge that there are in fact two very different questions here: what gives our lives meaning, and whether there is any meaning to life itself.
What do we mean by meaning?
If we’re going to sort out an answer to these questions, the first thing we should do is to be clear what type of meaning we’re talking about when we talk about ‘meaning’. Because, like a lot of words in English, the word meaning can have different meanings, pun intended. What we mean by ‘meaning’ can depend on context or even our own perceptions. So, when you say meaning, you might not mean meaning, you might mean meaning. Got it?
A little joke, sorry.
If then we are talking about the meaning of life, we need to distinguish between whether we are discussing the meaning of our own experiences or the meaning of life itself as a whole. Think of it as personal meaning versus objective meaning. When we talk about our personal meanings, we’re asking whether we have, or can have, meaningful lives as individuals, while when we’re discussing objective meaning we’re asking whether there is any objective plan or greater intention behind life, the universe and everything. Basically, does life exist for a deliberate purpose? And you’ll notice that they are very different things. In short, the meaning of your life and the meaning of life itself are not necessarily the same question.
Now the problem we referred to earlier is that it’s not always clear which one we’re discussing. Ask one person whether there is any meaning to life and they might say ‘of course there is’ because their mind went straight to a personal, subjective, meaning. They might be thinking of family, career, values, achievements, etc, while you may have been asking whether there is any larger, grander purpose or intention to why life itself exists. Which is a different question.
Ask a religious person about the meaning of life and their mind may well turn directly to thoughts of God’s plan, eternity, Heaven and so forth. Ask an atheist who takes a naturalistic view, and they may be more likely to think in terms of a personal, meaningful existence.
Of course this is, without question, a broad generalisation so we should avoid predetermining what we think someone means along ‘party lines’. However, what we mean by the phrase ‘the meaning of life’ in each case is distinctly different so it would do us well to ensure we’re on the same page.
Why personal meaning is not the same as the meaning of life
Now right away I’m going to do you a favour and challenge my own assertion that was made in the title to this section. Why is our having a meaningful, rewarding and satisfying life not the meaning of life? Well, of course it is. It’s a far better thing to have had a life that is all those things listed above than to have had a life that is the opposite of them. To feel disappointed and dissatisfied with your life is a terrible thing and can have horrendous consequences. People who do not have any meaning in their lives can be extremely discontented and grossly unhappy. They can feel as if their life was a waste and that can be a destructive emotion leading to relationship breakdowns, depression and, in extreme cases, even suicide. Having a meaningful and satisfying life then is a vitally important thing that we all should, and do, seek for ourselves.
So why is our personal meaning not the meaning of life? Simply because it is, by its nature, subjective. The meaning of my life is mine to experience, your is yours and the man across the street’s is the man across the street’s. They are our own subjective experiences. Of course, my pursuit of meaning can and will affect others, but that is different to a broader, objective, meaning for life itself. I could be a great philanthropist, I could volunteer for and donate to all sorts of charities, I could just be a good friend and a good person, but being and doing those things won’t bring meaning to your life. They might bring you joy and happiness, but they won’t bring you meaning. Why? Because they are things I’ve done and not things that you have, and our personal sense of meaning is rooted in our own lives, experiences, relationships and choices, rather than simply being transferred to us through the actions of others. It’s wonderful to have good friends and have people be generous to us, especially in times of need, but it won’t bring us any personal fulfilment.
Let’s look at an example. Let’s say I build housing for the homeless. A few homeless families will now have somewhere to live, and that will no doubt allow them to pursue more meaningful lives, yet having a home does not a meaningful life make. What about jobs and education and being able to pay bills on a regular basis? I’m sure like me you’ve heard stories about long-term unemployment leading to depression, a sense of worthlessness and a lack of purpose. So, while building homes for the homeless is important and I should derive a sense of satisfaction from doing it, for those homeless families, it’s just the beginning.
We must be careful not to assume that our own sense of meaning implies that there is an overall purpose to life itself. That there is an objective purpose to the universe’s existence. Our sense of individual purpose is entirely subjective. It is ours and ours alone. It barely affects those we come into contact with, so we should be careful not to assume it has anything to do with a meaning for life itself.
Can we have meaning without God?
‘Why does this matter?’ you ask. ‘If meaning is strictly personal, then so be it. Obviously, we can lead meaningful lives without worrying about whether there is a larger meaning to existence itself.’ But that is the very question. Can we? Can we truly live a meaningful life if there is nothing more than this? If there is no meaning beyond our own experience?
