What is life?

What are we here on earth for?
I sometimes wonder aloud to myself whether everything I see here on earth is worth more that just its face value. Many of us stumble through life not knowing what we want or what the whole point of even existing is for. Some of us focus on our careers and families; some devote their whole life to religion, but many bum around in life, going in and out of jobs without much ambition at all. Most of them end up slogging through the most part of their lives for their families without giving a thought really to what their true calling in life is.
I really do admire monks sometimes. At least they have found what they wanted in life. They desire to serve something they believe in with all their heart, and they are willing to give up everything on Earth for what they believe in. How many of us can afford this luxury? All of us seems to have endless responsibilities and commitments to attend to. The amount of time we set aside to attend to out own needs, interests and beliefs is astonishingly small. How many of us can confess that we are doing something that we really love to do?
So what exactly are we here on Earth for? Is it mainly to slog, a prolonged punishment for something we did before...before whatever is before life? Or is life paradise in disguise, hidden away for only the enlightened few to find?