*** ~Dr. Swamini Svatmavidyananda Saraswati has taught at several universities nationally, including UC Berkeley. She is widely recognized as a scholar of Advaita Vedanta, and is a disciple of Pujya Sri Swami Dayanandaji Saraswati, an internationally Acharya of the Advaita Vedanta tradition, interfaith leader, and scholastic author of […]
What a wonder it is just to be alive, more remarkable still to be aware of this and to wonder what might be the meaning of life? As endless reflections of consciousness becoming conscious of itself there are as many meanings as there are makers of meaning. Perceived […]
Excellence Reporter: Suzanne, what is the meaning of life? Suzanne Scurlock-Durana: Many years ago Joseph Campbell inspired me with this enlightening quote: “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is […]
Excellence Reporter: Dear Dorothy, what is the meaning of life?Dorothy Walters: I think the “meaning” of life is well beyond our understanding. However, the purpose of life is to find ways to return to our divine origin. Yeats said, “Man can embody truth, but never know it.” I agree with Yeats. […]
Excellence Reporter: OM, what is the meaning of life? OM C. Parkin: “To know who you really are.“ Know your SELF. Once and for ever. Many years ago my master gave me this answer. It is the final answer to this question. Who receives this answer by a […]
Excellence Reporter: Ana, what is the meaning of life? Ana Holub: The meaning of life, for me, is a journey deep into the heart of our soul. This world is just like the Holodeck in Star Trek – it seems real, but it’s only a passing illusion of […]
Think of a child throwing himself on the floor, wailing in unabashed fury, pounding his hands and feet in revolt because you said ‘no’ to the candy before dinner. While his generous range of high-pitched demands may be annoying, our children are models of untainted behavior. What I’m […]
Most people don’t stop to ask what the meaning of life is. The simple act of asking is an opening to knowing greater meaning, provided that we look within for answers. I used to think that only the peaks of life were meaningful—the milestones, the breakthroughs, the major […]
Excellence Reporter: Karlene, what is the meaning of life? Karlene Stange: Ancient Taoists believed the purpose of life is spiritual growth through alchemy. Alchemical transformation can only occur within a cauldron of opposites. The physical body is that cauldron where yin and yang, spirit and matter unite. Here, […]
As a ray of light shined through a prism diffracts into a spectrum of color, the Eternal Light, when shined through the body, diffracts into the spectrum of the five senses and world perception. The purpose of life is to abide as the Eternal Light which, when shined […]
Excellence Reporter: Joanne, what is the meaning of life? Joanne Fedler: It’s to wake up. It’s to awake from the idea that we are separate from other people. It’s to remember that though we seem to be here as ourselves, we are not here for ourselves. We are […]
Excellence Reporter: Sandy, what is the meaning of life? Sandy Wiggins: What is the meaning of life? I don’t know that any of us can honestly answer the question. It may actually be a meaningless question. Yet we human beings are hardwired to make meaning. Why? Perhaps the […]
Excellence Reporter: Graham, what is the meaning of life? Graham Nicholls: I have often felt it is not the meaning, but the many meanings in life that I believe are at the core of this question. But it seems to me that when we consider the meaning of […]
Excellence Reporter: Sarah, what is the meaning of life? Sarah Varcas: The meaning of life is a mystery to me and I hope it stays that way! Perhaps this mystery is the deepest meaning? Life is an unanswered question, a suspended chord; to be lived, not solved; experienced, […]
‘It is Love that moves the Sun and Stars,’ wrote Dante – perhaps Europe’s most famous poet – at the end of his long journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Looking back at my life’s journey I too would say that ‘Love’ is the meaning of life and […]
Excellence Reporter: Stephanie, what is the meaning of life? Stephanie Marohn: The meaning of life is soul growth and opening our hearts—to the self, to other people, to beings of all kinds, to all of nature, and to the divine. Through all these forms of connection, we grow […]
Excellence Reporter: Rob, what is the meaning of life? Rob Schwartz: The meaning of life is to express the love we truly are – the love that is our eternal nature – here on the physical plane. In short, it is to bring the love of Home to […]
