How would knowing the meaning of life help us?

I think it would hinder a lot. I think most people would stop trying. The first thing that comes to mind is this so-called “green revolution” we are experiencing. Yes, it could be called a fad, but as we discussed, it is also an awakening. If we knew the meaning of life, I think a lot of people wouldn’t give a damn about saving the planet if they knew where they were going to end up.
I think people would be more frivolous in their daily actions—less caring. I mean isn’t the old mantra “Live every moment like it’s your last.” That saying is based on the unknowing. And, I think, a lot of good comes from that.

funnily enough, travelling back from my friends today i was thinking that i might know the meaning of life…

to connect i mean really connect with as many human beings as possible and to feel that special sense of wonderment and joy that it gives you…that we are not alone in our minds and bodies… we are indeed a part of one another

and i thought… having connected with three people today on this level…

that’ll do for me!

It would allow us to spend your time considering the best means of eventually achieving/realizing (as in manifesting) that meaning rather than trying to figure out the endpoint. We would be working on the means to meaning, not the end!

Not much, at all. I personally think it’s more comforting not to know. And, it’s an interesting thing to think and talk about. If we knew, the whole mystery would be gone!

…and everyone loves mystery! :-))))

We would have nothing to talk about or ponder!

And all those philosophers would just be bums on the streets drinking 40s!

I think there is no single meaning to find. I think the meaning of life is multi-faceted, and is meant to be discovered on the journey. It is that journey, the living itself, that is truly the meaning.

I thought we already knew the meaning of life. Our genes need help replicating themselves.

I don’t think we can truly know whether knowing the meaning of life will help us, until we know the meaning of life. ;-) Big assumption being, that there is any meaning that we don’t just invent ourselves…

It wouldn’t. We’d all be terribly disappointed because there isn’t any. We’d be so deflated. Searching for it is one of the things that make us think we’re important to the universe. (It is so endearingly—and maddeningly—human to look for reasons for everything and then not believe them when we find them.)

There’d still be plenty to think about and ponder, though. We’d still have to ask how a sowbug decides when to cross the sidewalk and why, once you reach middle age, it is no longer possible to spoil your appetite and what Queen Elizabeth does carry in her purse and…and…

I think that, if we knew what the objective was, then life would become a purely win/loose prospect, and that would be no fun…

I think @Jeruba is on to something here: ”human[s]...look for reasons for everything…”

Why do we look for reasons for everything? It has to help us somehow! Perhaps it is built into us. This drive to find reason or meaning helps us find out other kinds of information that is necessary to our survival. Or, it could be the other way around. The drive to find meaning is an offshoot of the drive to find reasons for things that will help us survive.

We could think of it as pure research. We want to know, just to know, but not because we might use it for anything practical. Or, we want to know because it leads us on a journey that has interesting side effects. Perhaps it is pure entertainment that provides no particular assistance to us in other areas of life.

It wouldn’t. It comes up a lot because it’s a question most wonder their whole lives. We’ll get the answer eventually.

I think the quest for causality is hard-wired in us.

I’ve thought about this for many years, how our species tracked the seasons, learned to predict growing and harvesting times and the movements of animals, recorded observations of all kinds and built theories around them, invented mythical and magical explanations for things, and, still not satisfied, found our way to scientific thinking.

We naturally and automatically observe patterns in our babies’ behavior, our pets’ behavior, and our cars’ behavior, form hypotheses, predict things, and have responses ready for a variety of actions according to our theories of causality and our interpretations of meaning. It’s just the way we’re built, how we function. It must have been a survival skill from the beginning; apparently it still is. No doubt those who did not have it did not survive.

And so naturally life itself would come under the same scrutiny that we have applied to everything else. What more enticing challenge for our most subtle and spacious minds?

But the fact that we have a drive to look for something does not mean it is there to be found, any more than the search for extraterrestrial life in the universe—the search itself—proves that such life exists.

In a way, all life—even all matter—can be said to “recognize patterns.” The laws of physics basically work like computer functions. If molecules get X close they interact in Y ways. DNA is a code; RNA “recognizes” the DNA to make proteins based on that code.

Even plants can “recognize” patterns. They grow towards sunlight. Animals have brains, which can simulate patterns, so we can recognize and organize more patterns more quickly.

Humans seemed to have passed some critical threshold for pattern recognition such that we managed to invent culture and technology. These things, in turn, seem to evolve on their own.

What the heck does “meaning of life” mean? Where would the meaning come from and how would one recognize it if one saw it? If the meaning of life comes from life, then is it possible to explain all of life from a small part of it? What would be the meaning of the meaning and where would it come from? It seems like an infinite regress to me. Here Eastern philosophy is of use. Appreciate each moment for what it is in and of itself.

@LostInParadise: all excellent questions. Are you saying that knowing the meaning of life wouldn’t help us at all, or just that we can’t know it?

That we can’t know it because it can’t exist. Put existentially, we are the creators of meaning. There is no intrinsic meaning in life.

@LostInParadise: that’s why I always say that we make up our own meaning. It’ still a meaning. There’s no intrinsic meaning in anything. If you are looking for an objective meaning to life, then you won’t find it, except if you believe a religion. Otherwise, it’s on us, but that doesn’t invalidate it.

No, but it implies that meaning is highly individualized and that affects our perception of it. We all know that what is meaningful to us may not be meaningful to someone else.

what is meaning? If meaning is some ultimate purpose, why should we think that any thing has meaning? It seems like meaning requires intention, and intention requires mind. So, if one’s life is being directed by an intentional mind, why then, there is a purpose. A very individual purpose for a very individual life.

How could a single mind, a single intention, apply to all people, or especially, all life? Seems to require a god. That’s a big leap from what seems to be a comfortable, well-worn question.