curiosity and the enjoyment of creating things with my hands are the things that give me joy and purpose in my life

Does the universe have purpose. I do not think so. It simply is.

In my own life, I find meaning in relationships with people, in learning, and in comprehending and appreciating my relationship with events and my environment.

If the universe has purpose or not seems like a no-brainer to me...the universe just is, it exist....like air, it serves a purpose...but does not "have" a purpose.... as an individual, my purpose in life is have as much quality of life as I can. I think religion trys to destroy quality of life by instilling guilt and fear in order to propagate itself, simply seeking adherence...I have, at seventy-five years of age, made many super bad choises in life, just letting life push me first one way, then another. And so it was later in life before learning that it was up to me to control my choices....I did any way, but never quite took responsibility for them....that happens when some un-known enity is given control of your life. Well...I'm ramblling again. Thank you all ...my two-bit advice in life is......don't wait too late in life before taking responsibility for what you say, think, and do....good luck with your life.

I don't need meaning in my life I don't know even if that is a possibility as there are so many variables & I don't really care - I put one foot in front of the other - I am 70 and in my life the next thing has always arrived for me - I have had many many enjoyable moments and feel I have contributed enough to my society - people generally think I am O.K. I just enjoy the minutes and hours; I like being busy . I like going to bed tired after painting or cleaning washing making patchwork quilts doing washing for other people who cannot manage the machines gardening is my favourite plus feeding the birds . I have a friend with whom i drink coffee every morning and we do the pub quiz and the puzzles in the paper that I buy- She is great at geography and maths and I am hopeless at them but I am good at other bits - we laugh like drains - its enough No I don't think the universe has a purpose, but I may well be surprised one day. I think the biggest meaning of my life was having two brilliant children and five incredible grandchildren - Their show now!

Believers have to cope with an indifferent universe with no guarantees or special favors or privileges, just like the rest of us. It's just that they spend a lot of their life force concocting elaborate circumlocutions around the fact that their life unfolds exactly the same as if they were unbelievers.

The only difference between me and my former self was that I got tired of making excuses and admitted to myself that my lived experience was totally inconsistent with the Christian model of reality and I needed to find a better way to explain and predict my experiences. I eventually found it in critical / rational thinking, science and logic.

So it's Christians who have to experience the real "vacuum". And it sucks.

My life has all the purpose I require to get out of bed and put my pants on day after day. God is not only dead, he's overkill. I wrote some cool code today that captures and classifies email addresses and tomorrow I'll write some cool code to validate them in more detail and ping each address to see if it's alive or not. And I'll get paid good money for that work. I made my walking goal of 10,000 steps for the second day in a row, in perfect walking weather. I had a nice phone call with my oldest surviving brother, made some plans for my oldest grandson's visit next month, discussed whether it's time for a new washer and dryer with my wife, stayed inside my diet constraints without feeling too deprived, and remembered to take out the garbage. What more meaning do I need than that?

The problem most people have with meaning is they think it has to be some grandiose thing where they put up a statue of you in the town square when you die or its modern equivalent, you get fawning documentaries made about your life and work. Whereas by definition such things only happen to a few very extraordinary (and extraordinarily lucky) people. Tonight my wife and I watched such an opus about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and guess what, for all her accomplishments, her mother died of cancer before she graduated from high school, her husband nearly died of cancer early in their marriage, obliging her to nurse him, while going to law school and raising an infant only to find upon graduation that no one in all of New York City would hire her, simply because she was a woman; her husband later preceded her in death and she has had cancer herself twice since. What meaning is there in any of that chaotic shit? Not much. So that's the other side of the story, no one's life goes perfectly easy for them, and they have to find meaning in spite of that. And people do it every day, without relying on supernatural beings and empty promises of immortality and other forms of largesse and special treatment.

Not looking for meaning. Don't need a greater purpose.

It’s a really good question. As an atheist In my 40s, and having lived a life of mostly of extreme privilege (acknowledged for the most part) I found meaning in lofty philosophical readings and thoughts. When I had that easy going life, finding meaning in reading, art and music and some sex, drugs and rock and roll was a peach. Now I am older and have seen death close up and for real, I find no meaning in anything really. Just emptiness. I don’t want to live harder and faster just because there is no afterlife and no god. I just see the world a struggle and a pain. No fancy food, travels or nice experiences can change that reality is cruel, and nothing lasts forever. Sometimes I even envy people with their delusions of god. At least their belief gives them some kind of anchor or hope. Sorry to be miserable but being a grieving atheist is an extremely heavy burden.

So, if the purpose of this life is supposed to be to get to heaven, what is the purpose of heaven once you are there? Does life become meaningless once you are in heaven? Does heaven then leave a vacuum in your afterlife?

