A meaning stylized cartoon.

“Some have described today’s young people as ‘the first generation to live after the death of God.’ Here we are searching from something beautiful, yet the whole source of beauty has been robbed from us. The amazing and romantic world around us is explained away as a freak of nature—our dearest friends are really only heaps of meaningless matter that evolved from a puddle of sludge. And love itself is but a chemical reaction inside our brains that takes place when our impulse to propagate the species kicks into gear. To be honest, if modern science is right and all that exists is nothing but the result of a great big bang, then I would be the first to say that you are crazy if you wait to indulge your desires. I mean, if you and the ‘love of your life’ are only heaps of meaningless matter, then hurry up and ignite the chemical reaction!”

“Atheistic existentialism, which I represent, is more consistent. It states that if god does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence—a being whose existence comes before its essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept of it. That being is man, or, as Heidegger put it, the human reality. What do we mean here by ‘existence precedes essence’? We mean that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself.”

“Where am I? Who am I? How did I come to be here? What is this thing called the world? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted? And if I am compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I want to see him.”