Which is the question that must confront any atheist. Because if you are an atheist who takes a naturalistic view of existence, you will most likely believe there is nothing more than that which we can see. Of course, there are atoms and such that we can’t see with our eyes, but we know those things do physically exist. What we are saying is that there is nothing supernatural, beyond our own experience, nothing that we are unable to prove scientifically. Nothing like a God, for example. Therefore, a meaningful life for anyone who believes the natural world is all there is would have to be understood as arising from the natural world itself, rather than being imposed on it from outside. If there is nothing outside our natural world, nothing supernatural to have imposed a greater or objective meaning on the universe, there cannot be an objective meaning to life. Your life can still have personal meaning, but there would be no objective meaning to life itself.
Now for many this is no problem at all. They are content to lead a personally meaningful life and don’t see the need for there to be any objective meaning. Which is fine, if you’re happy with that. But if there is no God of any type, you have no choice but to be happy with that. You can wonder why is there disease or why good people suffer and bad people prosper, or why we humans search for meaning in the first place, but can there be anyone or anything to answer your questions? Without anything outside nature, there can be no reasons or explanations beyond our own experiences. It just is that way. To expect answers to these questions, to ask them at all, is to hint at something else that might be able to answer them, something other or outside our experience that might provide an objective meaning for our existence. But for objective meaning to exists, the question becomes: who or what could provide it
Can there be an objective meaning without God?
Now before anyone interjects, let’s quickly deal with an objection I can feel about to pop up. Which is what? Which is, that there are plenty of examples of people sharing a meaning without a god getting anywhere near them. And they have a point, to a point.
‘Now hang on’, I hear you say. ‘We’ve just finished saying that we can’t have shared meaning without some sort of supernatural to have provided it, now we are saying we can?’ Well, no, we’re saying it can look like we can.
Confused? Fair enough.
You see, some of you may have been about to argue that people working together for a collective purpose is an example of objective meaning. Let’s take the environment as an example. In recent years most of us have become increasingly focused on lessening our impact on the environment - so isn’t that objective meaning? A significant percentage of the world’s population focusing on improving the environment? Well, no it isn’t. It may well be an example of a group individuals all deriving personal, subjective meaning from the same goal, but despite that, the meanings are still personal.
When we talk about an objective meaning, we don’t mean things we do or think ourselves, we’re talking about a meaning that applies to our entire existence. A reason for the existence of the world itself. Life, the universe and everything exists for some purpose X, regardless of what the people within it believe or do. An objective meaning implies that there is a meaning for our existence that goes beyond our personal experiences. Our personal meaning must die with us, even if we are fortunate enough to leave a legacy and be remembered. But a grander, larger, objective meaning for the existence of life itself transcends individuals and involves life as an ongoing concern. So, it doesn’t matter how many people share the same ideas about the meaning of their individual lives, or care about the environment or share a love of a particular music artist, those meanings are still their own. They just happen to have been aligned with other peoples in some way and for some time.
Does life need a purpose?
So then, you’re saying that if I don’t believe in God, my life can only have a personal meaning? For an atheist, there can be no greater meaning to the universe as a whole? Well, saying that all atheists believe exactly the same thing is like saying that every apple on a tree will be identical. They will all be apples, but they will all be slightly different. And humans are just like apples…in that sense anyway. So, let’s not claim to know the mind of all atheists.
For the sake of this argument, we’re focusing specifically on a strict naturalistic view: the belief that there is no God or supernatural reality and that the universe is all there is. What is called a naturalistic point of view. Nature is all there is, basically, but by nature we do mean everything in the universe, not just plants and animals and oceans and forests etc. Now, some atheists may admit a form of the supernatural, but for the sake of clarity we’ll use the strict interpretation of someone who believes the universe is all there and there is nothing outside it. No god or other supernatural being that might be responsible for its existence.
So then, with strict, naturalistic atheism, if you believe that there was no one behind the creation of the universe, nothing or no one caused it, it’s difficult to argue an objective meaning for it. If there was no objective meaning to the initial event, it just happened, how do we argue that life has any specific meaning afterwards? If one of our apples falls off the tree, it just falls off. There was no intention. If someone picks the apple, they probably intend to eat. I can infer a meaning from the apple being picked but can I infer a meaning from it falling of its own accord?
In other words; if there was no meaning in the first place, how can we have meaning now?
Events occur in chains of causes and consequences. One event has an effect that causes another, whether the event was intentional or unintentional makes no difference. So even if the universe came into existence of its own accord, it would have caused another event or events, which caused another event or events, which caused another event or event, and so on for 14 billion years in increasingly complex ways. But if there was no meaning to the first event, how can we infer meaning from any of the subsequent events? I picked the apple to eat it. Easy. Some planted an apple tree so that there could be apples to eat. I meant to pick the apple and eat it. But say the apple fell off the tree and landed on my foot, bruising my toe, preventing me from playing football the next day. The apple didn’t intend for me to miss my football game. The person who planted the tree didn’t intend for the apple to one day fall and hit my toe. The events have meaning in themselves, but there was no wider intention.
