Finding meanin in the meaningless.

Walk out into the middle of your street, or out into your backyard, and look straight up. Look at all of the stars that litter the sky. Take this time to realize that all of these lights, even though they look no larger than the period at the end of this sentence, are immense clouds of gas that have been burning for hundreds of millions of years. That tiny little speck that you;re staring at is larger and older than the planet you're standing on and one day, it will burn out and exist no longer. But why does it matter? Why does anything matter. When you consider the scale of the universe, the enormous quantities of nothingness that exists out there, you have to realize that your own life means nothing. The reason for life does not exist far out in the heavens but rather, within yourself. You must create your own purpose. Your life means nothing to anyone but you and you must embrace this. What I'm saying isn't cynical and pessimistic. It's the key to your life. You have to take your life and fill it with the things you love, whether its religion, art, science, the herb, or the simple act of living. Those stars don't care what you do, and neither does the woman sleeping three houses down from you, nor the monk praying at the crack of dawn on some far way mountain peak. Take your time on this planet to appreciate everything that you can, including your own insignificance. Once you can realize that your actions really don't have a consequence in the universe, you can achieve true freedom and live your life to it's fullest.