The Meaning of Life Theory

So once again here I stand at work, dissecting life and its enigmas, in hopes that I will reach my ultimate goal of "having it all figured out", which of course will never truly be realized, but at least for the time being it will give me some comfort to think that I am making progress. According to the Dalai Lama, "the meaning of life resides in joy and the feelings of harmony connected to happiness. Without happiness, life loses meaning. Happiness is at the heart of our lives and our demand for a meaning." This is apparently the most common of the theories and in my opinion that is because human beings generally want to believe that they have a good reason (divine right if you will) to live selfishly and hedonistically. If one lives their life believing that the entire meaning of their existance is to be searching for ways to make themself happy, they will then feel more justified in this self gratification. Some, however, would argue the very opposite; that the meaning of life generally revolves around sacrificing your own happiness to make others happy. Then I started thinking about how this is a bit of a conundrum (sp?) Why would it be such a large goal for one to devote their entire life to making others happy when it is their own strong belief that the meaning of life is NOT happiness? i guess its more of a question of how it makes them feel inside knowing that they did a good thing for someone else. And it's been my experience that when you make someone else happy, it, in return, makes you happy as well. so therefore, those who claim that the meaning of life is "living to make others happy" are being somewhat hypocritical. Albeit, I do believe it to be a noble goal. Anyway, that covers the two most popular ideas as to the meaning of life. And both revolve around happiness. Be it your own or that of your neighbor. But I also was thinking about the other possibilities and of course the religious aspect came to mind. I'm sure that some of the estimated 84% of the world population may answer "to devote your days on earth to serving their higher power of choice", when presented with the question "what is the meaning of life?" Wthout religion, their life would be totally devoid of meaning, which in my opinion is a bit unnerving. If you choose to devote your whole life to something entirely based on faith, and on that fateful day discover that you were mistaken about what you believed in, haven't you theoretically wasted your life? However, since my very point is that this theory revolves around faith, it can't be proved or disproved one way or the other. If there was a way to prove that "God" truly exists and is the divine creator of all, I would say that the great mystery of the meaning of life would not even be a topic open for debate. However, it is true that people of religion have been known ask even their god this question. Most likely because they feel that aside from serving him and doing his will, there must be a deeper reason as to why he put them here (specifically on earth) to begin with, with the bodies and emotions and free will that we come with. This is a valid point because technically we could just as easily serve this creator in his presence in heaven or wherever you believe he reigns. Oh well. I guess we'll never know for sure. At least not until it is too late to make any lifestyle changes anyway. And what about love? Could the meaning of life be love? Or does love simply give meaning to life? In my opinion loving and being loved is a very important part of life, but it's hard for me to see how it could be the singular bestower of meaning. Think how unfair it would be to someone who has lived their whole life, never knowing love, by no choice of their own. Thy may have searched endlessly for it, but never found it. Does that mean that they will never have a full and complete life? I think that they would have a very sad and lonely life, but that is not their fault and certainly not a choice. Going back to the religion theory; not knowing God (or Allah....whomever) is a choice. But a life devoid of love is not. Loving and being loved is not something we can always control. And i feel that the meaning of life must be something that is obtainable or achieveable so that each of us who looked for, or practiced it, could potentially live a complete life with a sense of closure. In conclusion, I don't feel that life's meaning could be just one of these specific ideas. However, when combined, we might be getting warmer. Seeking happiness, making others happy, serving your idea of God, and love; together they create a strong structure for a well balanced life, and death for that matter. Just a thought.