@anastasia,
You ask: What is it all about? What is our purpose? I would suggest this as a possible answer:
The meaning or purpose of life is to express love, truth, beauty, creativity, and individuality.
More exactly said, the meaning of human life -- which is the form of life most evolved toward pure meaning (value) -- is to express Goodness.
What is Goodness? It is the highest value; it is a synergistic package of qualities such as integrity, uniqueness, amity, fidelity, purity, loveability, radiance, empathy, spirituality, (or soul.) It is reality, morality, veracity, and fellowship. It is family-spirit and devotion to community.
It is diversity within unity. It is also responsibility and liberty. It is following one’s conscience. It is autonomy. It is freedom and joy and bliss.
Let us not overlook that, in addition, Goodness is serenity combined harmoniously with authenticity. It is thanksgiving and celebration. In short, it is everything good.
To merge with Goodness, to serve it, to unite with it, to express it on this Earth, is the purpose of human life.
Think about it.
In the preceding I have argued that Goodness, both by definition and application, is a package of all the high, positive values wrapped into one. In Formal Value Theory there is a measure (albeit at present a rough one) for this bundle. It has been entitled: "Intrinsic Value." It is defined as that value whose meaning has an indefinitely-high number of descriptive adjectives in it. [In practice, in life, one must concentrate on it, give it full attention, in order to find all that meaning. Thus one 'gets involved' with it. We can't tell where the valuer leaves off and where what he/she is valuing begins. Good poetry would be a good example of Intrinsic Value.]
It may be referred to as "In-value", for short. In-value is located on a value spectrum; it ranks above Extrinsic Value, which is, in turn, above Systemic Value. This spectrum has been devised by a genius named Dr. Robert S. Hartman. You can check his biography - or at least a minor snapshot of a small part of it - on Wikipedia.
Of all the basic value dimensions, In-value is the richest in meaning. Value itself is a function of meaning. The more meaningful something is, the more valuable it is.
Questions? Comments? Critiques?
