It remains possible, despite claims to the contrary, to achieve meaning and purpose on ontological ground. While it is the argument of the existentialist that meaning and purpose do not exist due to the notion that there remains no perfect and godly consciousness in which to spawn objective dispersal of such things, it can be witnessed ultimately that both purpose and meaning remain innately human constructs which may be divorced from ecclesiastical considerations. Furthermore, it is the somewhat flawed argument of the existentialist that lays claim to the idea that human existence precedes essence and purpose, which upon further examination, will prove to be an erroneous notion.
Most simply, it can be stated that purpose and meaning in human life exist in relation to social function and participation, particularly in the attribution of a social role to the individual. Within the network of human creation, this ascribed role provides meaning, value, and purpose within the framework of an organized formation that may exhibit manifold goals as its ends. A man who works as a firefighter maintains the purpose of being one who fights fires, just as the baker is one who bakes bread, thus showing that social roles ascribe features to humanity which the existentialist doubts exist.
Moreover, it can be argued that in terms of solipsism, that we alone create value, meaning, and purpose for ourselves within the context of our day to day lives. The truth, invariably, is what we carry with us, and exists in a relationship to our unique experiences that is crafted by us alone. The same is true of our individual constructions of meaning and purpose, which are rooted in our convictions, whims, and follies, and may be said to feature properties as analogously distinct as our physical features. While it may be evidenced that many individuals incorporate meanings and values that are not original creations but have rather been disseminated through tradition, conditioning, and education, it is ultimately the reactive choice of the individual to incorporate or discard these aspects of life, leading to the conclusion that subjective axiology is fashioned along the lines of solipsistic choice and discernment.
Indeed, existentialism errs is in its claim that unlike the technological props of mankind, whose purpose exists before creation, that human existence occurs before having a purpose. This claim can be shown to be false by the mere fact of human biology, all of which possesses clear functional purpose in terms of maintaining life. The human hearts function is to pump blood, it is the purpose of blood to carry oxygen, and it is the function of the lungs to intake oxygen. The roles of various facets of human biology act to deny the existential claim that existence precedes essence, if only in a strictly material sense. Yet, almost any human activity on a micro or macro level may be pointed to as an example indicating the value and purpose of human essence, particularly role or conviction-based behaviors. It may furthermore be explicated that human life is a purpose in itself, requiring no value beyond its fulfillment to serve as justification for its operation.
However, as a springboard, we may adopt the existential consideration that man is condemned to freedom, as this is evidenced by our solipsistic relation to rational and irrational choice, especially in terms of maintaining value and purpose. Man always harbors the capacity for free choice within the artifice of circumstance, a fact which people unfortunately have forgotten in the course of the reward-punishment conditioning proffered by the social nexus.
In order to achieve a break with the enforced and mediated aspects of purpose and meaning inherent in social role considerations, it may be advisable to cultivate conscious delusions. Beyond the fact that people achieve this within the course of everyday life for the purposes of diminishing cognitive dissonance, conscious cultivation of delusions create perhaps an undisclosed benefit in the sense of serving as tools which ultimately lend towards enhanced depth of meaning and value in life. Rather than view delusions as negative features of defunct mentalities, we can optimistically view their existence as constituting the art of essence and the literature of meaning.
Since we are indeed free to choose (and arguably free to react even to delusive intrusions), it is certainly preferable to lead a delusional life that cultivates aspects of meaning which are not readily obtained by positivist conceptions of reality that would regulate the world to remaining as bleak as a Monday morning. In terms of solipsistic considerations, it may be viewed as imperative that you adorn the story of your experience with ornate fictive qualities in order to reclaim your capacity for living amid stale social writs that have ultimately served constrictive roles in terms of supporting positivist pragmatism. An example of a delusion that transmutes thinking and existential role is the conception that reality exists as a veiled prison that we must admirably struggle against using art, humor, and love as our weapons. You can place yourself in the delusional role of underground resistance soldier, a job that requires considerable skill, secrecy, and bravery. It may be argued that the effects such an intentional delusion has on your sense of value and meaning will ultimately lead to enhanced quality of life.
In maintaining delusional relations to the world and incorrect thinking, we also affirm our solemn and unspoken right as existential experimenters to be wrong but beautiful, as contrary to academic conception, truth is not invariably linked to beauty, but beauty may also be linked inordinately to falsehood. If beautiful delusions are viewed as an aspect of human biology (as indeed, they are based in the brain) one can take the view that they ultimately may be esteemed as much as rational thinking, given that both reason and delusion purport the same basis of existence, namely the foundational structure of the mind. And in terms of value and purpose, the unapplied and immaterial products of the brain may be said to exhibit equality of meaning in their appearance as symptoms of an anatomical agent crafted in the essence of life itself.
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