What is the meaning of Life?

A simple question like this lies at the end, not the beginning, of our inquiry into giving value to mental and emotional effort.  On the surface, this question is merely a grammatical construction, called an interrogative sentence; the words themselves as signifiers are vague—what do we “mean” by “meaning”?  The written definition of “life” is three inches long in the dictionary.  Even the word “what” is open to interpretation.  To the religious inquirer, the question can be rephrased: “Why did God create life, and especially, human life?”  In Catechism, this questioned is stated: “Who made you? God made you.  Why did God make you? To love, honor, and obey Him.”  The philosopher who wants to address this question has to begin with the assumption that “essence precedes existence,” that there is a “plan” in which life has a vital part.  Scientists (anthropologists, physicists, physiologists) can define "life" and “explain” how life began, but not “why.”  The very word “why” presumes a plan with a cause-effect mechanism, a goal.  The Existentialist claims there is no such plan, that “existence precedes essence.”  On the human, day-to-day level, you give your own life “meaning” by entering the complex “hubbub” of human society with a thought-out (and felt-out) set of principles and goals and values.  “What is the meaning of Life?”  Give it a meaning, your meaning.