People search for a meaning for everything, why should life itself be an exception. It is our inherent curiosity that makes us seek these answers, and our ambition and perseverance that leads us to the correct one eventually. +2

I kinda look at that statement from my childhood point of view. Everyone would ask me what I was going to do/be when I grew up. So that meant to me what am I meant to do with my life, what is the meaning of my life. Am I meant to be a pilot, will have have some meaning for me. Will it satisfy me in life. I babysit and the kids are always asking me "what's this or what's that" I guess we just never stopped asking the question when it came to life. What's life? why is life? How come?... Or what is the point of life if I must suffer so much in it. There has got to be a point otherwise why am I choosing to live and suffer. Not exactly what you are asking but my best answer.

Because no matter what answer they find they almost all ways are never satisfied with it and are all ways under the impression that there just has to be something more than the answers they already have because there is just something missing from their lives and they just don't know what it is so they turn to whom ever or what ever promises them the answer no matter how much it cost them or others in their search even IF that road leads them to murder suicide because they have been given the false impression that through this action they will get the answer and out side of the basic drives we all have the only real meaning our lives have is what we ourselves define it as ... > ~Nemo~

Just habit. Like Weezy said, we look for reasons and explanations everywhere, why not in life itself?

I search for the "meaning of life". I just think people err when they don't search for the answer within. Lots of people say life must have an inherent meaning, but they fail to prove it. I don't know why people are so adamant about finding a meaning to life external to themselves. It seems that many have a desire to have a meaning imposed upon their life. Perhaps it is easier to try to discover what already is and conform than to strike out on your own. Certainly, many have been indoctrinated into a meaning of life and don't know any other way. They have formed their beliefs about everything, the very nature of everything, around this assumption. It is very scary to let that go.

The alternative to this would be admitting your life is meaningless.

Because from the beginning of life people (parents and other adults) tell You what You should do and why. . When (if) You finally realize You're an adult and You don't have to listen to them, You start to wonder what is it that You are supposed to do INSTEAD of the things they wanted You to do. Cause somehow this lack of people telling You what to do can leave an emptiness and confusion inside. So You're starting to search for it. . You might define the meaning of life as a thing that You SHOULD do (or try to do), before dying then here it goes. You might also define it as being a part of a greater scheme. That the things You SHOULD do in life that will benefit this scheme, make it move forward. . should 1. Used to express obligation or duty. . Obligation or duty to WHOM? . You don't feel an obligation or duty to do what Your parents want anymore, so to WHOM You have an obligation or duty. Some would answer that to God. So they want to know from God what is their obligation or duty. So some might believe they are speaking to this God (through prayer or whatever other means) and that He gives them an obligation and duties. Others might believe that someone in the past spoke to God that gave all humanity obligations and duties that were passed on through generations in form of a religion. . Yet others might feel that whatever randomly happens to them in life is their meaning of life that God gave them through some form of destiny. . With atheists it's a bit different, because there is no God to give obligations and duties, yet somehow there seems to be an emptiness of leadership. Lack of a person to tell You what to do next. To tell You why are You doing all that stuff anyway. A conclusion that You live for no purpose and will one day die without any essential influence is kind of sad and cold. . I guess searching for a meaning of life is this method of coping with fear, the emptiness that was created when Your goals stopped being dictated by others. It is such a basic thing deeply inscribed into the brain of every person in childhood and youth that it's tough to shake it off. Cause in the beginning You depended on Your parents and adults to survive. Without them You would die. You didn't know what to do to keep Yourself alive and make progress in development. So maybe lack of "orders" is deeply associated with fear of death. . Maybe that's why.