What is the meaning of life for me feels more like a question asking what is the “purpose” of life? Purpose gives us meaning and when we ask “what is the purpose of life?” we gain insights we can use to experience life more fully. Defining life’s purpose can be […]
Excellence Reporter: Daaji, what is the meaning of life? Kamlesh D. Patel: There can be as many answers to this question as there are people, as we all have different individual goals and aspirations. But if we take a broad overview, we can easily see that life on […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Liberman, what is the meaning of life? Jacob Israel Liberman: I’m not sure if life has a meaning. However, it appears to have a purpose – to discover who we are. Are we the body we see in the mirror? Are we the voice in […]
Life is a beautiful reflection, of my choices and actions Karma, the law of cause and effect serves to determine what happens next Experiencing life is such an adventure, With all divine creation interacting together Praying to keep the world happy and calm Any living beings must suffer […]
Excellence Reporter: Patricia, what is the meaning of life? Patricia Cori: The meaning of life? How possibly can one compress into so few words the greatest mystery of existence … the most significant, and yet – the most elusive of our passing here. I am reminded of a […]
Excellence Reporter: Sarah, what is the meaning of life? Sarah Love McCoy: The meaning of life is what we say it is. That’s the funny part. We humans have the amazing power to give meaning to anything and everything. Our minds dictate our reality from the inside out. […]
Excellence Reporter: Sherry, what is the meaning of life? Sherry Maysonave: I discovered that the real me, my soul, existed separate from my body, when I was a mere five years of age. Although young, I integrated the importance of staying connected to my soul, my spirit. Throughout the decades, […]
Excellence Reporter: Sri Krishna Kumar, what is the meaning of life? P. R. Krishna Kumar: Life has no meaning unless and until we give a meaning to life. It is sad to find most of our fellow beings departing without having given any meaning with their own life. Vedas say that it […]
Excellence Reporter: Dhyana, what is the meaning of life? Dhyana Stanley: That question is another way to ask why in the world are we here? This is one of those questions which can’t really be answered ‘in the head’ but can with the heart. And everyone who answers this […]
Excellence Reporter: Miti, what is the meaning of life? Miti Desai: Life is Breath…Life is an Opportunity…Life is a Journey – to love, to explore, to engage, to pierce deep into ones own Self. Though, LIFE is also Independent Of; and sometimes, life in itself holds no meaning […]
Excellence Reporter: Adriana, what is the meaning of life? Adriana Attento: The meaning of life is to discover who you are. Beneath thoughts, ideas, feelings, images, sensations; beneath the personality or ego; beneath the fluctuating circumstances of life; beneath the ceaseless change of life is Consciousness. “The world […]
Oh, yes, the age-old question that haunts us on a daily basis. What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? Do I have a purpose, and if so, what is that purpose? We have all pondered this question and continue to search for the answer far […]
The purpose for the human experience is to learn, on an experiential level, about all facets of love so that we can come to the realization that we ARE love. This requires contrast. For example, we can understand the difference between hot and cold, conceptually, but to truly […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Albert, what is the meaning of life? Stephen Albert: What an interesting phrase. My book, ‘7 Billion Truths’, speaks about how each person has their own life truths based on their many life experiences. Depending upon the family you were brought up in, the culture that […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Désilets: what is the meaning of life? Saida Désilets: Life is a mystery. A grand, delicious, at times horrifying, and often surprising, mystery. What meaning can we give this mystery? For me, life is less about figuring it all out and more about falling in love […]
Excellence Reporter: Rev. Kowalski, what is the meaning of life? Gary Kowalski: Whether you believe it or not, your life began 13.7 billions years ago when, inexplicably, things started. From the beginning, your birth (and that of countless of others creatures) was written into the world-lines of a […]
