Sometimes seen as the ultimate question, the question of the purpose of life is something that nearly all humans think about at some point during their lives. Well, I have the answer.
First, it depends. It depends on what you believe in. If you believe in God or some other Supreme Being, the purpose of life is dictated by your beliefs in the nature of that being. If you don't believe, then the purpose of life is dictated by the nature of life in the universe.
Christianity (specifically, the mainstream modern "neo-Christianity" that subscribes to things like the Nicaean Creed) believes that God put humans on Earth to test them. The purpose of life is to prove yourself worthy of living with God forever. Most of neo-Christianity believes that this eternity consists entirely of singing praises to God forever. The purpose of life for the neo-Christian is to avoid eternal punishment in hell, so you can spend eternity singing and perhaps playing harps for God's personal enjoyment.
Islam has similar beliefs to neo-Christianity, except with a bit more flexibility in the afterlife. Islam claims that the righteous will receive rewards in this life, many of which are promised based on specific actions. Since some of the promised rewards are wealth, influence, and worldly honor, it is clear that part of the purpose of life as established by Allah is living a comfortable life in his service. After this life, the righteous Muslim is promised eighty thousand servants, seventy two wives (modern interpretation extends this to be husbands for women), and a house built of gems. Clearly, earning a comfortable after-life (that includes "carnal pleasures") is also part of the purpose of life for the devout Muslim. For the Muslim, the purpose of life is to avoid eternal punishment, so you can live comfortably in this life and for eternity.
Older oriental religions focus on living with your ancestors after this life. Living comfortably and honorably is the purpose of life. Honoring your ancestors is important, because family is the most important thing. The honor of the family is the honor of the individual. If an individual is dishonorable, the entire family is dishonored. The purpose of life is to bring honor to your family and to live comfortably doing so.
Some religions believe in reincarnation. Those religions typically believe in some kind of eternal progression. The quality of each life lived determines the starting point for the next. In Buddhism, the ultimate goal is enlightenment, which allows one to break the cycle of life and death and ascend to a higher state of being. This is done through meditation and conquering the ego. For Buddhists, the purpose of life is progression through learning and overcoming worldly desires, ultimately leading to enlightenment and ascension to a higher state of being.
For Mormons (a type of Christianity but not of neo-Christianity), the purpose of life is to realize Christ's commandment to become perfect like God. The end goal of life is to become like God. To do this, Mormon's believe that they have to prove themselves worthy (just like neo-Christian religions), but it goes one step further. Mormons believe that the purpose of life is learn to be like God. This includes things like learning to raise children and teach them about God. It also includes gaining specific knowledge. For Mormons, the purpose of life is to learn to be like God and prove themselves worthy of being like Him.
If you do not believe in God or some other kind of Supreme Being, life still has a purpose. Some say that the purpose of life is whatever you want it to be, but that is a lie. There is always something bigger than you that dictates the purpose of life. If it is not God, it is nature. Atheism offers what is perhaps the least individualistic purpose of life. The first and primary purpose of life is self propagation. Nature does not care about the individual, it cares about species, but only those species that can survive, and it cares about the system as a whole. Nature is about the collective. A species that does not contribute cannot survive. If there is no God, the purpose of life is to sustain and propagate life. For the individual, this means first, reproducing. If an individual cannot reproduce, then the second purpose is to help those with similar genetics to reproduce and survive. If there is no possible way the individual can contribute while alive, then the purpose of life is to die, to free up resources. The law of nature is survival of the fittest. Fitness is determined by how effectively an individual and a species can support and contribute to the system. Unless you can live forever (in which case, the purpose of your life is whatever you want it to be), the purpose of life if there is no God, is to contribute to the system by reproducing and by helping to ensure the survival of the rest of your species at any cost. Any self defined "purpose" beyond that will only be put up with by nature so long as it does not interfere with the real purpose of life.
Ultimately the purpose of life comes down to what you believe. If you choose not to believe anything, it is completely impersonal and utilitarian. If you do choose to believe in something, then the purpose of life will be what you believe it to be. If course, only one of those beliefs (or lack thereof) can actually be correct, so there is ultimately one true purpose of life and many false ones. That gets into the question of which religion is right, though, and that is outside the scope of this discussion.
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