that life just has no meaning.

Two reasons are often given for this.

The first has to do with religion.

Once upon a time, so the story goes, life had a clear meaning given to us by God;

it was about worshiping him,

but as religious belief has declined, not only has God supposedly died,

but along with him, the meaning he once guaranteed.

Modern science is the second course at the current crisis of meaning. Scientists tell us that

life

which emerged from a random interplay of chemicals and gases

does have a meaning but it's of a rather bleak, relentless, and narrow sort.

For humans as for all other living things like amoeba

the meaning of life is survival and the propagation of one's genetic material

It sounds very true and at the same time distinctly futile and melancholy.

Here we want to argue as follows: to wonder about the meaning of life

is an extremely important activity, life does have substantial meaning

And there are in fact a range of practical steps we can take

to ensure we end up leading lives of maximal meaningfulness.

We should stop by saying that there is no meaning in life

outside of that which we can find by ourselves as a species

there isn't any kind of objective meaning written in the stars

in a holy book or in sequences of DNA. What seems to prompt people to complain

that life lacks meaning

are particular varieties of unhappiness. Let's consider some central examples

you're in a relationship but the intensity you experienced at the start

is long gone

you don't seem to talk about anything important anymore or share vulnerable

feelings and ideas.

It feels, as you put it, meaningless or else you're single and though you have

many friends

every time you see them the conversation seems shallow and trivial

or you're at University studying for a degree. You signed up for the course

in part because you often feel confused about who you are and what you want

you thought that reading books and going to lectures would shine a light on things,

but the topics of Darwin disconnected from your confusion.

You complained that it feels meaningless.

Or you're working in a large profitable company

and earning a decent sum every week, but the work doesn't seem in the grandeur scheme

important by which you mean two things: that you don't seem to be making any

great difference to anyone's life

and also that there's no profound part of you that you're able to bring to or

incorporate in your work;

it might as well be done by robots. From these strands

we can start to extrapolate a theory of meaning.

Meaning is to be found in three activities in particular

Communication; Understanding and Service

Let's look at communication first. We are, by nature

isolated creatures and it appears that some of our most meaningful moments

are to do with instances of connection, with the lover for example

when we reveal our intimate physical and psychological selves

when we form friendships with substantial truths about our respective

lives can be shared

all on a journey to a new country when we strike up a conversation with a

stranger

and feel a thrilling sense of victory over linguistic and cultural barriers

then there's the meaning that emerges via understanding

this is about the pleasure that can be felt whenever we correct confusion and

puzzlement about ourselves or the world

we might be scientific researchers or economists

poets or patients in psychotherapy. The pleasure of our activities

stems from a common ability to map and make sense of what was once

painfully unfamiliar and strange

Thirdly, there is service, one of the most meaningful things we can do

is to serve other people, to try to improve their lives

either by alleviating sources of suffering

or else by generating new sources of pleasure

that includes medical professionals but also people who bake cakes, write songs

or dance for a living

we're often told to think of ourselves as inherently selfish

but some of the most meaningful moments come when we can transcend our egos

and put ourselves at the service of others or the planet

one should add that in order for service to feel meaningful

it has to be in sync with our own native sincere interests

it's a case of knowing enough about ourselves to find a particular path to service.

Armed with such ideas, we can move towards defining nothing less

than the meaning of life. The meaning of life is to pursue human flourishing

through communication, understanding and service.

We may not have meaningful lives yet but it's central to affirm

that the concept of a meaningful life is eminently plausible

and that it comprises elements that can be clearly named

and gradually fought for.