You have many dreams. You have countless aspirations. You want to live a life worth writing about. A beautiful story that captivates and endures. Sometimes you feel that big success is the only thing worth writing about. That you have to go out and achieve big things and […]
Life is a blessing with rich soil to grow every possible contribution we can make with our time and resources, for a good life for people close to us, in our ecosystems, and most of all, that people 500 years from now, have far better lives. LOVE Life […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Bekoff, what is the meaning of life? Marc Bekoff: For me it all boils down to do all I can to make the world a more peaceful and compassionate place for all animals, nonhuman and human, than the moment I emerged from my loving mother’s body. I […]
The meaning of life rests with each of us, in each of our lives to carve out. We can take a nihilist stance that says our bodies/souls are the result of a cosmic throw of the dice, a random conflagration of proliferating atoms warmed mysteriously by the ancient […]
Excellence Reporter: Jenny, what is the meaning of life? Jenny Smedley: Life seems tough doesn’t it? One of the reasons for this is that before we were born we had a master plan, a definite goal in this lifetime, and we were equipped to focus on it and […]
Excellence Reporter: Altazar, what is the meaning of life? Altazar Rossiter: Whenever I hear this question I think of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. In his books he asked the meaning of life, the universe and everything. The answer was revealed as 42, and […]
Excellence Reporter: Fr. Seán, what is the meaning of life? Fr. Seán ÓLaoire: Life is a dream that the ego is having; the ego is a dream that the soul is having; the soul is a dream that Spirit is having; and Spirit is a dream that Source […]
Excellence Reporter: Pamala, what is the meaning of life? Pamala Oslie: I’m aware that there will be as many answers to that question as there are souls on this planet because each of us has a different perspective and a different experience of life and “reality”. Therefore, my […]
Excellence Reporter: Mindahi, what is the meaning of life? Mindahi Bastida Muñoz: Life on Earth is possible due to the presence of the four sacred elements: fire, water, air and earth. All beings are the reflection of those elements; we, as humans, are too the reflection of those […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Frankel, what is the meaning of life? Estelle Frankel: The Hebrew word for meaning, mashmaut, comes from the root sh-m-a, which means to listen. This word (which itself is pregnant with meaning) suggests that meaning arises through listening. The meaning of our lives is not a static, […]
Once in a coffee shop, I overheard a middle-aged woman telling her friend, in a hurt voice, “I feel so judged by him.” Therein lies the history of humanity’s suffering. So long as we identify with this ego “self,” this “I” we take ourselves to be, suffering—in the […]
As a scientist who has spent most of his life in the aerospace industry, studying at NASA and working in space agencies around the world, I understand the value of science in our lives. Science has extended our lifespan, brought benefits to our health, opened the skies for […]
Excellence Reporter: Andy, what is the meaning of life? Andy Smallman: I think the MEANING of life is self-evident when we are able to surrender ego, or to realize on a core level that we are part of something bigger than our individual selves. But that makes it […]
I discovered the meaning of life at the moment of my spiritual awakening, late one night, Jan 4th1998. I was working my night shift. As an architect, a family man and a community activist my life had two shifts. One for the day to interact with my clients […]
Excellence Reporter: Pema, what is the meaning of life? Pema Namdol Thaye: I learnt the meaning of life from my precious spiritual teachers: my Amala (mother) and my uncle Lama Gonpo Tenzing Rinpoche. They devoted their entire lives to benefiting others. This is something they lived, and breathed, […]
When the bright lights of London City went out, I was in my late 20s struggling with an addiction, and a chronic eating disorder, and having to admit I was no longer sweet 16. It became apparent that the lure of big cities, 5-star restaurants, a fat wallet, […]
Excellence Reporter: Megan, what is the meaning of life? Megan Hollingsworth: The question itself implies a mind that seeks and even requires meaning. And one who has lost a sense of meaning for it’s own life. For each is a meaning and, thus, life’s meaning in total. The […]
