Why are so many people obsessed with "meaning" and "purpose?"

It is about feeling fulfilled or not.

Some people feel fulfuilled with a "normal"life as it is with no need to know some higher purpose of it. Others feel that "normal" life empty of fulfilment and look for something higher or greater. Neither is right or wrong, just different. Finally, the great truth of being human, is that each of us can decide for ourselves what the meaning or purpose of our lives is or must be. Finally we are self defined and that is a great privilege

Peace and love
Jnanic

 

For me it seems to be an instinctual "need" to find at least some meaning in life...I'd get way too bored otherwise. I don't obsess with finding that meaning in every aspect of life, but searching for enlightenment, whatever that means, warms my soul, and makes life more interesting for me. I do it, cause it feels good! Even trying to find meaning in the tragedies of life keeps me "living" in the now. I just feel better trying to find (invent??) my true purpose, i feel more alive in that pursuit. I am one of those people that can go with the flow, feel the energy of every day and night, taking in what resonates with my sense of meaning and purpose, and letting go of that which does not.
Thanks for starting this thread, helps me to keep searching!

 

people are obsessed with meaning simply because they are enchanted by language. Most people are, by-and-large, illiterate and though they can spell the words they use and form written sentences with those words they dont in actual fact understand the significance of them. Take a word that most people use - "Freedom"
people will write vast amounts about freedom of speech etc and how the west is better because we are free - not very many people actually learn anything about what the word means and therefore believe it means whatever they think it means without realising it may not mean the same to others.

In this way the vast majority of words that have a latin or greek origin which are in common english usage are vastly misunderstood by those who use them, consequently they misunderstand exactly why the world operates as it does.

The majority of what humans do is to process language and visual signals. Without proper context these things cause confusion - especially language and therefore
the person makes up - creates a mythological stqatus of that which they dont understand - religion is the lack of knowledge and reason its language is dogmatic

so why dont you hippy freedom lovers look up a few words like
freedom here
http://www.wikipedia.org

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=free

look up more of the words you think you understand and realise that all meaning has a visual and linguistic context that you mostly misunderstand

so what etymonline tells you is that originally the word freedom stems from german frei and also has its roots in a word which meant "love"
sounds hippier now dont it -

 

Because peoples lives are based around meaning and purose.

We brush our teeth so they will be clean. We go to work so we will have money. We take medicine to get over a cold. No one ever gets up and does something compleatly random, becasue there is also purpose behind that. No one can do a single thing with out reason, and thats why peopel are scared that there might not be reason to our lives because they have never experianced it for them selves. Its natural thats for sure, we even see it in nature birds migrate to stay warm, Bears hybrinate to save energy and so on.

That leaves us with two explinations, one the reason and meaning of the universe is to much for us to grasp, like trying to teach a dog to talk, so we turn to religions to give us some meaning and follow them with little or no reall proof and call it faith. Or two there is no meaning and people again turn to religion.