You have an intuition on this, even if you cannot articulate it probably. Every major vector of our existence is derived somehow from this intuition: why we make children, why we try to preserve our existence, why we help others, why we don't kill each other.
I would postulate that our everyday moral code can be derived from this intuition on "the meaning of life". The major religions captured it in slightly different ways; however there seems to be something more unifying behind various religious dogmas. I believe there is something very convergent in the intuition that we each have about the meaning of life.
But wait; is there really a meaning of life?
I would answer this by paraphrasing the Descartes's quote "I think, therefore I am". If there would not be any meaning of life, then there would be no meaning in everything we could do. The answer to this question would be meaningless too. If there is no meaning, it does not matter if we answer this question right. It does not matter if our life is happy or we live the worst sufferings we could imagine. Actually, the life would not exist at all; it would be only a strange atom vibration and no one to notice it.
Deep down, you know that there must be a meaning of life, it is proven by the very fact that you continue to live. Even if you are not convinced that "doubting the meaning of life is meaningless" proves that "a meaning exists", you may still reach the same conclusions by using a bet: if there is a meaning of life, it may be worth to try to fulfill it. If there is no meaning in living, then there is no meaning in knowing it. If there is no meaning of life, any advantage taken by not obeying any rules would be also meaningless.
You can still chose to live a life without meaning, but in this case arguing with you would be meaningless ;)
P.S. This is the hard one! Normally it should be like the aim of the journey, not the start. I started with this because I will probably touch a lot of subject that seem unrelated, one with each other. They will be probably related with what is above.
About me:
I work as a software engineer and in my personal like I like to think about psychology, economy and philosophy issues. I will put here my reflections and findings. Often, they will be only speculations and, sometimes, they may be proven to be mistaken. I hope I will learn something from you too.
I am not a native English speaker. If the meaning of the phrase is really affected, please give me a note, otherwise just please excuse my language mistakes ;)
Disclaimer: any use of my ideas to justify doing harm is misguided!
Disclaimer: any use of my ideas to justify doing harm is misguided!
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