Excellence Reporter: Rick, what is the meaning of life? Rick Snedeker: Intrinsically speaking, life has zero “meaning.” It is incorrigibly insensate and random, despite what poetry and religion constantly labor to imply. We are but an infinitesimal wisp in an infinite enormity of emotionally dead atoms and irresistible […]
When asked the question what is the meaning of life?, I would be tempted to reply, “I don’t know”. Every day, I am more and more in awe about this incredible place called “the universe” we live in. And every day, I am more and more aware of […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Harvey, what is the meaning of life? Richard Harvey: Life itself is its own meaning. There can be no tricks, seeing round corners, or philosophical search for the true meaning of life. But neither can there be some hidden gain, some extraneous reason for believing that […]
Excellence Reporter: Cynthia, what is the meaning of life? Cynthia Brix: The meaning of life is to remember who we are, and to live from the depths of our true being—including who we are in relation to each other and in relation to God (or the Beloved, the […]
My favorite book of all time is Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. For over a decade I read that book annually and always received new insights. Frankl asserted that even if we don’t see inherit meaning in life, we must either find meaning or create meaning for […]
The question “What is the meaning of Life?” is such a moving target, isn’t it? Since we’re all part of this same mysterious system, it’s like a lot of slightly different questions that all lead to the same thing: “Why? Why me, here and now?” Why is this […]
Excellence Reporter: Carolyn, what is the meaning of life? Carolyn North: Frankly, I have no idea what Life ‘means’ but I do know about the experience of living. It takes place in my body – indeed, everything alive has a container of some sort in which the live-ness […]
Many years ago, standing on stage at one of my meetings with readers, I was looking into the audience, inwardly waiting for the moment when the question “What is the meaning of life?” would finally be asked. Yet, to my regret, among the many questions posed, it never […]
Excellence Reporter: Liz, what is the meaning of life? Liz Mitten Ryan: I must preface what I’m about to share with an introduction that it comes from source through a clear connection to animals and nature. I have lived on a 320 acre sacred land removed from radio, […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Yogendra, what is the meaning of life? Smt. Hansaji Jayadeva Yogendra: During my regular session at The Yoga Institute, one of the students was asked according to him what is the meaning of life? He answered life is B and D. Means life is “B” […]
Excellence Reporter: Amy, what is the meaning of life? Amy B. Scher: The meaning of life is to embrace it with curiosity! When I was struggling during almost an entire decade with a chronic illness, I fought every day to find a cure. I even traveled all over […]
Excellence Reporter: Master Oberon, what is the meaning of life? Oberon Zell: Cherish diversity! Find fascination in the strange and unusual. Live passionately. Explore everything, especially things forbidden, with boundless curiosity. Read voraciously. Grow a garden. Establish and maintain altars in your home. Celebrate the ever-turning Wheel of […]
Excellence Reporter: Tiffany, what is the meaning of life? Tiffany Lazic: Trying to find a simple answer to what is the meaning of life is akin to trying to find the loose end of a snarled jumble of wool. There are so many possible threads to follow that […]
Excellence Reporter: Tom, what is the meaning of life? Tom T. Moore: The meaning of our lives is much more complex than we can imagine. Here is what I’ve been told in my meditations. The Creator of our universe (there are billions of creators and billions of universes) […]
Excellence Reporter: Raphaelle, what is the meaning of life? Raphaelle Tamura: This question brings to mind the classic cartoon image of an earnest spiritual aspirant breathlessly climbing to the top of a mountain in order to ask an old, bemused Master who quips something funny or ironic. This […]
Excellence Reporter: Michael, what is the meaning of life? Michael J. Tamura: All questions of meaning lead us to the mind, don’t they? Whenever we ask, if we don’t get distracted along the way by other thoughts and feelings, the seeking of an answer leads us step-by-step to […]
I wrote this for YOU By my SELF What if…… I am living heaven on earth right now What if…… My heart was exploding with love for All that IS Right now What if……I knew what I felt to be true What if…… Every moment I take a […]
