on a life well lived and the nature of the universe

We look to the stars and marvel at the complexity and beauty of the universe. People look for religious significance there. Too many people lack the knowledge to visualise our place in this grand arena. People find comfort in gods. But our tendency to personify the higher existence we feel is a perception fitted onto a comfortably small pattern of recognition. Why look beyond the fact that our universe exists at all? Surely this is no less miraculous or profound. I feel the universe as the higher power, of which I am a part. That we are small compared to the whole is of no consequence. It is as far to the quantum lower bounds, as it is to furthest reaches of the known universe. The universe is relative. If size is important in a relative universe, then it is the average that is significant. We are born of stardust, on a middle aged planet, next to a middle aged star, in a middle age universe. I wonder what it means that the self-organising power of all matter and energy reaches it's blossoming of life and self awareness in apparent balance of age as well as chemistry?

We are, fundamentally a part of, and made of, the matter and energy that permeates the fabric of the universe. We are inseparable from the larger whole. If we are aware, then the universe is aware. We exist because we are the potential of the universe, and the universe thinks because we lend it our thoughts. Who we are, defines the consciousness of a universal existence, and so we each have a common share of the mind of the universe.
We tend to persist in living our daily lives in a narrow focus of self, and pine for the lack of universally consistent purpose. And yet, it is precisely the discordant potential of each of us which lends to the emergent intelligence of the universe.

In this perspective.. What is a life well lived?

I think that our true purpose is to reach our own potential, by staying as true to our own nature as possible. I do not take this to imply that there is no inherent purpose of existence. On the contrary, I take this to mean that our purpose is to give meaning to the existence of the universe.