system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What do people mean by meaning (of life)?

For example, someone might say "meaning is constructed" or "there is no inherit meaning in the universe". But what do they mean? What is "meaning"?
gpt
When something has meaning, it points to something else. Words have meaning. The word "water" points to liquid substance. Usually, when people say that their life has meaning, they want to say there is something for them to achieve which is beyond their life. There are multiple perspectives on this.

Theists believe that every individual exists for a very specific reason, that we are created in order to fulfill God's plan. Sometimes happens that a such person is unable to find their designated purpose, which is depressing - that may make them feel they are worthless, because they are unable to carry on the plan.

Existentialists believe that we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives. Hence, there is no inherent meaning in our existence, but we are capable to make a projection of a goal that is to be fulfilled at some time in the future, and therefore direct our everyday actions towards that.

Both these views share a common attribute: they say that the point of life will come later, if we discover and work for it. Hence life has meaning, ie it points to something else in the future.

Nihilism says that the life is meaningless and it is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence.

Then there is another view which appears to be similar to the nihilistic view, but not in a negative way. It says that lives do not have meaning in the sense that the point of it is not in the future but in the present, in other words the meaning of life is just to be alive. For example, we might say that dancing is meaningless because you do not dance in order to get to a particular point on the floor, but despite that it is a very enjoyable activity. So some people think life is like dancing - pointless but enjoyable activity.