I've tried to talk about this notion of "meaning and purpose" many times. And the problem, for me, is that too many people seem to be looking for some meaning for their lives from somewhere outside themselves, as if somebody or something else could provide some meaning or purpose for their existence.
I completely concur with this. This is not just a religious tendency, but a human tendency, secular or religious. People look for happiness and meaning to their lives outside of themselves. "If only I find a good husband/wife, then I'll be happy". This seems something that few people in their lives only come to with a great deal of maturity and wisdom, that happiness, contentment, purpose, and meaning, come from within.
But here's my take on the role of religious faith in that context, and theism in general. As with all human beings, we learn to look outside ourselves for internal happiness. "God", is a symbol of that Ultimate meaning, truth, and peace for themselves to find through seeking the Divine.
I am a big believer in what others have said, such as Carl Jung, that God is an archetypal summit of one's own highest Consciousness, or the Self. With faith, in engaging that faith, there is a reaching beyond the small, separated egoic self, to that highest reach, and that has the effect of actually engaging that Self within the seeker themselves. Thus, it develops it and brings it into come level of awareness, even if not quite yet consciousnessly understood by the seeker. It exercises that "spirit" within themselves, and eventually, at some point, it begins to become recognized within the seeker themselves. "God without", becomes "God within".
In other words, the externalization of the Divine, is a device for the ego to seek, which engages the heart in the seeking, and builds that 'muscle' so to speak. Ultimately, it has to be realized within the person themselves, otherwise it's like a carrot on a stick that the donkey can never eat.
And that actually is a complaint I have about most forms of Christianity. They "kick Jesus upstairs", and tell the followers that that Peace comes after you die. They don't encourage them to look within. It's a rigged game that keeps the people coming back. But it should be like schooling instead, where you learn the basics, but then graduate at some point.
And what if there is none? How will we cope then? What if, as science seems to suggest, universes, elements, energy, stars, planets -- even life itself -- just happens? Is that life then not worth anything, because
somebody important didn't create it with a purpose? How would some unknown and unknowable purpose of some unknowable entity make your life richer?
I addressed this in another post which I think is one of my better efforts, if you'd care to read it:
Atheists and Agnostics: What gives your life meaning?
I just read the whole thing. Nicely written and thought out. Good points. Here's my take.
Young people need simplified ways to think about the bigger questions, in stories, in fictions, it parables, etc. Thinking of God in anthropomorphic terms is a device for the mind that still conceives of the transcendent in concrete-literal terms. In reality though, these are "like" or "as if" statements, metaphors, not literal descriptors. The Reality of the Universe, or Life, or Existence is beyond any comprehension of the mind. It is not possible for the mind to fathom the Infinite Unknown in answer boxes the mind can process.
Trying to find "the meaning of life" as a concrete answer, is a fool's errand of the mind. It's like the eye, trying to see the eye, using itself so see itself outside itself. But we can rest in the Unknown, however. And that is where Peace comes. In the simple state of being itself, without judgement as to what this means in order to satisfy the mind. We satisfy the heart instead, in rest. That comes with letting go. Letting go of seeking, and simply finding what already is.
It is finding what already is within us. Not our thoughts and ideas about things or ourselves, or the world, or purpose, or meaning, but just being in this vast Universe, alive. Everything is Radiant, and meaning arises in each moment, beyond description or comprehension. I would say if there is any purpose, it is Being itself. The rational mind is seeking to hold the mind of God, when it itself is only an eye, not the whole body.
It's nothing that can be explained, but it is something that can be understood by the soul, to use that word as a metaphor for the heart, or one's own being beyond the rational mind. How we talk about it, is all fingers pointing to that single bright moon.
Whether or not one sees value in religious symbolism to engage that higher consciousness archetypally, or they use some other form of spiritual exercise to move beyond the ego, the small separate self that sees truth and meaning existing outside themselves as some answer embedded somewhere out there in the universe, it ultimately has to be internalized, or Realized within the individual.
So "faith" in the religious sense, is about engaging that internal Self, whether understood as such or not, in service of self realization, or finding the ultimate purpose for their own being, which is as simple and as profound as simply to Be.