Good post, Cantab.
I think a problem also exists with our desperate need to rationalize the world around us in a favorable way. The whole concept of a loving God having given us dominion over the entire universe after making us in his godly image is pretty self-flattering and tends to give us a value on ourselves that far exceeds a realistic measure of our worth. It's because of this sentiment, along with our own natural selfish natures, that we hold the opinion that there must be an answer.
That being said, there are those of us who are rational. To confirm the above, I can suggest a rationalities that would show that there likely isn't some meaning to life:
It's not universally known, observable or even constant.
If you ask any two people, other than say two identical crazies from some wing-nut hardcore church perhaps, you'll get two different answers. Of course, I think we all know what those two identical wing-nuts would say the purpose of life is. The answer we are looking for is not observable. We do not live in a universe where answers are inherently unobservable except where skewed by our perception (see: metaphysics) and given enough time, we will be able to find answers to any answerable question. Kind of like a God of the gaps mentality but replaced with "the answer to this stupid question" of the gaps mentality. Finally, if you were to ask an impoverished person from Ethiopia this question and then ask some gigantic fatass playing WoW in Texas, you'd get two amazingly different answers. Why could all of this be? Perception.
I think a problem also exists with our desperate need to rationalize the world around us in a favorable way. The whole concept of a loving God having given us dominion over the entire universe after making us in his godly image is pretty self-flattering and tends to give us a value on ourselves that far exceeds a realistic measure of our worth. It's because of this sentiment, along with our own natural selfish natures, that we hold the opinion that there must be an answer.
That being said, there are those of us who are rational. To confirm the above, I can suggest a rationalities that would show that there likely isn't some meaning to life:
It's not universally known, observable or even constant.
If you ask any two people, other than say two identical crazies from some wing-nut hardcore church perhaps, you'll get two different answers. Of course, I think we all know what those two identical wing-nuts would say the purpose of life is. The answer we are looking for is not observable. We do not live in a universe where answers are inherently unobservable except where skewed by our perception (see: metaphysics) and given enough time, we will be able to find answers to any answerable question. Kind of like a God of the gaps mentality but replaced with "the answer to this stupid question" of the gaps mentality. Finally, if you were to ask an impoverished person from Ethiopia this question and then ask some gigantic fatass playing WoW in Texas, you'd get two amazingly different answers. Why could all of this be? Perception.