Across thousands of years, great philosophers have come and gone, and still no one has truly grasped the essence of the world or what truth is. Objectively speaking, truth doesn’t exist — if it did, we would have stopped asking what the meaning of life is long ago, because the question would already be settled. Subjectively, though, it does. I believe many people carry a theory of their own for making sense of the world, and they go on believing it for a very, very long time.
So the real nature of thinking is not to hunt for objective truth — the universe holds no such thing. It is to find an explanation of the world that makes you more at one with yourself, and to help you face, with composure, that heaviest of subjects: death.
The world holds many different religions, each insisting it alone is right, and no consensus is ever reached. But recall what I said about the nature of thinking. Philosophy is a way of thinking; so is religion. As long as a way of thinking comes at no one else’s expense, teaches people to be good, and lets us stand calm before the world’s absurdity and unpredictability, then it is a right one. And there isn’t just one such way of thinking — there are hundreds, thousands.
Good philosophical systems and religious traditions are beyond counting. You only need to find one that can convince you — and then live by it, letting knowledge and action become one.
So life has no meaning. The meaning of life lies in searching for meaning — and the search is yours alone to make.
Beijing