If we could just strip away all that is made out of thought (including memories, ideas, ideals, and beliefs) then we would see that this person we take ourselves to be does not actually exist. So what does exist? What remains? Few people are willing to find out, because it strikes at the core of what the egoic self is, and this self is dedicated to perpetuating, defending, and aggrandizing itself.

It is this sense of self, the egoic-self, that ascribes meaning to life. It also has invented God and religion. And it has psychologically fragmented itself away from nature and the environment — as well as other people. By doing this it has extricated itself from the ebb and flow of life. How valuable, then, is anything the self has to say about whether life has any purpose?

My contention is that ideas about life’s purpose are simply created by people who fear that life has no purpose. The idea that life has no purpose strikes at the heart of the egoic self and threatens its sense of security.