The Meaninglessness

# The Meaninglessness There are periods in life when everything feels a bit flat. You get up, do what you 'should', go to bed, and repeat. Even when nothing is really wrong, a restlessness can arise: *What's the point?* For some this appears as a quiet melancholy. For others it is a more intense experience of emptiness, agitation, or indifference. Meaninglessness is not only a philosophical topic. It is also a psychological matter, closely linked to motivation, depression, life choices, and belonging. And perhaps most importantly: it often arises in the tension between two things – the human need for meaning and the world's resistance to giving us a final answer. ## The Absurd: The conflict between our need and reality's silence The French philosopher Albert Camus described *the absurd* as a fundamental conflict: humans seek coherence, direction, and meaning, but meet a world that does not necessarily offer any clear, objective justification. We want to know what life 'means', but the universe does not answer. The absurd is therefore not about life being meaningless in a definitive, provable sense, but about the experience that arises when our inner longing for meaning meets outer ambiguity. At the deepest level we cannot know for certain whether the world is random and meaningless, or part of an order that carries meaning. Psychologically, it is precisely this uncertainty that can gnaw at us: we want guarantees, but life gives us choices. Camus's point is not to make us passive, but to point to an existential condition: many of us will experience periods when life feels 'absurd'. The question then becomes: what do we do about it? ## Sisyphus as a metaphor for modern life Camus uses the myth of Sisyphus as a powerful metaphor. Sisyphus is condemned to roll a stone up a hill only to see it roll down again—for all eternity. The image resonates because it resembles many people's everyday experiences: we work, tidy up, shop, answer emails, pay bills, try to keep afloat—and still it all comes back again. It is easy to think that meaning must involve lasting results: something that 'remains'. But large parts of life consist of tasks that do not produce a final monument. The dishes are never permanently done. The body needs food again. Children need care again. Work tasks come in new forms. Meaninglessness can arise when we begin to interpret repetition as proof that life has no value. Then Sisyphus can feel like a mirror. Camus's radical suggestion is to explore whether there is an attitude that can vitalize us despite the absurd. Not by pretending everything is meaningful, but by actively relating to it. ## Choice, freedom, and the fear of choosing wrongly A common psychological burden in the face of meaninglessness involves choice. Many people do not primarily experience a lack of options, but that they have too many—and that making the wrong choice feels fateful. The fear of choosing wrongly can create a particular kind of paralysis: - You postpone decisions. - You analyze yourself to pieces. - You switch courses before anything has a chance to grow. - You become passive, and the passivity is interpreted as the 'truth' about you: 'I don't care. I have no drive. I'm empty.' The problem is that passivity rarely produces meaning. Meaning often arises through action, commitment, and direction. That does not mean you must 'find yourself' before you start. Rather, you can discover yourself *in* the choices. A central idea here is that a sense of purpose often emerges in moments when we make active choices—even when circumstances are difficult. Choices create a sense of agency: 'I influence my life.' And that feeling is itself antidepressant for many. ## Routines: Order that both protects and dulls We develop routines to create order, meaning, and consistency in life—both individually and collectively. Routines can be mental hygiene: they relieve the brain, create stability, and provide security. At the same time, routines can become an existential 'sleeping pill' if life is reduced to execution without presence. Not because routines are wrong, but because routines can become empty if they are not tied to values or belonging. A typical sign that routines have shifted from support to wear is the feeling of living on autopilot. Then meaninglessness can come as a consequence of disconnection: - Disconnection from one's own values - Disconnection from relationships - Disconnection from the body - Disconnection from the experience of direction This is often a psychological warning: not necessarily that 'everything is wrong', but that something needs reorienting. ## Meaning as a psychological driving force Research and clinical experience point in the same direction: the experience of meaning is a powerful driver for mental health. Meaning contributes to persistence, better stress management, and a lower risk of depressive states. Professor of the psychology of religion and existential psychology Tatjana Schnell describes meaningfulness as a fundamental experience that life is: - coherent - significant - directed - and that one belongs somewhere This is useful because it clarifies that meaning is not just one thing. Some lack direction, others lack belonging, and some lack a sense of coherence in their life story. Professor of psychology Per Einar Binder has put it bluntly: many suicide notes describe human lives with a deep and tragic lack of experienced meaning. At the same time, the experience of meaning in life is linked to good mental health and reduced suicidality. This is important to say out loud: meaninglessness can be painful, and sometimes dangerous, not because it always leads to action, but because it can make life hard to carry. ## Suicidal thoughts and the need for a more nuanced language There is a wide range in what it can mean when someone has suicidal thoughts. Our culture needs a more nuanced language that can encompass this range. Sometimes such thoughts are about a philosophical or existential feeling: feeling like a speck in an infinite universe and wondering