Observing nature and reading scientific research work.

The meaning I have found is knowing I'm free from the bs of religion/god. I have accepted that there is nothing after death and live life to the fullest.

Tis an interesting question to which many people will offer their opinion. Personally, I think that when I am engaged in some activity that provides an opportunity to learn and progress then I am doing something meaningful.. If you are looking for an answer to your question in some book then I think that you will inevitably be disappointed.

I do not find meaning. A person makes or creates their own meaning as they go along.

My feeling is that the universe does know I'm here. I am matter taking up space. I am consuming resources and ideas from around me and have produced not only my children, for example physically, but am also producing ideas and creations for others to consume in an emotional or intellectual sense. I am participating in the world as time goes forward.

The universe is made up of inanimate matter, solids, gases and the vacuum of space. From what I can tell, the movements of the celestial objects seem to be striving for a balance of sorts. Pressures create explosions, destruction becomes creation, bits of matter find each other get rounded into spinning balls from all that gravitational orbiting, and under the right conditions, at the right time, perhaps support life. Sometimes we can take some metaphorical comfort in recognizing ways to understand the nature of life.

Living creatures, from what I can see, have an innate predisposition to produce, grow, absorbing resources from around them, and then they themselves become a resource eventually in the circle of life.

As for meaning in human life, I think we all discover talents within ourselves that we can offer to the world, where ever there is a niche to be filled, whether it's manual labor, creative ideas, nurturing care, etc. We find a way to interact and play a part in the drama that is our web of life.

When we fail to be productive, we might ponder the reason we are here and fall into depression. We then only have to look back on what good we have done in this life and celebrate that, keep on doing what our talents allow, and if nothing else, create a happy secure place for those around us.

I find meaning in ethics, being as kind and respectful as I can toward others. This is what makes me happy.

I don't know that life has some great meaning. I make mine meaningful to me and that is all I can do.

My life has meaning because of the love I share. Everybody I have ever loved in any way will carry a piece of me with them wherever they go forever. Through my family and friends, my love will spread all around the entire world and maybe someday into space! I have added one amazing person to the world's population and helped raise him and his brother to be kind, thoughtful, respectful, and loving people. My pets have better lives for having lived with me. My plants thrive and eventually grow large enough to share clones with my plant loving friends. I try very hard to do no harm. I also try to live in this moment and enjoy and appreciate as much of my life as I can.

Everywhere. You just need to look.

I think the 'reason' we are here is to take care of the planet. I think we've failed.

none of that leaves a vacuum for me I understand your second paragraph very well and agree with you yet I find my life incredibly meaningful , fun and learning being uppermost. I think I have said this before -damn that short term memory! but life is what I choose to make it and I can choose to bitch about it and enjoy that or choose to do some really nice things that I will also enjoy- My motto - enjoy the moment i'm in. Of course there are hard times always lying in wait and if you have a history of 'enough' it is plenty buffering for the downsides.

I came across this quote a few months ago, it is attributed to Albert Camus; "The meaning of life is whatever I'm doing at the moment that keeps me from killing myself." I think that works for me.

No there is no fundamental purpose, we are just machines that our genes built so they are protected and multiplied, and they do it just because the ones that did could replicate, so it is a kind of random stuff.
BUT
We are intelligent, and we have conscience, so we can interact with the few meters around us, and have fun, pleasure, pain, sadness, desire.
For the universe it does not matter if you became a serial torturer and killer or a catholic saint, you are free to do it.
For the same evolutionary mechanism the societies that focused on a minimal level of cooperation worked and flourished, the civil rights era where we are now is the apex of that (and probably it will evolve more).
So the objective I choose for myself is primarily to live a good life and secondary, to live behind me a better world than I received, this includes improve my community, educate my kids (when I get some), Advance science etc.

1. no, it is not a good argument against "atheists". I have never, not once, had anyone use the "what about the meaning of it all" argument in a convincing way, so it is not good in that sense, and it fails all logical considerations, so it is not good in that sense either.

2. I do not belief there is "purpose" to life and the universe.

Where do I find meaning? In the dictionary, of course. ???

I don't agree. I have meaning. I work diligently to make the lives of others better. I find fulfillment in my work. I don't have to believe in an afterlife to find meaning in this one. I love life. I also love people. And yes I know there is one life to live and do try to make the most of every day. Just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean there is no meaning. I know my life is better because I have meaning and purpose.

Not knowing much or anything about God and not understanding who or what I am is baffling in the extreme. My only experience is through conscious awareness and I don’t understand that one bit. Hell, I don’t understand the concept of existence—according to modern physics theories there are no things, space comes in quanta, and time doesn’t exist.

After all is said and done, the implications of the mystery of existence are staggering in the extreme and valuable beyond value.