I found this essay by Irish philosopher and literary critic Galen Strawson  (DRB) grappling with ways to define the meaning of life, to be provocative. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, the central theme exploring what relationship there may be between meaning or purpose and “narrativity,” the sense that one can make a coherent story out of one’s life, intrigues me. As a psychiatrist, I find that the endeavor of psychotherapy very often — almost invariably — involves helping our patients make a coherent narrative of their experiences as a means of bearing or alleviating suffering. (see, for example, the work of psychoanalyst Donald Spence.) Recent understanding in neuroscience (e.g. this), coming at it from a different angle, provides some support for narrative and autobiographical memory as a basis for self-understanding and sense of identity. Whether such a story is ‘true’ depends on deeply nuanced and challenging questions about what such ‘truth’ is. Not at all self-evident or easy to establish. You will very often find these issues couched in terms of provocative discussions about a related issue, whether we have free will or agency. Much of psychotherapy has an explicit or implicit goal of expanding choice, autonomy, and responsibility. I think one must constantly struggle with whether those notions are well-founded.