there appears to me five possible scenarios:
A) there is no point, and we exist purely because of chance. the universe is so large there are enough chances to go around and eventually some sentient being appears to observe it. this is a version of the anthropic principle - it doesn't answer why the universe bothers to exist in the first place, but then again it is the same question as "who created god". we might posit that this is a circle and nothing ever began and nothing ever ends. but who drew the circle? hm...
B) there is some point, some higher force, but this is beyond human cognitive abilities, and we will simply never understand it, much like you can't really expect an ant to understand general relativity. we might be a tad closer, and a chimpanzee might be able to observe and learn to expect how newton's law works (maybe?), but the chimp is not going to be deriving equations any time too soon.
C) there is some point, some higher force, it is within human cognitive abilities to understand, but it is going to take a long time (maybe our brains need to evolve, we need to fuse with computers, etc). or perhaps some people already understand it but are unable to convey this to "normal" human beings.
D) the point is to simply exist. i.e., we have already figured it out, unsatisfactory such an answer as it maybe. whether we were "designed" or we existed based on pure luck does not matter.
D1) like a videogame designer designs its characters. they move and react accordingly in the game, there might not be any innate purpose other than the designer wanted to see what the characters would do.
D2) we exist as a random occurrence in the universe - thus we are supposed to live out our lives then become cosmic dust. so we are supposed to exist according to the laws of physics, and afterwards, convert to dust according to the laws of physics. sentience does not imply we should have a larger purpose than say, a rock.
this might not exactly satisfy our desire to be more important than a rock, but it is supposed to be the model answer. any other answers are simply extraneous constructs of our overactive mind.
E) religious texts provide the answer - to get in heaven/nirvana/equivalent final destination, where we find eternal peace and happiness.
yes, i do worry whether this is a waste of time and an exercise in futility (even this thought process itself), and most people have already covered this in philosophy 101.
but i suppose since i never took philosophy 101 (or at least i don't remember doing so), i will need to figure this out myself. when i come to dead-ends, then i'll either accept it and move on, or try to see if these really are dead-ends.