Excellence Reporter: Laura, what is the meaning of life? Laura Silvana Aversano: As I am sitting here pondering the meaning of life, I can only share with you what my own experiences have shown me thus far. God-willing, I will have many more lessons to learn, more challenges […]
Excellence Reporter: Samantha, what is the meaning of life? Samantha Thomas: Astrophysics has yet to discover whether there is meaning of life in the universal sense, and if there is a meaning, we may never know what that is. However, it is important that human beings feel a […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Fellingham, what is the meaning of life? Paula Fellingham: Life has had different meanings for me during my nearly 70 years of living. As a girl growing up in the glow of a famous parent, defining the meaning of life never crossed my mind. I laughed […]
We each enter life with desires, goals, and challenges to overcome, and we choose birth conditions that will best help us meet these objectives. Arriving with dreams from the past that are seeking fulfillment, we find meaning as we are able to satisfy these karmic imperatives from the […]
Excellence Reporter: Frank, what is the meaning of life? Frank DeMarco: When we ask the meaning of life, we are also asking about our own nature, and the nature of the world we live in. If the world were what it seems to be, and if we ourselves […]
As a child I would ask that simple yet complex question to myself all the time. I would look into the mirror at my golden brown cat eyes, my athletic tall Goddess Warrior™ body and see the depth of my soul. I would ask myself why am I here, […]
Excellence Reporter: Robert, what is the meaning of life? Robert Beer: I have come to believe that death alone reveals the true moral and ethical stature of life, and while that life is being lived this issue always hangs in the balance. We are born with amnesia, and […]
Excellence Reporter: Raven, what is the meaning of life? Raven Keyes: I believe we are all encoded with a special mission we came into this life to fulfill – a mission we chose for ourselves long before we were ever born. As I see it, the meaning of […]
There is an adage in the spiritual world declaring that life has a perfectly unfolding divine plan, and that one’s happiness is dependent upon knowing this, and somehow tapping into that flow. On the other side of this equation is the recognition that life is chaotic, random, and […]
The question that precedes the question of the meaning of life is “why is there life at all.” And that has no answer. And the next question is “what is life” and that has no answer as well. Except those answers that are constructed out of the emptiness […]
Excellence Reporter: Nischaladevi, what is the meaning of life? Nischala Joy Devi: The question “What is the meaning of life?” morphs into “what brings meaning to life?” Life seems more meaningful when we embrace love and joy, in every moment. We are all searching for something to bring us […]
Excellence Reporter: Acharya, what is the meaning of life? Acharya Mangalananda: As an American with a life-long connection with India and its practices and beliefs, I speak both through the Traditions I have been involved in, but also through the direct experience that this connection has brought me. […]
The paddles of my kayak dipped gently into crystalline turquoise water. I was gliding like a bird through the late afternoon sun. Utterly by myself I deeply enjoyed the luxury of silence. I chose to make a right hand turn into a cove that was flanked by two […]
Excellence Reporter: Ms. Karpinski, what is the meaning of life? Gloria D. Karpinski: As an intuitive counselor and spiritual teacher for several decades, I can testify the number one question behind all other questions for most people is the quest for meaning. What is the mission? Why am […]
At some point, we’ve all thought about the meaning of life. Why am I here? What is my purpose? Is this all there is or does the journey continue when the physical body no longer functions? As both human and spiritual beings, it’s essential that we consider these […]
It is our task as spiritual beings to remove the blocks that inhibit the native joy and passions of our spirit; we must delve deeply into our own mysterious being and begin to rediscover our poetic voice & soul. To become courageous spirits, we must loosen our character […]
Excellence Reporter: Peter, what is the meaning of life? Peter Smith: This is a question that has been asked down through the ages so many times. It is a question about our very existence and the catalyst for the most incredible journey. I have witnessed first-hand the inner magnificence […]
