What is the meaning of life?

I am not the first person to ask this question and I wont be the last.

According to Wikipedia...the meaning of life is an elusive concept that has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific and theological speculation.

One can go to Wilipedia and read the rest of the entry...it makes for interesting reading.

Over the last five years, I've spent a lot of time wondering about the same. Is there a reason to the existence that we eke out on this mortal plane? Is there an afterlife? Is there a higher power? And so on and so forth.

After a lot of contemplation, I ended up at exactly the same place where I started...with more questions than answers.

Sometimes I wonder at the tides of time rushing by all the denizens of this earth. Each and every act that we do, why do we do it? For what purpose?

Is there a way to truly find happiness? We took birth, took stumbling steps over our young years, which definitely are the best years of our life. Teenage years are mostly full of angst towards traditional modes of thought. Lo and behold, before we know it, we have finished half of our life and what have we achieved? The knowledge of one's mortality?

What is true happiness in the 21st century? Is it having a 8 digit bank balance? But as soon as we reach eight digits, we want nine...then ten and so on it goes.

Is true happiness having two square meals a day and a few metres of cloth around us to protect us from the elements and from prurient gazes?

Is true happiness getting a high paying job in a multinational corporation?

Or...is true happiness being content with oneself no matter what the situation is?

All of which boils down to what I asked in the title of this post.

My conclusion...there is no true meaning of life. Life is what you make of it. Everything you have done from the moment you were born brought you here today. Just make the most of what you do from now on.