Money and the Meaning of Life

By William C Taylor 
First Published on HBR.ORG

Everywhere you look, there's compelling evidence that the single-minded pursuit of wealth often leads smart people to do incredibly stupid things — things that destroy what money can't buy.

Last week, the big story was the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam on 14 counts of insider trading, a greed-driven scheme that will lead to obliterated reputations, long prison terms, or both, for senior leaders at IBM, McKinsey, and other blue-chip institutions. A few weeks before that, the big story was the resignation and humiliation of Berkshire Hathaway's David Sokol, the likely successor to CEO Warren Buffet, undone by his eagerness to cash suspiciously timed investments in the stock of a company Berkshire later bought. And next week on HBO we get to see the made-for-TV adaptation of the bestseller Too Big to Fail, a blow-by-blow chronicle of the subprime-mortgage fiasco — an exercise in collective greed that came pretty close to destroying the world as we know it.

Every time I read or see these sorry dispatches, I ask myself the same questions. How is it that brilliant people with more money than they'll ever need allow their hunger for even more money to cause them to lose everything? How much is enough, and why are people willing to risk so much to get more? If money is so alluring, how is it that so many people of great wealth also seem so unhappy?

To answer those questions, I tend to turn to the big lessons in a small book that was published 20 years ago. Called Money and the Meaning of Life, the author is Jacob Needleman, a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University. I met Needleman during the heyday of the first Internet boom, when lots of people in their twenties and thirties were making more money than they ever imagined they would and were trying to come to terms with what it meant.

Since then, we've had a broader stock-market boom, a real-estate bubble, a second Internet boom, and plenty of busts along the way. The specifics of the financial markets have changed, but the questions remain the same. Here's some of what Jacob Needleman has taught me about the answers, drawn from an interview we did with him at Fast Company many years ago. It's amazing to me how relevant these insights are to what's happening today.

Money may be the root of all evil, but only if you're not honest about what it means to you. "Money is about love and relationships," Needleman explained. "It has a wonderful power to bring people together as well as tear them apart. You can't escape money. If you run from it, it will chase you and catch you. If we don't understand our relationship to money in this culture, then I think we're doomed. If you don't know how you are toward money and really understand that relationship, you simply don't know yourself. Period.

Money truly can't buy happiness, especially if you're unhappy to begin with. "If you are worrying about vegetables now, you'll be worrying about yachts then," Needleman joked. "You're a worrier. It's in you, not the money. Life, except for the obvious physical needs, is not so much defined by the external situation as by the inner one. Having money won't change your internal makeup. If you're an anxious sonofabitch without money, you're going to be an anxious sonofabitch with a lot of money."

Being rich does not make you smart — especially about things other than money."I met a guy who worked his way up from zero to a half-billion dollars," the philosopher noted. "I asked him, 'What was the most surprising thing you discovered when you got rich?' He said, 'Everybody asks my opinion about things because they think I know something. All I really know is how to make a lot of money.' See, this guy wasn't fooled by his money. That's the key.

Being rich does not automatically lead to a rich life. "There is a difference between money and success. To be totally engaged with all my functions, all my faculties, all my capacities in life — to me that would be success. I grew up around the Yiddish language, and in Yiddish there are about 1,000 words that mean "fool." There's only one word that means an authentic human being: mensch. My grandmother would say, "You've got to be a mensch," and that has to do with what we used to call character. To be successful means to have developed character... You should be looking for the joy, the struggle, and the challenge of work. What you bring forth from your own guts and heart. The happiness of hard work. No amount of money can buy that. Those are things of the spirit."

It's easy to pass judgment from afar on the misdeeds and missteps of wealthy people in the news. But look in the mirror. What's your relationship with the pursuit of wealth? How do you think about money and the meaning of life?

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? 

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. 

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. 

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. 

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. 

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. 

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. 

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. 

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. 

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle. 

My third story is about death. 

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. 

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. 

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. 

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now. 

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: 

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. 

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. 

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. 

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. 

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. 

Thank you all very much.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

What is the meaning of life ?

