The article is devoted to the value dimension problem when searching for the meaning of life in the past and present. Considering the pedagogical aspect of the problem, the authors have carried out an analysis of existing life-purpose convictions, as well as the possibility of solving existential problems and crisis developments of the Russian social medium. The authors suggest ways to improve the state of Russian society, taking into account the peculiarities of personal development and value formation. Throughout human history, life has served as the highest universal value. Human gives life its own specific meaning, whereas the general meaning of life is to gain experience through the natural laws of the very life, or from absolute values being beyond life. At first glance, this approach seems correct; however, a detailed study reveals several shortcomings in this approach. In the pursuit of pleasure and profit, a person is transformed from a free implementer of his desires into a slave of his desires. Focusing on pleasure often ends up destroying the psyche and the body. It is worth noting that the consideration of a human as a means to achieve higher goals devalues human life. For the sake of absolute ideas, which are usually illusions, a human becomes subjected to religious or political fanaticism.