Existence and consciousness: To understand the meaning of our lives you would need to understand existence and come to terms with why we exist. Next you would need to investigate consciousness because we all have it but it's hard to put into words what it is and how to tell at what point someone loses their consciousness. To come up with your own theory of existence will help guide you in what you want during your time on earth while also giving you more respect for those around you.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802748/
This website goes over Life and Consciousness in depth and references and compares philosophers and scientists behind some of these theories.
Identity and change: To find the meaning of life will help you form your identity and identify what needs to change in your lifestyle and the world around you. People value different things when it comes to what the meaning of ife is and what they want to have accomplished. This topic also steps on similar topics like how power and morals affect how society functions. Having an identity is a huge part in figuring out what you believe the meaning of life is and what you hope to change on this planet.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27598255/
This article focuses on how identity affects adolescents and their view of the meaning of life, taking into consideration gender, age, etc.
Objects and their properties: As far as we can prove, “nothing” does not exist. It’s a concept in our minds to visualize emptiness but there cannot be nothing. Nothing is something. Everything we know has a mass and is identifiable. Even in space, all the darkness is black matter and black energy and technically isn’t “nothing”.
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy This website is something I read last year about the dark matter and energy that makes up the universe.
https://theconversation.com/answering-the-biggest-question-of-all-why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing-65865#:~:text=Gottfried%20Wilhelm%20Leibniz.&text=Leibniz%20thought%20that%20the%20fact,is%20something%20rather%20than%20nothing.
This article talks about the philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s theory in why something exists as opposed to nothing. He believes a God wanted to make a universe and created one but that still doesn’t answer how the God was created and how he made something from nothing.
Space and time?: Time suggests change. For change to occur there has to be something that can change/evolve. Space and Time are two concepts tied closely with the idea of something instead of nothing because if something exists so does space and time but if nothing exists then technically neither do these concepts. That being said, time would still be going.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141106-why-does-anything-exist-at-all#:~:text=Quantum%20mechanics%20tells%20us%20that,instantaneously%20fade%20back%20into%20nothingness. This article goes into detail of how nothing, a.k.a empty space, does not exist due to quantum physics. It also uses an approach used by Stephen Hawking about time and space bubbles.
Necessity and possibility: The question of the existence of a God of multiple varies from person to person and from different cultures. I like to take into accountability the
billions of possibilities because anything could be true. Popular possibilities are, Christianism, atheism, belief in evolution, etc.
https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/21160/what-do-necessity-and-possibility-mean-in-aquinas-third-way-argument-for-the-ex
In researching this, I discovered Thomas Aquina’s five ways to demonstrate the existence of God. The third point/way focuses on the possibility and necessity of a God. It questions where we came from and how everything has to come from something and how there couldn’t of been nothing.
Religion and spirituality: When answering the question of an existence of God, it only makes sense to research different religions and spiritual beliefs because these topics are dedicated to believing in a higher power. Religion and spirituality heavily investigate the potential existence of a higher being (or multiple) that are responsible for our existence and many other things. There are also those who don’t believe in a set religion but instead prefer science and evolution because that makes sense to them. The question of a God is something everyone has questioned and has opinions of to help comfort them with the thought of dying and purpose to life.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190529-do-humans-have-a-religion-instinct
This article is actually super fascinating and looks into the psychology of humans and religion. This article kind of backs up my point that humans may be over thinking our existence and we might simply be here by chance.