Maarten's list of the reasons for life

This is Maarten's (unnumbered) list of the reasons for life. This list is my no means complete, or finished. Any additional items (including description), supportive arguments and arguments against proposals can be sent to maarten_hofman@hotmail.com Any item that has no credits with it is either anonymous (I will leave out your Email address if you so desire) or made by me. My suggestion: just pick one at random each day. It will make your life a lot more interesting (however, I will not be held responsible for those that will actually do this). The order of the items in this list is the way they came up in my mind (though contributions are all at the end, in chronological order), which is entirely dependent on time and randomness. This list was last updated on the 2nd of April, 2007.

The reason for life is...

There is no life: It has been proven that we can think, but I doubt one can prove that one is alive. There are many aspects to this idea, which I will add to this item at a later time.
There is no reason: If you look at life in a positive way, see all the good things that life has to offer, and how it all interworks with bad things, you can see that it is very well possible to enjoy life while knowing it is only that, and it will end at some point. The end will just make the enjoyment even better.
To make babies: This is a bit difficult for males (therefore usually smaller or even absent, in many species), but with a few small redefinitions it applies. This reason only postpone the inevitable: for what is the reason for the life of babies? But don't all answers only lead to more questions?
To prove we have the right to progress: Life is just a testing phase, there is something somewhere that will look at the way you live your life, and in a next phase, the way you lived will be used to judge you.
Irrelevant: We have no free will, everything we do is the result of a function, of the two variables past and randomness.
To imagine: Our imaginations create worlds and lives of other people in other places, which wouldn't be there if we hadn't existed. These people are there for reasons that we imagine, and these reasons are more valid than those mentioned in this list. In these imaginary worlds all the people that have died in this world will live on ever after, as happy as our imagination will let them.
To bring progress to our society: Progress will eventually lead to the knowledge of the real reason of life, which is not mentioned in this list.
To find the reason of life: The first person to find the right reason for life will get a bonus life (of course, in this bonus life the reason will have changed).
Unimaginable: We are just tiny particles of a much bigger being that is troubling itself with the question of the reason of life. All we have to do is to live and do what we do, and eventually this bigger being figure it out.
42. Sorry, couldn't help it.
Mentioned in book X: In which X can be almost any book, but preferably Barry's Peter Pan, or Ende's Die Unendliche Geschichte (and yes, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is ok too). Maybe I should even mention Robert Wright's "The Moral Animal".
Not expressable in English: But possible in Bengali or COBOL. Sadly, this list is in English.
A question of proper Risk Management: Given a list of reasons, which has the best profit/risk ratio? How can I reduce the risk and keep the profit by covering alternatives? See, among other sources, Pascal.
Not in this list: But did I deliberately leave it off, or am I unaware of the real reason?
To do everything we can for being Y: In which Y can be one of a very limited set of beings, and excludes anyone who reads this list, except those that contributed to it and Dave (but even then...).
Unimportant: I first need to get proper food, clothes and a place to sleep. Or a possible list of many other things.
To play and work: Games and work don't give us just the ability to escape life, but also to elevate or degrate it to a different level.
To love: Don't you agree?
By Brion Carroll: ...to gain understanding in as many positive forms as possible through our direct experiences and to not hinder others from doing the same. This understanding is then brought home to enable the overall pool of understanding to be enriched. The final results of this spiritual pool is to enable God to have a partner worthy of its fellowship.
By Robert Pertuit: The shame is not in dying; the shame is not living before we die: To stay alive until something happens, or we figure out how to make something happen. As we progress, it takes decreasing less effort to stay alive, giving us more time to figure out how to make something happen. If it's good, we keep it, and become proportionally famous.
By Clair Cunningham: To Be Who We Are: We live for ourselves, for others, and possibly for God. We age, learn and grow from the experiences we've had bad, good, or unimaginable. Most importantly, to dream, to have urges, to imagine, to discover what it means to be human. Throughout our life we learn what it means to live and though we may never figure it out, the answer is there in front of us each and every day. We live because we are who we are and we accept life and know that we can change it. Remember, you are your own person NO MATTER your position and therefore if there are such reasons for living, then we do live as we dream, sleep, and play in work and at home.
By Clair Cunningham: To Live A Glorious Life: We all live glorious lives in each generation, for each person. They are special to each particular person, perhaps they hold no glamour for others. The most glamorous job to a person could be a janitor. To that person, the only thing that matters is living, breathing, and managing to continue these things. In living each and every day we lead glorious lives in suffering, thriving, defeat and victory.