The meaning of life is whatever you say it is
When I was a kid, I used to ask any celebrity or hero that I met what their meaning of life was.
John Mayer said “comfort.” Howie Day told me “just be happy.” Matt Nathanson said “travel.” Physicist Michio Kaku said “you’re knocking down my cardboard cutout…” (I was, indeed, accidentally knocking down his cut out at a book signing)
In my adulthood, I realized that this was a silly practice. Just because these people were famous doesn’t mean they had the answer to the meaning of life. And, who’s to say they had given it much thought, anyway?
And who’s to say that it even matters what their meaning of life is? Perhaps the goal is to discover the meaning of life for one’s self.
Then again…
Maybe there is something to be gained from hearing what a physicist, or a musician, or a movie star believes is the meaning of life.
Maybe it will turn out that their meaning of life isn’t so different from everyone else’s.
Or maybe it is, and their interpretation of it is obfuscated by their fame or their eminence.
Either way, one thing is clear: all those years I spent searching for the answer to this question would’ve been better spent figuring it out for myself and believing my own experience.