You ever wonder why we're here?

This question has been pondered ever since man decided that getting eaten by sabertooth tigers and killing mammoths with spears was a bad idea. Since the very beginning of critical thought, the idea of the point of our existence as a species has been wondered. And so I ask. Why are we here? Why is this species of ape on this tiny celestial body, slowly poisoning it with their inventions and such? In the grand scope of the entire universe, we're insignificant. So why are we here?

There is no "point" to our existence, strictly speaking. The evolution of neanderthals into what we are today has no specific purpose in the grand scheme of things. The universe and its natural laws didn't direct our evolution so that some day we might accomplish some grand feat. God doesn't exist and he doesn't love all of us unconditionally, as much as we would love to believe that. To the universe, the millions of years lifeforms have been wandering the earth have just been "chillin." Another million years will pass, our species will go extinct, life will begin anew, evolve again, and maybe give way to another species capable of abstract and critical thought.

The religious believe that the point of our existence is to live a full life, die sinless, and go to heaven. And while that's certainly, the least I could say about it is that it is an ideal. The worst I could say about it is that it's a load of idealistic bullshit that's stupid to abide by. So what do I believe?

The belief that you can nail life to one, single, all-encompassing purpose is also a load of bullshit. This is going to sound like relativist propaganda (which I'm sure a few of you are a fan of ;)), but life is simply what you make of it, to borrow an extremely cliched term. You make your own purpose in this universe, and the bigger picture, the framework in which you create this doesn't matter, because none of it affects you, or will affect you. Effectively, you're purposeless once you're born into this world. But as you grow up and mature, learn about the world, about culture, about society, you'll have a clearer picture of what makes you happy. And then you base your life, your purpose on that which makes you happy.

The argument that life's purpose simply is to be one with God is valid to the religious. If you base your whole life around an abstract ideal, once you die, you die happy. That's fine. But have you ever truly lived for yourself? You lived for your beliefs, sure, but does that really qualify? Have you done what made you happy? Do the things you wanted to do? Bring meaning to your own life? I don't know. I'm not religious.

What's the point of life? Why are we here? You ask a hundred different people that question and you might get a hundred different answers. The purpose of our lives is to make our own purpose, whether it's through religion, education, or what have you. We're not here to change the way the universe works (although those scientists at CERN might be), we're here to make ourselves happy. Life is a lot brighter that way.