"Life is meaningless and there is no inherent reason to live. So we look for meaning in all the wrong places."

I recently stumbled upon PhilosophyTube's video where he talks about how it's difficult to understand why the meaning of life is not something everybody talks about. Then he references Simone de Beauvoir's quote which I quoted above. At first glance I think there is a lot of truth to this. There are lots of things in the modern world that make it difficult to grow into happy and balanced adults, and the idea that life is meaningless and that there is no inherent reason to live is contrary to a lot of what we are taught. Therefore it can be very difficult to understand the meaning and purpose of life. <br><br>I would make the following three arguments though: <br>1) I think there is a reason to live. I think that reason is the same for everyone, and it is the only one. <br>2) The modern consumerist world we live in also makes it difficult to understand the meaning and purpose. What I mean by this is that there are lots of things advertised to us all the time about how they will help us find happiness. People also hand us various reasons to live which they think will make us happy. This can also make it difficult to understand what the meaning of life is. <br>3) Even if there was no reason to live, nobody is forcing us to live. People can choose to end their lives whenever they want. This is why some people call it a "social contract" rather than forcing people to live, because nobody is forced to live and nobody is forced to participate in society at all. Not only that, people are not forced to live how they want, so they can live their life as far away from society as they want. <br><br>This leads me to the conclusion that there are many competing groups claiming to know the meaning and purpose. There is the religious group, the consumerist group, the secular group, and many, many others. To say that life is meaningless and there is no inherent reason to live is to be part of one of these groups, and that group also has a method for finding happiness. Why should I join your group and believe what you believe?<br><br>I am a Christian and while I don't think you should believe what I believe simply because I do, I do think you should look into it and learn about it. Christianity does not ask you to follow a set of rules and behaviours that will give your life meaning and purpose. Rather, its not about anything that you do, but rather something that has been done. That's why there is nothing that you can do to find happiness. But I think you can find happiness if you look at the life, death and resurrection of God, Jesus Christ. <br><br>Edit: I know some people will be mad at me for bringing up God, but I am a Christian and it makes sense for me to view the world through that paradigm. I know that the title was more aimed at the secular community, and I view secularism as part of the modern consumerist problem as well. I wasn't trying to start a fight, but I do enjoy a respectful discussion so please attack my ideas and not me. :) <br><br>Edit 2: The amount of responses far exceeds my ability to respond to them. Thank you to everyone for engaging with my ideas. I will probably try to respond to some of the common ones that I see, but I encourage you all to engage with each other as well.