The Meaning of Life

"The Meaning of Life" is a strange phrase, and I for one find it difficult to pinpoint exactly what people mean when they use it. Maybe to ask what is the meaning of life is to ask
- What makes life feel worthwhile?
- What makes life enjoyable?
- What makes me feel like I am worthwhile?

But often it seems to go beyond these questions.

I remember once someone saying that there must be an afterlife, because otherwise, what's the point of life? Which is something similar to saying that there's no point in a holiday if it ever finishes. It's not exactly the same, because you can enjoy memories of a holiday after you go home, whereas you can't enjoy memories of life if you no longer exist. Other people can remember you, though, although one day they'll be gone too.

But I think it's possible that what that person meant, even if they weren't aware that they meant it, was, 'What's the point of the universe if I don't exist anymore?'
What's the point of a TV series if the protagonist has been killed off? Or a TV series if the TV has been switched off? We experience the world by existing, if we stop existing, what's the point of a universe that we can't experience? If a universe falls in a wood...yeah there's no way I can wrench that into a workable metaphor...

The irony of the question is that it arises out of the fact that our existence is important to us. So important that we reel from the idea that it can ever end, and we look for reasons to believe that it will persist. The yearning for the meaning of life comes from the fact that life already does have meaning - a meaning that goes beyond joy or satisfaction or a feeling of being worthwhile. We care that we exist. Life means something to us.