Life has had a lot of meanings attached to it over the years, from the dawn age of Christianity to Jet age of humanity. Although believes about life vary due to diversification in culture and religion which has become more complex over many years, the truth is a lot of questions are still being asked and no answers seem to avail itself as to why we live, what we live for and at what end we live towards. Most will complain endlessly about how this life is a vanity filled one and other would talk about how we only live to die.
Over the years due to these questions many theories have risen from below and have seemed to give reasons as to why we live. No answer has been generally accepted by the public but each individual today have given themselves personal answers, something to give their lives meaning, a reason which they can attach their lives so as to have something to live for.
As for most of the religious meanings and theories, it is mostly believed that a supreme being watches and guides every aspect of their lives and at their death they will return to this being and live an eternity of happiness and peace. Although before one can return to their supreme being in some kind of paradise, One most live a good life without any form of immortality; simply put, One has to be a good person before being able to return to this supreme being. This gives a lot of meaning to their lives and helps them to live on, trying endlessly to attain a goal at the end of their lives.
Most also believe that there is nothing to life, that our very existence is a coincidence and nothing happens after death. They believe that after death means non-existence. So because of this very fact, most of them live life so as to attain a lot and achieve a lot so they would be remembered long after they are gone, while the rest of them live life carelessly, feeling life has no meaning, therefore there is no point to it.
Some others believe in reincarnation, they believe that after death, they would return again as a different individual and the cycle continues. Although some people who believe in this believe that if they live good lives they will return as human beings and if they live badly they'll return as animals or species of lower intelligence. So basically these kind of people see life as a kind of cycle in which a balance has to kept.
So ultimately they are many meanings to life to many people but it doesn't have one meaning to everyone. So this view of what life is defines a great deal of the kind of human being the individual tends to be. These individuals are sometimes not completely in control of what they see life as but it is sometimes dependent on the environment they are exposed to.
In reality, when one looks deeply and critically into life, you realize that as many fear death because they know not what is on the other side, it has a great impact on life. Death is one thing we end up realizing that gives life meaning, to know that your time is limited and what you do here and now goes a long way for something, somewhere. And if there is nothing after death, the fear of not existing at all is as scary as the possibility of a hell.