Or consider those giant domino setups you see on YouTube. Thirty, forty, or fifty thousand dominoes set up in intricate patterns. If I push over the first domino, then every domino after the first one was intended to fall over. But if I accidentally knock over a domino by not watching where I put my clumsy feet, none of the dominoes that fall after that first one were intended to fall. They fell unintentionally. Both events have effects and consequences, but only the first one has intention.
There is one other consideration that we should mention at this point. Let’s say you walked into the room after the initial action and saw the dominoes falling. You could not know how the series of events began because you didn’t see the first cause, whether it was intentional or not. You might think the dominoes were intended to fall at that time in that way, but you couldn’t know just from watching them fall. It may just look that way because of the pattern the dominoes were set up in. So perhaps you infer that they were intended to fall, but you are only seeing the effects of an event, you are not seeing what initiated the sequence.
Why does this matter? Because there are those that look at the universe around us and do seem to find a deeper objective meaning and argue that you do not need God to have an objective meaning after all. They see the wonder of a beautiful sunset and say ‘isn’t nature wonderful’ as if nature had a mind of its own. But are we just considering the effects while ignoring the question of cause? If we are to decide if life itself has an objective meaning, it is the cause that we must always consider.
For strict naturalistic atheists then, life as whole does not have a meaning, underlying objective purpose. It just is. So, when we die, that’s it, no matter how meaningful we feel our lives may have been. If there is nothing else other than our experienced existence, any meaning can only be personal and have no lasting value. Once we’re gone, it’s gone too. It dies with us. The best we can hope for is to be remembered and live on in things we’ve left behind. If we’re very fortunate our lives may continue to affect others even after we die – think of Sir Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin. But if that meaning is entirely personal, it dies with us
What does Religion say about the meaning of life?
From a religious perspective, on the other hand, assuming that any being that created us had a reason for doing so is a reasonable conclusion. If so, the objective meaning to life must be crucial. It’s why we’re here. It hardly seems likely that such a complex universe was created by a god just to fill in some spare time, even for an all-powerful being. So, it seems logical that there was a purpose. So, once you’ve decided that there is a God and that He’s responsible for our existence, the question becomes not if there is a meaning to life, but what is that meaning. What was God’s intention when He decided to create the universe? If you can ascertain what that intention was, then you have almost certainly discovered the meaning of life.
Now I’m not here going to lay out the meaning of life according to each of the world’s various religions, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because to do justice to an explanation of even the world’s major religions would make this piece way too long, and secondly because I’m not really qualified to do so. I’ll leave a couple of links at the bottom of the article where you can learn more details about each religion if you’re interested and instead focus on the Christian tradition where I am more qualified to comment.
Very briefly then, Christianity believes God created the universe and everything in it so he could express His love and allow that love to be freely returned, or not as the case may be. He created us then as His children, which you have heard Christians refer to themselves as. The relationship then is one of parent and child. God is the Father and the universe exists in order that His children could have a place to live and while they decided what to do with their lives. They could choose to love Him, or to ignore Him completely. It is entirely up to them For Christians, the meaning of life is ultimately found in relationship with God: loving Him, living according to His will and loving others. Life is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Objective meaning then is defined by a relationship to God. Other religions understand that relationship differently of course, but the basic question is similar: if a god of any type created us intentionally, what was his intention?
So, what is the meaning of life?
So, what is the meaning of life? If we're asking what makes your individual life meaningful, the answer is of course personal. And that is vitally important, whatever you believe. But if we're asking whether life itself has an objective purpose, the question ultimately leads back to God.
Personally, the meaning of your life is what you make of it. You decide what you will believe and how you will live in order to give your life meaning. No one can do that for you and no one can tell you you’re wrong, as long as you’re not breaking the law of course. Being a career criminal might be fun, as long as you can find meaning locked in a cell. The crucial point is this: the meaning of your life is yours alone. Do your best with it.
But is there a larger, objective meaning to our existence? Were we intended to be here to fulfill some purpose or other? I’m afraid that, once again, that is up to you. Does it make sense to you that life is ‘just’ the effect of an event that happened 14 billion years ago? It’s important and you should live it to the fullest, but there’s no grand plan, no higher purpose, there’s just life. Or do you feel that there must be something more, a purpose or reason why we exist as we do. The choice is yours and it really comes down to one question. Do you believe there is a God?
Helpful websites
Check out the below sites for an explanation of the beliefs of world religions.
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