But it really is a pretty common question. There are a lot of folks out there who feel a deep-seated need to think that life has a "meaning." If not life in general, then their lives specifically.
Now, if you were to discuss this with a religious shaman of one sort or another, you'll get a far different answer than what I'm thinking. The thing is, giving meaning to life is a big part of their schtick, so they've been working on answers to give out to followers for centuries. If you've ever heard of this book called "The Purpose-Driven Life," you'll have one take on a Christian response to the question. Life is all about God, according to the author. Serve God by believing everything the Church tells you, and do everything you can to get others to believe along with you, and you'll be just peachy.
If you ask me, that's exactly what you'd expect to hear from a priest whose livelihood depends on making sure there's a steady stream of new believers coming in the door. It's exactly what the Jewish priests told their followers, and it's been going on every century since then without fail.
Perhaps my correspondent wrote to ask me because he already knew what a Christian would tell him. I know that this particular take on life's "meaning" sounds pretty darn weak to me.
So what did I tell him? I referred him to that compendium of wisdom that no one should be without: The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy.
I'll explain briefly. You may recall (if you've read the book or seen the movie) that part of the book carries a story of a race of hyper-intelligent beings who decided to build a super computer to logically calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. Unfortunately for these folks, after waiting through seven million years of computing, the answer they got was "42."
The meaning I took from this story is that asking such questions of ultimate meaning is at base an exercise in futility. Oh, you can come up with answers that seem to make sense, but examine them closely, and they become as useless and nonsensical as "42." You might as well give it up, because no one is going to do better.
My take on all this is that meaning is entirely subjective. In the end, all "meaning" anyone finds in their lives is a subjective choice, not something that exists universally and objectively. You want to know what we "mean" to the universe? Dwell on the fact that the universe has been around for about twelve to fifteen BILLION years without us. If we were to go extinct tomorrow, what difference do you think it would make to the universe?
So what if meaning is subjective? Find a meaning that works for you and get on with life. That was my advice to my correspondent, and to anyone else who is curious about what I might think.
, but I think we make our own meaning in life.