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy and Philosophers

Making life meaningful:

- The importance of life is to live it to the full.
- According to me the point of life is happiness. We all are trying to find a place where we are happy, be it by earning money or fame or getting married. Even a person who commits suicide is trying to be happy, thinking that it will end his misery. So I think, the point of life is to stay as happy as possible in any given circumstance and to create a better tommorrow for ourselves.
- The meaning of life is to grow physically, mentally and spiritually. It's about traveling down different paths of your life and making decisions. You will make some mistakes, as all of us do. We learn from them and grow stronger. It's about being true to yourself, standing alone sometimes when you really believe in something and not fearing retribution. It means to love those around you, help where you can, be known as a person that can be trusted and just do the best you can. If we didn't feel sadness we could never experience happiness; if we didn't get angry on occasion we would never know peace, and if we didn't trust our hearts we'd never know love. Yes, it's about pro-creating, but life is much more than that if you open your eyes, ears and heart and listen!
- The point of life lies in the question of whether or not you are just living to die. Because every breath of life you take, you come one breath closer to death. So the time you spend bothered by what could or should be is time wasted in imagination and fantasy.
- A person who cannot find contentment, cannot find peace. A person, who cannot find peace, cannot find fulfillment. Prosperity, Power and Popularity are not the solutions to human suffering, because you may have them all and still feel incomplete. There are many prosperous, powerful and popular individuals who need mind altering drugs and other freaky activities to keep them excited, and still aren't content.

Finding your purpose therefore will be determined by your ability to appreciate every moment by making the most positive use of it because every breath of life you take you are one breath closer to death. So live right and do good always enjoy the existence you have now and if you awaken and realize that this was all a dream, then make it a sweet dream.
- Life's meaning is what it means to you! What do you value in your life? Everyone has there own meaning and there own perception of life. Britannica says it's the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual, one or more aspects of the process of living, or a way or manner of "living". The meaning of life, to me, is to live life anyway I choose.
- The meaning of life is to make life meaningful.
- To live
- Many people believe that there is no "point" per se to life; life simply exists, and the meaning of an individual's life is up to the individual.

Religious views:

