Self-Definition

I don't have to search for meaning in my life. All I need to do is tell certain people:

• I don't find life to be meaningful
• I don't suffer from crippling depression

And they will stop at nothing to find the meaning in it all and force me to acknowledge it.

I know that it's something of a troll on my part, and therefore, I shouldn't do it, but I find it interesting the degree to which there are certain things that it is presumed must be true of all people. Personally, I'm dubious about meaning specifically because I've done a lot of reading on the topic, and find it somewhat broader than many people give it credit for. Not in the sense that some everyday activity counts as "meaning," and therefore everyone is necessarily finding it on a day-to-day basis, but in the sense that it can lead people to do negative things just as much as positive ones.

Many definitions of "meaning in life" that I've come across mention significance. And while people often point to things like helping others, or raising children as a way of being significant, a mass shooter who makes national or international headlines is often more significant. And it doesn't even take a mass casualty event... Luigi Mangione have certainly racked up a huge number of significance points, merely for being willing to ambush and kill a man that many people hadn't even heard of prior to the shooting, immediately rocketing to a level of fame, and sparking a national conversation, that surely rates highly enough to count as meaningful.

The fact that things like this are often swept under the rug speaks to the idea that meaning, even in a person's own life, isn't really something that they decide for themselves. Society seeks to retain a veto on whether or not a person's life is genuinely meaningful, in part, I think, to try to steer people towards socially-valuable activities in their pursuit.of meaning. I'm not sure that it's working, but I understand the logic being employed.