ANNOTATION:
The context of the meaning of life

Angell is right, of course. We cannot discuss the meaning of life until we establish the system that we view life as lying within. Obviously, in the case of human life, this system is the global ecosystem and we may even extend it to the whole physical universe. So we must ask: does the universe contain some operating principles from which we may derive some values by which we may judge whether life has a meaning? And then, perhaps we can discuss what that meaning might be.

Well, I think, yes, there some value implications which can be derived from the operating principles of the universe.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics guarantees that everything put together sooner or later falls apart. Suns burn out, planets crumble to dust, wood rots, metal corrodes, and all that is flesh dies. What does this law imply for the human species? That work and suffering are unavoidable. We survive largely by our knowledge and behavior patterns. Physically, we are pretty unimpressive. But we learn and we pass on what we learn to the next generation. Thus, we came to dominate this planet. Put these findings together and you are forced to ask: what values are implied, for the guiding principles by which to design human behavior, by The Second Law of Thermodynamics? If the universe is built uphill and we are to survive in it, then we must learn to accept work (which is designed to forestall suffering) and suffering (because our best laid plans and labors sometimes are not enough). And we have to keep trying or die. Either we meet the demands of the universe or we go under and probably some other human society or some other species altogether "treads us down" (Keats).

We make prime values of courage (or elan) and intelligence because these design principles guide us to shape behavior patterns that will enable us to cope with, nay, assault the entropy which circles hungrily always. And these values direct us to work pretty well constantly and creatively. If we do, we live, if we don't, we die. What we pass on to our succeeding generations then, is, of course, nothing at all because there aren't any.

Speaking of our best laid plans and labors sometimes not being enough brings us to Quantum Theory, the second principle of the physical universe (as we currently model and understand it) that has major implications for values, and thus for the design of human behavior patterns. Not only is the universe built uphill, it also hits us in the face with cream pies at times (some of them most inopportune). Quantum Theory tells us that we cannot ever know anything for sure until it has passed. We cannot be certain of the rising of the sun tomorrow. We can only predict upcoming events with degrees of probability and these too vary from predictor to predictor and occasion to occasion depending on the instruments we are using, the phenomena we are trying to predict, and so on.

What values has humanity evolved to meet this inescapable curse (and blessing) of the universe? We make a prime value of freedom because freedom gives a human society variety: many different kinds of people being allowed and even encouraged to develop many different kinds of talents. From this pool, we can almost always draw someone to meet every one of the exigencies of surviving in this universe. Someone in the diverse community will know how to solve the crisis, and someone else in town will know how to solve the next one. If .....we have a free, and therefore diverse, town. To balance and temper freedom, we must make a prime value of love. As people are allowed and even encouraged to be more individualistic and free, love becomes more and more vital, for without it the citizens would soon be at each other's throats. Their diversity would make them suspicious of, and then unbearable to, each other.

The human community that survives and flourishes lives by courage and intelligence and freedom and love. Yes, they are opposites. Reality in the hardware domain is pulled into existence by opposing forces,strong force and weak force, electromagnetism and gravity. In the largest domain of software, the value systems by which humans are programmed to survive, we should not be surprized to find similar balances of opposing forces.

Thus, Francis is right. The meaning, or perhaps we should say, the purpose of life is to grow in fitness. But we do this socially, by and large. And our guiding principles are courage and intelligence and freedom and love, and they had better retain their primacy in our designs or we won't be doing much designing at all.

REPLY: Spiral of Development in Equilibrium

Meaning of human life (microcosm)it is the history of humankind (macrocosm).
Every human being must to develop seven steps or seven subtle energies in his life.
They are: Physical, Sexual, Will-Power, Emotional, Creative, Intellectual and Consciousness.
The same seven steps you could find in the history of humankind.
 After present step of humankind - Intellectual (our Industrial Revolution)
starts develop the subtle energy of Consciousness. It will be last step for
the development of humankind on the planet Earth that put our society to the balance.