Buddhism:
-In Buddism, the meaning of life is found in the "true insight" of Enlightenment, which is called a "perfect peace".
-The point (purpose) of life for each individual depends on his/her beliefs and values. The choices people make are usually dependent on the psychological conditioning they are exposed to, from the moment of foetal conception, to the point of completion of their social/cultural programming. This social/cultural programming is similar to the programming of a computer's processor with data that is considered to be factual. The computer then compares all incoming data against its programmed intelligence, in order to generate a conclusion. Similarly the human intellect processes incoming data based on the morals/values they have been conditioned with. Some of these morals/values are inherited from genetic sources and the others are learnt from the environment to which the absorptive mind is exposed.
- A humanist would say we each make our own meaning by the way we live. The meaning is whatever meaning/purpose you care to assign to it... or none at all. If you have a religion, you could find meaning there; a particular philosophy, ditto. If you're a nihilist, you might conclude that there is no meaning at all.
- We, being animals, the meaning of life is to reproduce ourselves to continue the species. All the other stuff is just to make it interesting.
- One aspect to enjoying being alive is considering how incredibly complex the function of your body is and how it is difficult to believe that we consist of billions of living cells that allow us our senses and work literally like they were programmed, just to keep us alive.
- The meaning of life is to utilize our main driving force, curiosity, without which none of us would even exist. Discover and find out new things. Space travel, for example, will lead to great new discoveries - including life near and far from us.
- The meaning of life - to learn from mistakes. Without mistakes no one ever really learns how to live.
- No one really knows the answer to this. Philosophers and religionists have been debating it for thousands of years.
- I think that there is absolutely no point in life. God does not seem real, so we are all going to die without an afterlife.
- I don't believe in God. I think eating pie and watching football is good enough for me
- Live fast and die young.
- The meaning of life, of the universe, and of everything is 42.
- The irony in life these days is that, in order to find it's meaning, you merely have to Google it.
- Dictionary.com states the meaning of life is: "The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism."
- To tell you the truth, I don't think anyone knows the true meaning of life. People say that the only way to know the true meaning of life is to live a full life with many near death experiences, then God tells you an instant after you have died. If you have a complex enough mind, and when God wants us to know, he will tell someone after they die and let that person be revived to tell the rest of the human race. If that never happens then we will just have to live life with many questions and as best we can. That's what God wants us to do. That's one way to look at it.
- The meaning of life is that we exist, that we are products of a force called creation, and that we should all support and affiliate with that force in every one of it's manifestations. - - The difference between life and the inanimate is that life has consciousness.
- The Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
- No one knows the meaning of life, some choose God, some choose self or try to be God. Life is full of discovery and to give you a little hint on discovery try thinking outside the media. I recommend studying quantum physics or learning more about the superstring theory or the chaos theory. Everything is composed of waves, sound waves ranging at all frequencies, you could almost say that we are just a wave in this world seeking complete harmony.
- The true meaning of life is for humans to conquer the universe (and if they exist, multiverses) so that humans can rule everything forever.
- Living with a meaning: " To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool." - Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions.
Purity.
- There is no meaning of life. Nobody asks to be born, but you're here anyway. Make the best of things while you're here. If your life needs meaning, then join a cause.
- To appreciate the beauty and amazing things going on around us on the Earth that was originally intended for us to enjoy. Since it is no longer entirely in that pure state, we have the job to care for what does remain and, more importantly, to point others to the time when it will be possible to live in a truly perfect place once more through what Christ has done to enable us to be there if we choose.
- Life is what you make it. The meaning of life is not the same for everyone. Your life has one meaning, the life of another person will have another meaning, and my life will have another meaning too. You are the one to give meaning to your life by making something of it. Every person is allowed to live their life as they want to. Find the way you want to live your life and live it like that. Be happy. Be healthy. Be loved.
- For me, although I'm just seventeen and have my whole life ahead, life has shown me that whatever I put in, I get out., That means for all the effort I put into something, I will get something out of it, I will be rewarded in some way. I tend to live naturally, to love, to learn ,and to help, I tend to love knowledge, because it makes me satisfied, it makes me know how things work, it makes me build up ideas and have something to say. It makes me know how to listen, how to talk and spread my ideas. I think the meaning of life is to understand how it is best suited for you and how it will make you satisfied, happy, successful and loved. But one thing I can guarantee: no one out there will tell you the meaning of life, nor the meaning of your life for you will have to find that out by yourself. Take it as a challenge. After all, you wouldn't be asking that if you already knew it, or if mostly everyone knew it...
- What is the meaning of life has been an age old question since the beginning of time and it's like trying to define the meaning of love. You can make your life to be what you want it to be, within reason, and you don't have to become famous or rich to do it. Some of the most successful people have been those who gave without question, such as a teacher that cares about his/her students and makes a difference, or a doctor, a mother, father, a person with disabilities of their own, etc. One can volunteer for people, children or pets and ease some of the suffering of all. I live by rule of thumb ... when you are lucky financially (that's just keeping your head above water) and even though you may be limping through life, you should always give back to those less fortunate. One day you just never know when you'll need someone there for you too. - - This makes your mind, body and soul one. It gives you a source of peace when the world around you is going mad.
- According to Douglas Adams the answer would be 42. But put science fiction aside! Look at the smaller, less complicated life species, they live just to live. More complicated life species live and help keep other life alive. We, as humans, should live to be alive and help others be alive. Taken a step further, life is about experience; one should live to experience ones own life and the life of others. (But do not try live through another person's life).
Consider this when trying to understand the meaning of your own life. An old guy once told me that the meaning of life was survival. I thought he was crazy, but as I get older, I think that the crazy guy may have something.
- The answer to life is being. It is all anything has ever done, it is all anything will ever do.
- What is the meaning of life is finding the answer to the following questions: Who am I? Where am I? Why am I? The meaning of life to you is dependent on your value system. Your particular set of morals/values are those that you inherited from genetic sources and from the environment within which you were raise. The meaning of life for you depends on your belief systems. Who are you? Are you an organism that was created from a chemical combination of other organisms? Are you just living to die or is there an existence beyond this body that was created from organic digestion (the food you eat)? Are you an absolute entity called a soul? What gives all of matter its intelligence? Where do atomic and subatomic (nano) particles get their intelligence? Can something be created from nothing? Why are you here? Did you have a choice in the matter? Does your existence have a purpose? Do you add value to the universe? Are you a link in the cosmic chain of evolution/creation? Where are you? Are you resting on a bed somewhere dreaming all of this? Do you know that you are dreaming when you are dreaming? How do you know that it was all a dream (illusion/virtual-reality)? Are you a speck of dust in a massive cosmic sphere?
- To die and multiply.
- Many great minds have pondered 'what is the meaning of life' and it basically comes down to each individual and what their needs are. Some people enjoy peace, living on a farm or ranch, while others want to hit the big cities for careers, investments, etc., but we all have to make ourselves happy and feel fulfilled no matter what and I doubt that most humans will ever totally attain that. There will always be some regrets. We should be kind, considerate to our fellow man. We should have some belief system of higher power. We should know good from evil and help those that can't help themselves. We should not constantly feel powerful over another, but be humble enough to know where help is needed. That's power! We all do the best we can and learn from our mistakes because, quite simply put, humans on earth are on a 'learning ground' and thus, we learn, make mistakes, learn from them (hopefully) and do the best we can.
- The "meaning" of life is a test. This is only a test. Our life here is so brief yet our spirits are eternal. The "purpose" of life is to choose whom you will be loyal to. Either you will show yourself willing to live under the rule of the God of the Universe or you will choose to live as a slave to self and to sin.
- The only reason I know for life is that it's a test that we have to pass the right way for reward in the life hereafter.
- Evolution has determined that the point of life is to reproduce and to be the most successful species. that is the meaning of life for all creatures. If it was not their point in life that species would've died off long ago. (mainly it is the urge to pass along your own genes).
- Life is to just live. We should enjoy each and every moments. If you are suffering from a problem, really you are great. The problem came to you because you can solve the same and come up in life.At every situation remember one thing...This present is not permanent. It may be either a sad time or a good one. Follow these tips :1. Do not vex if sad,2. do not enjoy to the core when in joy 3. share your feelings to ur beloved. both sad and sweet 4. when you grow respect others 5. Maintain patience at any cost Last but not least,6. You should know that there are thousands of people suffering a lot more than you.
- The meaning of life is that God created us and loves us, and wants us to know and love Him, and to join Him in Heaven one day. He has created the way for us to do so, by sending Jesus His Son to die for our sins. Now we can receive Him as our Lord and Savior and have a new life in - Him on earth, and one day join Him in Heaven.
- The meaning of life is to live until you die, and to change the world in some little way -- no matter how unknown you are. You have to give your own life meaning and not rely on someone else's opinion to give you one.
- According to Douglas Adams, the real meaning of life is 42.
- The answer is the question what is the meaning of life: We as organisms of infinitely complex chains of chemical reactions truly designed through creativity, formed by atoms attracted by neutral chemical compositions, actually interpret ourselves, the universe, and the atoms we consist of to ask these kind of questions. There is no question that the only thing that keeps us alive is the flow and exchange of electrons. The integration of god and morals is still a question of, right or wrong, what do we do, what do we not do; relatively, why are we here or - - why are we not here. Life is not just humans interpreting their surroundings; trees through inter-cellular communication interpret gravity and the location of the sun. And just as the tree stretches out for the sunlight, we as humans reach out for each other and strive for knowledge and meaning. In this way, life is a necessary outcome in the displacement of energy and completes necessary chains of events. "Life" allows these necessary connections in the flow and displacement through forms of energy; as humans, as trees, as the flow of a river or the explosion of a volcano. This interpretation, communication, and ultimately exchange, could be said is the meaning of life. The atoms, quarks, muons and gluons that we as humans consist of can indirectly, through many exchanges and chemical reactions, interpret the direct energy displacement of other prominent metabolisms of energy (like other humans) and other things that effect the chemical reactions through communication of light, sound, pressure, and temperature. - This is why we are "conscious". Every atom is either repelled or attracted to each other; the fact that this occurs means that every atom is effected, or "conscious", of another. The exchange of electrons with another atom and change in composition, are the same echanges occurring in our brains to make "conscious" decisions and interpretations.
- I've got two theories. There is no meaning but of what you make it like some of you may be to have kids, find a lover, climb a mountain that stuff The other theory is that it is change. - --- Meaning nothing lasts forever accept change, one day I will die, the worms will eat me a bird will eat that it will reproduce yadahyadah. What I mean is there is always a sate of change nothing will last forever everything hangs on a tip of a knife the balance always changing.
- There are a lot of answers to what is the maning of life and they are all so detailed, but too detailed so they miss the point.
The meaning of life/purpose in basic terms:
1. to acknowledge a Creator of the universe and all
2. to know He's one and only
3. to know He watches your very moves to see if you do good in life hoping for your success in life
4. to give praise to Him, so He can praise you back
5. to obey HIS book of wisdom, The Torah of succeeding with perfection. For a Jew obey the 613 mitzvoth of the Torah, for a non-Jew to obey the 7 laws of Noah and this will make you gain perfection opening a spot for you in heavens glory.
- Life's meaning is having fun and living through the bad times and good times and that makes you the person you are.
- The meaning of life is to live it to its fullest and stop trying to figure everything out. - -- Life is short enjoy it while you can!
- The meaning of life is simple - reproduce.
- The meaning of live is to live forever.
- The meaning of life for everyone on earth is to reproduce so that the human race lives forever.
- The meaning of life is to contemplate questions like this.
- What is the meaning of life is what it means to you.
- Life is like a test. God wants to see what you can do, and if you do good things in life and help others.
- To live the life of Gods creation and Gods painting of life.
- The purpose of life is to serve your soul's purpose as a human.

