麻豆传媒

The harsh answer is 鈥渋t has none鈥�. Your life may feel like a big deal to you, but it鈥檚 actually a random blip of matter and energy in an uncaring and impersonal universe. When it ends, a few people will remember you for a while, but they will die too. Even if you make the history books, your contribution will soon be forgotten. Humans will go extinct; Earth and the sun will be destroyed. Eventually the universe itself will end. Against this appalling reality, how can a human life have any real meaning?

This is one reason why belief in a god (or gods) is so popular: it softens the brutality of existence by imbuing the universe with meaning. Some theologians have even claimed that the pointlessness of life without God is evidence for God鈥檚 existence. In fact, there is no objective evidence for this (see 鈥�Metaphysics special: Can we ever know if God exists?鈥�). So let us put that comfort blanket aside and ask: in an indifferent and ephemeral universe, does human existence have any meaning at all?

In some interpretations of quantum mechanics, the universe only comes into being when we observe it, and the act of observing it actually determines what happens next by forcing reality into one of many possible outcomes. A wilder interpretation 鈥� called the many worlds hypothesis 鈥� claims that every time you make a decision, the universe replicates itself. You enter one universe and an alternative you enters the other. If true, your universe is created by the choices you make. How鈥檚 that for meaningful?

Just ask

Critics might argue that there is no more evidence for these ideas than for the existence of God. In any case, the meaning they provide is rather impersonal and abstract. But you don鈥檛 have to be creating universes to find meaning in life.

Recently, psychologists have hit on a novel way to discover whether life has meaning: ask people. When asked to rate how meaningful and purposeful their lives are, most people respond positively and rate their own sense of meaning and purpose as being greater than other people鈥檚. In other words, despite the ultimately futile nature of human life, it feels pretty meaningful to those living it.

This finding has been criticised for being entirely subjective and for failing to capture a 鈥渢rue鈥� or 鈥渉igher鈥� meaning, such as leaving a legacy or changing the world. But according to Laura King, a psychologist at the University of Missouri who studies meaning, that is self-serving, elitist nonsense. If people say they find meaning in life, who is to argue? We will never get objective data on the matter anyway.

Others point out that we are constantly searching for meaning, which suggests we do not have it. King sees no contradiction. 鈥淵ou can think of meaning like oxygen. Do I have plenty now? Yes. Am I going to keep on wanting plenty of it? Yes. You鈥檙e not going to stop wanting it because you already have it.鈥�

鈥淭he philosophical question has always been: is there a meaning to life? What is the meaning of life?,鈥� says King. 鈥淢y goal is to think about meaning with a little 鈥榤鈥�, in the real world, in everyday people鈥檚 lives. Then we can start thinking about it in a less highfalutin and more everyday way, to understand it as a human experience.鈥� Feel better now?

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淲hat is the meaning of life?鈥