The Purpose of Life

It's nearly obvious, I think now.  It took a moment's reflection to come up with this:

The Purpose of Life is to be part of it.

To take, and to give.

To enjoy, and to contribute to the the enjoyment of present and future living beings.

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Now, many schools of thought including nihilists, egoists, and conservatives generally (according to John K Galbraith, the conservate is engaging in man's oldest folly...finding the perfect justification for selfishness) have attempted to erase at least parts if not all of the "give" side of this.

On the other hand, people with much and varied experience have concluded that the give side is in fact the more important one.  We define ourselves in terms of what kind of contribution we make, for example.  The give side does inevitably live on forever, though our contribution to other people's lives, and thence what they do.

Sadly, the take side lives on forever as well, as our contribution to global warming, species destruction, etc.