From a biological sense I think we are driven to ensure our genes get passed on, but at the same time evolution has no purpose or ultimate goal. I also don't believe that in the bigger picture the Universe has any ultimate purpose, it just is. As conscious beings it does seem some of us find purpose in helping others, some find purpose in the addictions our culture imposes on us, materialism, narcissism, entitlement, power. I'd like to think my purpose would be to become self-aware enough that I avoid any thoughts and actions that cause harm to others and the environment and to improve lives and conditions on the planet.

I tend to think that our 'purpose' in life is to ,make the most of the life we have, to use what we have in life to benefit others as well as ourselves to very best of our abilities and to leave this world in which we have lived in a better condition than we found it.
Sadly though, and most unfortunately it seems that there are so many who don't seem to share in this philosophy.

I get the greatest reward from doing work that helps other people.

At age 10, I lay on my stomach in the living room, watching President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural addresss. When he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," his words hit me in the center of my little chest.

I got a Master of Public Administration degree to direct nonprofit organizations.

Since 2006 as a volunteer college mentor, I have been helping low income, first generation students write essays for college and scholarship applications. One of my best success stories is Brenda, who won $269,445 in scholarships in 2016. Brenda is becoming a medical doctor and pathologist. She wants to cure diseases.

These kids have big dreams. Yulia, a Russian immigrant, is now an engineer at Puget Sound Shipyards. Other girls are becoming medical doctors, physical therapists, teachers and accountants. Tammy, a Vietnamese immigrant, is studying to be a neurosurgeon at the University of Washington.

It thrills me to send these kids to college.

1. I'm a rockstar! happy dance

2. In June 2018, I took three young women I previously mentored on a hike in Icicle Gorge. From left: Tammy (neurosurgery student), me, Elisabet (medical doctor/pediatrician student) and Teresa (accountant and community leader.)

I have a purpose in life. It is to make others happy, to sometimes ease their pain in whatever form it comes, without hurting myself.

Technically we are born to get laid (reproduce) and feed ourselves. All other constructs are from those imperatives.

There us no 'intrinsic purpose' but WE create OUR own purpose. And that's enough. Even if it don't matter in the grand scheme of things I still love my daughter very much and she adds purpose to my life amount other things. So fuck it if it isn't matter in the long run.

I have no purpose and I’m irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and I’m ok with that.

Meaning of life is survival and reproduction pretty simple

Our purpose is what we decide it to be probably because we are the only creature with an imagination. Is that our advantage and why we have proliferated? Other groups of the homo genus became extinct shortly after Homo sapiens arrived on the scene. Was it because they couldn't think outside the box? I believe our thoughts of intangible concepts and possibilities started us on a path of research - trial and error and an idea of what may be possible. We can actually invent a purpose separate from and in addition to just reproduction.

purpose implies an entity that conceives an intention (as in "it was meant to be!" -- a phrase that irks me because of its presumption of someone to do the meaning/intending). so there is the narrowest meaning of the question "what is our purpose in life" and that narrow meaning is individual; there is no one single purpose. my purpose may be to become an opera star and yours may be to attend a yankees game. then there is the slightly wider community purpose, and so on up the scale. when you get beyond conscious entities, be they individuals or groups, then you get to evolutionary purpose, which of course isn't an intention at all, just how things work, and that is to propagate one's respective species, and even to an extent to keep the world ecologically stable. these are not purposes of which there is someone aware and thinking "yeah that's what i should do." i am still unsure as to whether "purpose" is a good word for that, but i don't know another one (and i actually know a lot of words lol).

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There is no mystical purpose to our existence. You are master of your own destiny. Be that as it may.

We appear to have an inbuilt drive to pass on out genetic material. We have evolved to be social animals who used to hunt and gather for resources. At some point we began farming and new course of biological and sociological evolution has begun. Farming goes back at least 8000 years and settlements began and science grew from time to learn. Writing came from art and so on.
Now we look for purpose from life via paradigms of phenomenology depending upon what we think we know. As we learn, our paradigms change, where we fall into dogma, conflict of perceived purpose is bound to arise. Religions tend to produce dogmatic paradigms intent on holding power where it is. Thus, people like us get labeled as heretics and killed off.
As a sociologist, my task is to look for our collective purpose, but it seems to be a constantly moving target just out of sight. By the time we've found the trail, it's gone! Or some Post Modernist arsehole has made us look away for a moment.

‘Why’ is a very human word.

Life has no purpose other than to reproduce itself. We have to define our own purpose or give life its own meaning.

Ecologically we serve no purpose whatsoever.We are not beneficial to this planet or any of the other life forms on it

Cosmically speaking we have no purpose and are not necessary. It terms of evolution, the purpose of life is to live long enough to procreate. So, yes, beyond that, it is up to us to decide our own individual purpose in life; and, hopefully, most of us will choose one that is not completely self-centered.

My purpose in life is to teach Evangelicals who Jesus really was, and why he hates them.

“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”

Life is a condition. Something is alive or it is not. The only purpose in life is that which we choose to give it. We can build all sorts of philosophical underpinnings but in the final analysis, we decide what meaning our lives have.

Procreation just for some sense of self-worth is just selfish.
Some, however, would argue that 'art' is the only true purpose. But 'art' is just procreation without the 'pro'. Besides, art has no worth of it's own. It's only the appreciation for art that dictates the art's worth. The same is true of everything in life, from aardvarks to zebras. They're only worth what we're able to appreciate them for. 
    Thus, our purpose in life ought to be to strive to appreciate all of life whenever possible, because knowledge is only powerful to those who appreciate it, and knowledge is our most worthwhile asset in this world.

At the end of the day there might not be a grand purpose but we humans are talented at either assigning purpose or making one.

I don't have a clear definition in general of life purpose but I'm here living a life with direction to reach my goals.

Purpose??? Occupy space... For no reason whatsoever.

Absolutely correct.

We can have no purpose. That would require free will to carry out a purpose, but we have no free will.

We are a series of molecules interacting with the four fundemental forces (electromagnetism, gravity, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force).

What someone may see as carrying out a "purpose" is not willed, but a manifestation of the fundemental forces interacting, such as causing chemical reactions in your brain.

Even "finding a purpose" is a misnomer, as any such purpose is pre-dictated by previous experiences, which in themselves were simply the fundamental forces playing out.