whether life matters at all. For some this is more a type of thought exploration than a concrete plan. Still, the state can open up for: - racing thoughts - palpitations - nervousness - restlessness - intrusive loneliness Especially if one believes they are alone with the thoughts. The point is not to trivialize, but to nuance. Having a thought is not the same as having an intention. At the same time, existential pain deserves to be taken seriously—because it affects the nervous system, relationships, and life unfolding. ## The existential philosophers and the human condition Existential philosophers like Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Heidegger have in different ways tried to describe the human condition: freedom, responsibility, anxiety, mortality, and the need to live a life that feels authentic. A common feature is that meaning is not understood as something we passively find finished, but as something we actively relate to. That is demanding, because freedom can also feel like a burden. You cannot always know in advance what is 'right'. You can only live yourself toward it. And precisely for that reason, responsibility becomes a key word: not responsibility as self-criticism, but as ownership of your own life. ## Viktor Frankl: Meaning under extreme conditions Viktor Frankl is an unavoidable reference point when we talk about meaning. He developed logotherapy, a direction in psychology based on the idea that the human will to meaning is a fundamental basic need. Frankl is particularly known for showing how people can find meaning even under extremely adverse conditions, including in concentration camps. His contribution is not a romanticization of suffering, but a sober psychological observation: when everything is taken from a person, there still remains a residue of freedom—the ability to relate to the situation, to choose an attitude, and to orient toward something experienced as valuable. That does not mean you can 'just choose to be positive.' It does mean that meaning is not dependent on perfect conditions. It can arise in responsibility, relational love, values, work, or in the way one bears what cannot be changed. ## Creating meaning in the trivial and the grand Meaning is not only found in great life projects. It can be created in the everyday: in care, in craft, in conversations, in showing up, in learning something, in being someone who endures. This is an important corrective to our era's ideal that a meaningful life must be spectacular. Many lose their footing because they believe meaning must feel like constant inspiration. But meaning can also be quiet. Often it is tied to something you do even when you don't 'feel like it', because it expresses who you want to be. When facing the meaningless, it can therefore be more helpful to ask: - *What will I stand for, even if I cannot prove it matters in the universe's grand account?* - *What gives me a sense of direction in the week ahead?* - *Who do I want to be in relation to others?* Such questions shift the focus from finding a final answer to living an answer forward. ## Meaninglessness, depression, and the attribution of value Meaninglessness can slide into depression, or be part of the depressive experience: loss of interest, hopelessness, low energy, and the feeling that nothing matters. An important therapeutic and psychological principle is that it is not always the events themselves that determine how we feel, but how we attribute value and meaning to them. This does not mean one can 'think oneself well.' But it does mean that our focus and interpretations affect motivation and zest for life. When we succeed in attributing value to experiences—even small actions—it can create new energy. It can be seeing the importance of preparing a meal, making a phone call, going for a walk, meeting someone with warmth. In isolation such things may seem insignificant. In sum they are often the building blocks of a coherent life. ## An attitude that can endure the absurd Camus poses an uncomfortable but liberating question: if life doesn't come with a ready-made meaning, can we still live with vitality? One possible path goes through three movements: 1. **Acknowledgement**: Recognizing that uncertainty and ambiguity are part of life. Many people are more exhausted fighting this than by the ambiguity itself. 2. **Responsibility**: Taking ownership of choices, even when choices cannot be guaranteed as 'right'. The alternative is often apathy. 3. **Creation**: Creating meaning through action, relationships, and values—not as an intellectual exercise, but as a lived practice. This is not a recipe for happiness. It is a way of standing in life that reduces the feeling of being a victim of meaninglessness. ## Conclusion: Meaning as a task, not an answer Even if life in the deepest sense may be meaningless in an objective or cosmic way, it is our task to take responsibility for creating and defining meaning in our own lives. It's not about winning a philosophical debate with the universe, but about living a life that feels coherent, significant, and oriented toward something. The meaningless can fall like a shadow over everyday life. But it can also be an invitation to wake up: to adjust course, to choose more actively, to connect with people and projects that matter. And perhaps this is precisely where Sisyphus gains a new dimension: not as a symbol of hopeless repetition, but as an image of the human ability to meet the inevitable with a form of inner freedom. To roll the stone, not because the universe promises a final reward, but because we can decide what the action is meant to express. Living meaningfully then becomes less about finding the great explanation—and more about making the small, concrete choices that make life feel lived from the inside. --- **Would you like to delve deeper into this topic?** This is a topic psychologist Sondre Risholm Liverød talks more about in the podcast episode of the same name. You can find the episode as part of the exercise material on [BeBalanced.ai](https://bebalanced.ai).