# Is there any meaning to life? or is it really just nothing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 28, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051 "2010-05-28T07:12:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/101 "2010-06-15T17:48:05Z")

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> [@Mijin](#):
>
> This makes the common presumption that meaning and what makes you happy are the same. That if someone says they don’t think life has meaning they must be unhappy.
> 
> I think “Why am I here?”, “What should I do with my life?” and “What makes me happy?” are three separate questions, though there is a _little_ overlap between the last two.
> 
> And, if the truth is unpleasant, it is nonetheless in my nature to recognise it. I couldn’t delude myself that it’s not true even if I wanted to.

Well it was just a suggestion. I don’t think all of life is unpleasant for anyone, I hope not. Lincoln said “People are just about as happy as they want to be.”

I believe you make your own happiness, that is what I think.

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**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/102 "2010-06-16T02:40:38Z")

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**olivesmarch24** , as a long-time lurker and sometimes poster on the SDMB, I’d like to say that I found your posts in this thread some of the most interesting and insightful I’ve seen. I don’t agree with everything you said, but agree with most and see wisdom and common sense even on the points where we disagree. And I wholeheartedly agree that the OP’s conflating existentialism with religion is absurd. To use his metaphor, like defining a tail as a leg.

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