> > There is, of course, also the distinct (albeit slightly depressing) possibility that the entire question "why?" is meaningless because the universe itself is meaningless.

> It may seem like I'm just trying to be cleverly quarrelsome, but I'm genuinely curious... what, precisely, do you mean by 'meaningless'? It (along with 'meaningful') is a word I hear people use over and over, and I never have any clear idea of what they mean by it.

I quote from "Webster's New World Collegiate Dictionary, Fourth Edition:"

meaningless: having no meaning; without significance or purpose; senseless.

I think that definition works nicely.

> I realize that my question is dangerously looped, so perhaps I should rephrase it: Describe to me a meaningless universe, and what that quality of 'meaninglessness' really entails.

In other words, it is a universe without a purpose. In such a universe, the question, "What is the meaning of life?" would be nonsense, because nothing would have any meaning. There would be no purpose for anything, and everything just was with no greater significance.

I'm thinking this might be easier to define in the negative. A universe with meaning would be one in which, for example, the Christian God existed and had a divine plan for all of reality. Under this plan the universe would have a purpose (though humans may not understand it) and everything would be moving toward some grand scheme. Every person's life would have meaning and significance within this plan.

A meaningless universe is simply a universe devoid of such a plan. Is that clear?

Ste "Not saying that the universe is either way" phen