It seems that we want to find meaning. Maybe not, but we certainly find patterns - like a child soon recognizes its mother's face - but meaning - is it our nature to find meaning? Maybe to understand is our nature - to understand how rain falls and forms rivers and oceans and evaporates and makes new clouds - that's understanding, but there's no meaning in it. It's a cycle that has no meaning. It's easy to see there's no meaning in that. People get born live, make children, die. That repeats. It's a cycle. It has no meaning. It's easy to see there's no meaning in that - or is it?

Things happen that we like and that we don't like. What especially gets our attention is what we don't like. I'm sure you see that. Now, notice that we are the result of what survives surviving. So it's understandable that we have a desire to survive. It's understandable that we see surviving as good and not surviving as bad. Here's part of what we can conclude from that: Since it's "what we don't like" that gets our attention and since we don't like "not surviving" it only makes sense that we would try to do something about it. That something is religion. Religion adds survival beyond death and also adds meaning to life.

Humans ask why and it seems that sometimes animals wonder why in a certain way. We can ask why in terms of cause (where it came from - understanding) or we can ask why in terms of destiny (where it is headed - meaning). Only humans ask why that second way. People respond with confusion to the idea that there is no meaning. They say, "Well, if there is no meaning to this, why do I do it?" There are so many answers. One is, "Well, stop!" Another is, "You were doing it before you thought there was meaning. First you did it, then you found meaning."

No meaning doesn't mean no joy or no pleasure. It doesn't mean we can't have purpose. It doesn't mean we can't set goals. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy life. It doesn't mean we can't celebrate.

To those of us who have believed in Jesus or gods or whatever religion for a long time, the idea that life is meaningless is very hard to take. It's upsetting, really bad news. We confuse lack of meaning with mortality. It just seems horrible, like life is going to end, not only when we die, but right in the instant we accept that there is no meaning. But, life doesn't end right now if it doesn't have meaning. What's more likely to end is confinement and fear. After years and years of thinking there's meaning and thinking you know what it is, it's hard to face "there is no meaning" - or "you don't know if there's meaning".

So, imagine there is no meaning and, when you first asked when you were a child, you were told, "There is no meaning."
"Well, why am I here?"
"There is no reason you're here."
"None?"
"No, there's no reason."

If at the same time, you lived with people who saw life as an opportunity and who made up joy of living, what would you think? You can be around joy and enthusiasm and, if you ask, "What is the meaning of it?", you can be told there is no meaning.
"Well, why do you have joy?"
"Because I want to. I could have misery. I could have despair. But, I choose to have joy. I like joy. It's more fun."

If you grew up surrounded by people like this, you would just grow up like that. You wouldn't be sad that there is no meaning. It wouldn't occur to you to be sad that there is no meaning to your life. It isn't sad that there is no meaning to a bird's life. Certainly the bird is not sad about that.

But even given that there is no meaning, people will take things on. One will decide to be a dancer and another will decide to take care of little animals. Maybe they will succeed or maybe not. Then they will be sad when they can't dance or when the little animals die. The thing they are working for is gone. Their purpose is gone. Their goal is unachievable. Their meaning is gone. The meaning they had added to their life is gone. It will be hard to let it go. But if they know that it was made up, then they can make up another one.

Now, if you've been told all your life that there is meaning, purpose, that there is a plan, a way it is and has to be, and then that gets taken away, now there is emptiness and meaninglessness as a burden, as tragedy. In your mind it was good that there was meaning and purpose and now that there is none, it's bad. You don't see it as life with no meaning. You see it as life with meaning taken away. You can't just see it as what is. You still have these absolute values.

Imagine a being who doesn't think there are absolute values. In our experience there are absolute values - pleasure is good, pain is bad. We experience those as absolute values. Can we keep in our mind, the idea that they are made up, that there's really no meaning, that it's really no different if we suffer, that pain and suffering is meaningless? Can we even begin to do that? We cannot do that because we are survival machines. We cannot be indifferent to pain or pleasure - of ourselves or of others. However, we can be aware in our clearest moments that there is no meaning, and that pain and suffering is meaningless as is pleasure. We can, in our quiet moments, be aware that we just have a preference. Once we know that, we can choose.

Meaninglessness does not mean people can't take on projects. It just means we can't glorify them, romanticize them, be quite so dramatic about it. We need to tell the truth - that we made it up.