Christian views:
- The true meaning of life is to love and serve God.
- Perhaps the true meaning of life is to find peace with God. For most people it is impossible to believe in God because it doesn't make any scientific sense for such an entity to exist. But to others the "Big bang" as a cause for the creation of the universe might be equally difficult to believe in. To find God is peace. To find God, you need Jesus, because he can free you from your sins. But while we're alive on this Earth, we might as well try our best to have a good life and be the best we can be, as long as we stay true to ourselves.
- The meaning of life is to take care of our planet. To be hard working and serve God. To help out in fixing communities - that's what life is about; you should not live only for fun but help others enjoy life too.
- If you believe in the Bible, the meaning of life is Jesus Christ, because He is the only one that defeated death.
- To understand the meaning of life we have to turn to the source, or creator. If you believe in such things, that is God. If he put us here, it was for a purpose. So He may be the only one able to provide us with the answer. Some people will acknowledge that everything we need to know about the purpose of life and about God himself is found in one book, the Bible.
- If you believe in the Bible, the meaning of life is in God's inspired words: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:23.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Fear God and obey His commandments for this is the whole duty of man."
- I believe it's to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.
- Any Christian should know the purpose of life is simple: to serve God. Any Christian who doesn't know this needs to build up their relationship with God; He'll show you all you need to know. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_life

