Purpose of Life

What is the purpose of life? An age old question pondered since the first philosophers, and widely debated ever since. Everyone lives their life, working toward goals and completing the tasks they have set out for themselves, but occasionally we stop and wonder, does any of it matter? Does your individual life have a higher purpose? Some may try to answer this question through religious teaching. However, not even religion can provide the full picture. We must ask ourselves, even if there is a higher power why did they make us, to what end? If there is some higher purpose we are supposed to fulfill and follow, how will we know what it is, and when we have achieved it. Are we somehow special and distinct from the other life here on earth, or do they also all have a purpose as well? Do each of us have our own purpose, or is it that humanity as a whole has something higher to achieve. Even if we do not, are we able to, as existentialism would suggest, imbue our life with meaning and purpose regardless of its inherent meaninglessness? Or is the meaning of our lives just as simple Monty Python said “Well, it’s nothing very special. Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”