It's all so clear to me now: People continually need things to do to have a
worthwhile life. People today are often dissatisfied with their lives for the
simple reason that they feel there is no activity worth doing. Sometimes
people just sit and think and feel frustrated because they really just don't
know what to do with themselves.
  For thousands of years, humans have strived to make life "better". Their
idea of a better life was an easier life. From the dawn of mankind, humans
have invented tools to make tasks easier, be they hand-held stones to make
killing prey easier or supercomputers to make math calculations easier. Our
advances in technology have been praised endlessly, for today we have so many
devices that can automatically do many tasks that formerly required great
effort. Yet in modern times it is sometimes observed that for all of our
advances in technology, humans seem to be afflicted with more stress than
ever. It's becoming increasingly apparent to me why: With all of their chores
increasingly being lifted off their shoulders, people are lacking for want of
anything to do. The developments that took away all of their responsibilities
also stripped them of all their identity. Yet the people themselves remain,
empty husks of humanity, lacking in any direction or purpose and keeping
their machines running so that, in turn, their physical bodies may be
sustained.
  Clearly, the purpose of life isn't just to prolong life. We're not here
just to breed like animals, so that we can produce offspring and maintain the
species. That may be part of our job, but the fact that we have been given
willpower to transcend our base instincts and intelligent thought to develop
new ideas suggests that there's something more to life than breeding. We are
also not born just to give rise to developments that make life easier: We
already have so many advancements that life has, in many cases, been made too
easy, turned into a robotic existence built around a set of pre-defined
functions that sustain physical life, but don't lend purpose to it. Life must
be about more than just functionality.
  It can all be summarized very simply: The purpose of life is to prolong
meaningful, happy life.
  You don't have to come up with a revolutionary invention or discovery to
have a good life. You don't need to change the entire world to be a good
person. You don't need to be rich. All you need is soul. And by "soul" I mean
a combination of love, enthusiasm, and earnestness.
  Pretty simple, right? Maybe that's why it was so hard to figure out.