The meaning of Life? A question that has captured mankind since the beginning of time. Since man first gave shape to his thoughts through pictures and words he has dwelt upon the mystery, the magnificence, the meaning and the sometimes seeming madness of Life.

It is a question that great philosophers, kings, academics and the common man have considered. The answers of the common, most ignorant man are as worthy as those of the greatest and most learned of philosophers, because nobody knows the answer
One thing that binds us all in our quest is, that by consciously asking ourselves the question, and thinking about the possible answers we enrich our experiences and enjoyment of the adventurous journey that is life. Life is, however you look at it, a one way journey. You may as well make the most of it while you can. It is the way in which we, as individuals experience and respond to life as it unfolds that gives it meaning. The cartoons in this strip are intended to make us stand still in the hectic pace of life as it rushes us along in its wake and take a short moment of reflection. To look at life from a different perspective and, who knows discover a new way of experiencing and enjoying life.

As Socrates one of the great philosophers once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”, and as Elbert Hubbard said “Do not take life too seriously. You will not get out of it alive”, and as John Lennon said “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans".
http://www.egorproductions.com/M-O-L.php

Generation Y

By Sally Kane, About.com Guide

Born in the mid-1980's and later, Generation Y legal professionals are in their 20s and are just entering the workforce. With numbers estimated as high as 70 million, Generation Y (also known as the Millennials) is the fastest growing segment of today’s workforce. As law firms compete for available talent, employers cannot ignore the needs, desires and attitudes of this vast generation.

Below are a few common traits that define Generation Y.

Tech-Savvy: Generation Y grew up with technology and rely on it to perform their jobs better. Armed with BlackBerrys, laptops, cellphones and other gadgets, Generation Y is plugged-in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact and prefers webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based presentations.

Family-Centric: The fast-track has lost much of its appeal for Generation Y who is willing to trade high pay for fewer billable hours, flexible schedules and a better work/life balance. While older generations may view this attitude as narcissistic or lacking commitment, discipline and drive, Generation Y legal professionals have a different vision of workplace expectations and prioritize family over work.

Achievement-Oriented: Nurtured and pampered by parents who did not want to make the mistakes of the previous generation, Generation Y is confident, ambitious and achievement-oriented. They have high expectations of their employers, seek out new challenges and are not afraid to question authority. Generation Y wants meaningful work and a solid learning curve.

Team-Oriented: As children, Generation Y participated in team sports, play groups and other group activities. They value teamwork and seek the input and affirmation of others. Part of a no-person-left-behind generation, Generation Y is loyal, committed and wants to be included and involved.

Attention-Craving: Generation Y craves attention in the forms of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent praise and reassurance. Generation Y may benefit greatly from mentors who can help guide and develop their young careers.
http://video.about.com/legalcareers/Gen-Y-Characteristics.htm