What is the Ultimate Meaning of Life?

What is the meaning of life?
What is your reason for living?

Living is similar to running.

Running a long path may have its good times and bad times.
Similar to this, life has its good times and bad times.

You are constantly moving ahead when you are running.
"Time is running out."
Yesterday to today, today to tomorrow, we cannot stay in one place.
Moving from elementary to intermediate, and from intermediate to high school, one will eventually move on to the real world.
Right when you were born, you were destined to constantly run.

Also, you must contest with your rivals.

In school, you contest for a higher grade on a test.
In the sports world, you must contest with other athletes.
In a company, you must contest to do better than your associates.

No matter where you go, you must contest with others in that place.

Therefore running is not always fun and has its bad moments.
Having trouble getting a good grade or a good job, people suffer.
In a company, you must worry about having to be laid off or dealing with relationships.

Going through an accident, losing your loved ones, and your company going out of business, are all things that cannot be predicted.

Certainly, life is far from easy. The modern workplace, for instance, brings its own difficulties and stresses. In her book White-Collar Sweatshop, Jill Andresky Fraser writes of new difficulties that have faced American workers during the last two decades, in which layoffs have become commonplace despite ongoing economic prosperity. She points out that young workers of today have little job security or guarantee of career advancement; that in midlife they are torn by the conflicting demands of work, children, and aging parents; and that in later life, "despite expectations that they will be rewarded for all their years of hard work. men and women" are often let go, with bleak prospects for their remaining years.


Since it is so hard you try to reach for the water at the rest area.




This rest area is what you view as your goal.

The sorts of goals people usually have in mind are things like getting accepted into college, mastering a foreign language, winning an athletic tournament, having a successful romantic relationship, getting a steady job, building a house, getting rich, winning a Nobel Prize.

But these are in fact mere way stations in life, goals that are only relevant for the time being and that bear no resemblance to a true life purpose.

For, what are you going to do after mastering a foreign language? What are you going to do after getting a steady job?

Ultimately, you are able to relax for a moment at the rest area, but you must continue running.


When you die, it is as though you are running toward a cliff.



Then what is the reason for you having to run toward that cliff?
Even though you must die, what is the reason for having to live a painful life.
"the 7 habits of highly effective people" states,

meaning of life habits
(wikipedia)		 To Begin with the End in Mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. It's incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy -- very busy -- without being very effective. People often find themselves achieving victories that are empty, successes that have come at the expense of things they suddenly realize were far more valuable to them. People from every walk of life -- doctors, academicians, actors, politicians, business professionals, athletes, and plumbers - often struggle to achieve a higher income, more recognition or a certain degree of professional competence, only to find that their drive to achieve their goal blinded them to the things that really mattered most and now are gone. How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most. If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we Begin with the End in Mind.
("THE 7 HABETIS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE" by Stephen R. Covey)


If you do not know the true meaning of life, no matter how fast you run, it will be pointless.
The best seller book "Rich dad, poor dad" by Robert Kiyosaki also states,


Busy people are often the most lazy.

We have all heard stories of a businessman who works hard to earn money. He works hard to be a good provider for his wife and children. He spends long hours at the office and brings work home on weekends. One day he comes home to an empty house. His wife has left with the kids. He knew he and his wife had problems, but rather than work to make the relationship strong, he stayed busy at work. Dismayed, his performance at work slips and he loses his job. … Today, I often meet people who are too busy to take care of their wealth. And there are people too busy to take care of their health. The cause is the same. They're busy, and they stay busy as a way of avoiding something they do not want to face.
("Rich dad, poor dad" by Robert Kiyosaki)


If you do not face the meaning of life because your busy then all of your hard work will be put to waste.


Henry Alfred Kissinger, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, also states,
meaning of life kissinger
(wikipedia)		 "If you do not know where you are going , every road will get you nowhere."

(Henry Alfred Kissinger)


If you are running without knowing the real meaning of life then there is only despair.

Knowing the meaning of life would invest everything one did with meaning.
Whether reading a book, performing a task, or caring for one's health,
one would feel deep commitment and satisfaction. Even if one were suffering from a dreadful disease, enmeshed in a family quarrel, or stung by a humiliating defeat, the power to live.the determination to overcome any obstacle in order to fulfill the meaning of life. would always come flooding back.
In his On the Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844.1900) effectively underscored the importance of meaning in life when he wrote that man desires suffering and "even seeks it out, provided that he has been shown a meaning for it, a reason for suffering." The road stretching ahead may be long, but face the right direction and any forward motion will bring one that much closer to the goal, with no waste of energy. Whatever it costs in time or strength or money to realize the purpose of life will certainly be rewarded in full. No experience is ever thrown away or lost. Even those engulfed in wave after wave of sorrow are sure to find their reward, once they know the ultimate purpose of living. Some declare life to be wonderful and fulfilling, while others decry it as empty and meaningless. What makes the difference? Simply knowing the meaning of life.

The real meaning of life is clearly taught in Buddhism.

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