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Why do we live?

There is no reason for life. However, the human mind is biased in the sense of always seeking a finality in things, to understand the world by inventing chains of consequences. It's mentally uncomfortable to tell yourself that there is no reason for life, but that's no reason to invent one.

Conversely, there is a freedom, and therefore a responsibility, in the way of leading one's life, all the greater the more one is privileged by providence in terms of personal gifts and favorable social situation.

The right question to ask is therefore not why am I living, but what am I doing with my life?
In Stoic terms, this can be expressed as: one does not choose one's fate, but one chooses how one faces it.

Social ambition is not a satisfactory answer

The most common mistake is not working out the question of what to do with one's life, and answering it by simply following our instinct of social ambition (see the question 'What is a human?'). The materialization of social success then generally takes the form of one or more of the three vain desires mentioned by Epicurus: Money, power and honors.
This actually works quite poorly, first of all because as Epicurus notes, these pleasures can never be satisfied: more is always needed. Then, their quest leads to not controlling the two negative instincts inherited from our genetics.
First, social ambition leads to intense practice of generalized nepotism, which induces social violence. Even a successful individual then lives in an environment of stress and frustration linked to the permanent threat inherent in the versatility of the game of alliances. This is what Buddhists warn about when they invite us to seek liberation from the ego.
Secondly, the social ambition associated with the vain desires of Epicurus leads to the intensification of the resolution of cognitive dissonance by lying to oneself, and the adoption without retreat of the beliefs of the social groups to which one seeks to belong. The result is a distance from reality, and blatant contradictions which gradually imprison the individual in denial and unease.

Go deeper

Refer to questions 'What is a human?', Then 'How to succeed in life?' And 'What do you have to do to be a good person?'