The meaning of life is to have an immersive experience of being alive in a fabulously creative, thought-responsive, conscious universe. We are alive to explore and share the transformative power of love, and to wake up to who we really are on the deepest level of reality. Waking […]
Excellence Reporter: Myra, what is the meaning of life? Jaya Jaya Myra: I don’t think there is a single, concise answer for the meaning of life, but if I were to try to give you just one answer, I would say experience. Consciousness has a desire to experience […]
Excellence Reporter: Rose, what is the meaning of life? Rose Marcus: Simply stated, it is a heart journey. The purpose of life is to experience yourself as the creative powerhouse that you are. What are you here to do? To accomplish something truly extraordinary. It’s something only you can […]
Excellence Reporter: Jane, what is the meaning of life? Jane Sloane: The meaning of life is in what we learn about our capacity for love, kindness, generosity and forgiveness. It’s in our acts of creation and in our experience of loss and grief. It’s in our work to […]
Excellence Reporter: Jennifer, what is the menial go life? Jennifer Urezzio: Well…living years of a spiritual life I want to say connection. And, today that meaning doesn’t fit. Today, I feel out of sorts and longing for something I can’t put my fingers on. Days like this, the […]
The meaning of life is to be present, to live fully and to help others realize their full potential as well. It means living in balance, realizing that we`re a small speck in the universum, and actualizing the wisdom and compassion that naturally resides within us. Michaela […]
Excellence Reporter: Katalin, what is the meaning of life? Katalin Koda: Life is the opportunity to discover our true nature and gifts and offer them in service to others along the path. True meaning becomes apparent in the practice of offering, being of service, to dissolve our smaller […]
Excellence Reporter: Debra, what is the meaning of life? Debra Moffitt: Most people think of life as confined to what happens from birth to death. But that’s a limited view of who we are. When put into the bigger perspective, we are multidimensional spiritual beings beyond the body, […]
Excellence Reporter: Catherine, what is the meaning of life? Catherine Bell: This is a profound confronting question. Philosophers, mystics, scientists, and sages have been examining this question for a very long time. Some might say it is to discover what the meaning of life is. And responses to this […]
What is the meaning of life? Humans are basically dogs with thumbs. And canines – like humans – are opportunists: trundling along the path, looking for anything odd that we could possibly eat. The ‘odd’ thing: That’s the ticket. Opportunist species look for things that are out of […]
To open one’s eyes widely and to breathe consciously. Everything else will reveal itself from there… *** ~Claude AnShin Thomas, Zen Buddhist Monk, Vietnam Veteran, International Advocate of Nonviolence, and Author, was ordained in the Japanese Soto Zen Tradition in 1995. Born 1947 in Meadville, Pennsylvania, he […]
Excellence Reporter: Kurt, what is the meaning of life? Kurtis Lamkin: To go Home empty. To rassle receiving to the ground so we can fill our waking days with giving. We come into the world buck-naked, but we are full. The heaven is to go back battered bone-dry […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Poelina, what is the meaning of life? Dr. Anne Poelina: I think of this question from the perspective that I am a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Custodian from the Kimberley region of Australia. When I introduce myself I say ‘ngayoo yimardoowarra marnil’ which means I belong […]
Excellence Reporter: Pace, what is the meaning of life? Pace Freeborn: Love, joy, happiness, trust, compassion, expansion, spiritual evolution… these are but I few things that rise within when thinking about the meaning of life. What more can there be to life than to be happy, to play […]
Excellence Reporter: BelindaGrace, what is the meaning of life? BelindaGrace: After twenty-one years of service as a clairvoyant and healer the only thing I am sure of is that life is a mystery. So for me its not about the meaning of life, but the purpose of it. As […]
Excellence Reporter: Bayo, what is the meaning of life? Bayo Akomolafe: A few years ago I might have answered the question about the meaning of life with a lot of confidence. I might have insisted it had something to do with love, peace, free will or some other […]
