meaning of life vs meaning in life

maybe the question itself was the trap. there is no envelope hidden somewhere in the universe with the answer to the meaning of life inside it. modern analytic philosophers — susan wolf, thaddeus metz — increasingly distinguish between the meaning of life (a cosmic objective purpose, which we have basically given up on finding) and meaning in life (specific, local, subjective sources of significance). the first one was the wrong question. the second one is the only question.

meaning in life is everywhere. in the warmth of a hand. in finishing the song. in someone writing to say they cried to it on the train, in the kitchen, driving home. in the small acts of care that nobody is paying attention to.

camus ended his essay on sisyphus — the man condemned by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down — with the line: we must imagine sisyphus happy. this is not optimism. it is a refusal to let the gods set the terms. the boulder will always roll back down. the act of pushing it is the entire point. you do not need the rock to stay at the top to find the climb worth it.

every song is the boulder. you push it up the hill. it comes back down. you push it up again. somebody, somewhere, in some room you will never see, plays it once and it lands. that's the climb.

the boulder will always roll back down. the act of pushing it is the entire point.