>>>Has it crossed your mind that working and living are very different concepts? If it hasn't, this is also very depressing. <<
>I detect some JoeBobbery there. < g >

How so? You think we live for a reason the same way that we work for a reason? Thats disgusting.

>"Meaning of Life" has kept philosophers occupied for centuries.

Why consider what the meaning of life is, when there is a more important question, what proof do you have that there is a meaning a life? I know the answer to this: the same amount of proof that there are invisible dragans living on the Sun. If there is no reason to accept or reject such a claim, why waste any thought on it? Better yet, why waste any part of life contemplating what you should be doing with that life, when it is obvious that there is no specific game plan, no preselected endpoint for your life?

>And FWIW, lack of motivation/meaning has a strong association with depression and suicidal ideology.

Yes, unfortunately. Religion is mostly to blame for spreading the idea that there is some unnatural meaning or reason behind it all. When that reason is no where to be found, many cannot fathom that there may be no meaning to life. They cannot accept that, simply, there is life and that it is good enough.

Let me attack this question from another angle, by examining the question in further detail: "What is the meaning of life?" First of all, how do you define life? Lets not talk in terms of life, but in terms of existence. To me, they are one in the same. I am as much alive as a flower. No more, no less. I also have no reason to believe that I am any more, or any less alive than a galaxy. A giant spinning body of stars which is able to maintain stability, and create stars out of matter that other stars left behind. We both exist, we both live by simple rules, I say we are both alive.

The second issue I have... what does it mean to mean? What is the meaning of meaning? My own thoeries on "meaning" indicate that the word itself is useless, and only give one the illusion of understanding. I think that the "meaning" of something most be so complete, so accurate that when the meaning is presented there will be absolutely zero ambiguity between your preception and mine.

For example, right now, there is a cup on my desk. What is the meaning of the cup? Well, its purpose, was to hold a beverage. But if I were to present that as a meaning, coudl we be visuallizing two compeltely different cups? I'm afriad so. So the purpose cannot be the meaning. How about if I described how it looked? I maintain that you and I will not visualize the exact same cup to every exact detail unless you and I both observe the same cup. In otherwords, the meaning of the cup is everything that can possibly be said or decduced from observing the cup.

So, when I say "the word 'meaning' is useless", thats because the "meaning" of something is really better stated as the "being" of something.

This is how I look at the meaning of life. I cannot describe it justfully without presenting it wholefully. This again is where our differences in philosophy are crucial to understanding how we react to such a notion. While some say, "well, we can't undertstand fully, we shoudl we even try?", I say "why not observe it as it goes by, and see what our observations lead to, and how much greater we can make our existence?"

Besides, its fun. Look to your left, then to your right. You have just observed a peice of life, and in turn, have just uncovered more of the meaning of existence. What have you lost?