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This is an age old question that everyone has thought about at some point. Logically, I come to the conclusion that the meaning of life is to exist. I will use set theory for this argument.

We will start by picking anything (call it y) that exists and adding it to a set X. Then, we can ask some question of y, such as “why y?” The answer to that question would either be in X or not in X. If the answer to that question is not in X, then we can put the answer z into the set X and ask a question of z, such as “why z?” Repeat this process until infinity, and we’ll get a set X of everything that exists.

Since everything is in X, that would include the answer to the question, “What is the meaning of existence?”, or “Why X?”, since X represents the entire set of all things that exist. However, since everything that exists is in X, that would mean the answer to the question is also in X. That would mean existence can be defined by itself! Hence, existence IS the ultimate meaning.

Making existence the meaning of life makes some commonly fuzzy terms very definable:

Good – Things that increase existence
Bad – Things that decrease existence

Of course, a lot of things are still subjective, such as what does increasing existence mean? or How exactly do we define existence? The answers to these questions determine how people perceive life and how they live it.

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Comments

18 Responses to “The Meaning of Life”

  1. How to find out what you really want on June 18th, 2007 7:22 am

    [...] As INTJs, we love to build things and increase efficiency. However, why do we want to do these things? This is of course, related to what our perception of the meaning of life. [...]

  2. Kevin on June 18th, 2007 11:24 pm

    so the purpose of a pink and purple gorilla is to exist as well since i can put pink and purple gorilla into set x…

    and the purpose of my car is to exist as well? last time i checked, it was more useful than that

  3. Ian on June 18th, 2007 11:25 pm

    I think the subjective answers you are talking about are values.

    Negative threats to what one values would possibly diminish the joy of existence; including our self-concept and threats to domains which we perceive as being central to our identity.

  4. Warren on June 23rd, 2007 5:03 am

    Kevin: Yeah, pink and purple gorillas don’t want to die either and likes to have sex as far as I can tell.

    Yeah, the car’s purpose too is to exist. Somewhere, some time, somebody built the car, and that person very much wanted the car to exist.

    Ian: I completely agree with everything you said here. People’s values and emotions dictate their perceptions of these negative threats, self-concept, and threats you mentioned. Hmmm, since society (including your family) shapes your values and nature shapes your emotions, that would seem to be pretty consistent for good evolutionary development.

  5. Do You Get Money? on June 28th, 2007 11:10 am

    [...] The Meaning of Life [...]

  6. The Life Pursuit Of Money on July 12th, 2007 3:56 pm

    [...] Since resources are what we need to exist, and people’s ultimate want is to exist (see the meaning of life), money is an important part of any person who [...]

  7. How To Be Genuinely Interested In People on October 12th, 2007 2:01 am

    [...] that’s exactly the point! From the meaning of life, we know that people want to exist. When a script like that is followed and you might as well not [...]

  8. Mooche on February 19th, 2008 11:10 am

    “Meaning” is, I think, something that lives only within the mind of the individual. The universe around us is only facts. Therefore there can be as many “meanings” to life as there are individuals.

    One should guard against equating meaning and fact, as this can lead to a troubled life. Marcus Aurelius cautions never to ascribe meaning, but to keep to the bare facts. The mind is endlessly creative in producing terrible outcomes (a prediction of the future is nothing more than ascribing meaning to facts) and our ego finds it difficult to admit that we can err, at all, even in something life predicting the future.

  9. Warren on February 19th, 2008 11:15 am

    @Mooche:

    Yeah, I completely agree! This meaning of life is just from my perspective, which can definiately change over time. Everyone has their own perspective though and none of them are more right or wrong than any other inherently (although from any particular perspective, some other perspectives are “wrong”).

    Although, “fact” is interesting. There kind of are no facts. Like everyone has a perspective and how you view the world (including the “facts”) is dependent upon that perspective. So it’s always colored in some way…

  10. Why The Desire To Exist Is the Basis Of All Meaning on February 22nd, 2008 4:21 am

    [...] a previous post the meaning of life, we’d examined a logical argument for why the meaning of life is existence. However, as I [...]

  11. Eric on July 11th, 2008 11:17 pm

    I’ve enjoyed reading most of your articles:)

    But here you say that X is the set of things that exist. So the answer to “Why X?” is only in X if there is such an answer. Certainly the statement “there is an answer to ‘why X?’” is in X, because I just said it, so it exists. However, unless you can identify the answer to your question ‘why X?’, you cannot be sure that such an answer exists.

    I have a lot of time on my hands.

  12. Ichimonji10 on December 6th, 2008 7:51 pm

    This is an incredible theory for the meaning of existence. However, there is only one catch in this theory that I do not quite understand.

    You said “[...] since everything that exists is in X, that would mean the answer to the question is also in X. That would mean existence can be defined by itself! Hence, existence IS the ultimate meaning.”

    If X is everything that exists, then the answer to the question of the meaning of existence is to be found as part of existence, not as the entirety of existence itself. Right?

  13. iz on February 10th, 2009 6:25 pm

    you’re making it to hard, the theory is alright actually, I’ll use kevins example: and the purpose of my car is to exist as well? last time i checked, it was more useful than that

    so the car exists, then the question is asked again, why does it exists, because you can drive it around,
    and this part of the theory can be used again for it:

    Good – Things that increase existence
    Bad – Things that decrease existence

    as for the question then, why do YOU exist, that’s an answer that you as X can only answer because you are existing at that moment, and then you can add these things again into the question:
    Good – Things that increase existence
    Bad – Things that decrease existence
    etc…

  14. Jennifer Wood » How to Find Out What You Really Want on April 20th, 2010 2:30 pm

    [...] to build things and increase efficiency. However, why do we want to do these things? This is of course, related to what our perception of the meaning of life. [...]

  15. Winning Ideas on October 20th, 2010 10:50 am

    Nicely explained Warren.

    You can check a post written by me ob my blog which talks about similar subject.
    The real happiness in life

  16. Winning Ideas on October 20th, 2010 10:51 am

    Nicely explained Warren.
    You can check a post written by me ob my blog which talks about similar subject.

    The real happiness in life

  17. The Life Pursuit Of Money | Make Money,Make $10000+ on June 9th, 2011 6:09 pm

    [...] Since resources are what we need to exist, and people’s ultimate want is to exist (see the meaning of life), money is an important part of any person who [...]

  18. cmpk on February 2nd, 2012 7:57 am

    what I feel is that the meaning of life is not to exists but to clear the reason for existence. By stating existence we imply that there is a negation of existence. that means we are not here ,there or anywhere else. meaning of life is to achieve that.