“Not being able to find meaning can be just as powerful as finding meaning.” —Bret Easton Ellis

That is a dangerous little sentence because it refuses to treat uncertainty as failure.

Finding meaning can steady a life, but not finding meaning can break the spell of inherited answers. It can free you from believing that every loss must teach a lesson, every wound must fit a grand design, or every strange afternoon must be dragged before the Supreme Court of Cosmic Purpose.

Sometimes the absence of meaning becomes a clearing. You stop asking, “What is this all for?” and begin asking, “What can I make from it?”

Meaninglessness can lead to despair, certainly. But it can also produce honesty, humor, art, rebellion, and compassion. If the universe has not written your instructions in the sky, then perhaps you are not a character trapped inside someone else’s script.

Perhaps you are holding the pen.

That is both terrifying and electric.