JV: when I'm talking about a meaning, I'm talking about what's called "meaning in life", not "the meaning of life".
Meaning in life are those factors that make people rate their life more meaningful worth leaving, and worth the suffering they have to endure.
It's a sense of connectedness, connectedness to yourself, to other people, to the world.
And a particular kind of connectedness - you want to be connected to things that have a value and existence that independent of your egocentric preferences and concerns.

The question that comes up for me, well, there's two questions.
One is why is that a risk right now?
Secondly, why is meaning is so important? why is this sense of connectedness is so important to human beings?
Why, when it is lacking, they typically fall into depression, potentially mental illness, addictions, self-destructive behaviour.



цикл лекций Джона Вервеки Awakening from the Meaning Crisis (50 лекций)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLND1JCRq8Vuh3f0P5qjrSdb5eC1ZfZwWJ