This means that the sacrifice of individuality eliminates any possibility that individual strength can be discovered or developed, and that the world itself might progress. Individuals whose life is without meaning hate themselves, for their weakness, and hate life, for making them weak. A meaningful event exists on the boundary between order and chaos. The pursuit of meaning exposes the individual to the unknown in gradual fashion, allowing him to develop strength and adaptive ability in proportion to the seriousness of his pursuit. It is during contact with the unknown that human power grows, individually and then historically.
Meaning is the subjective experience associated with that contact, in sufficient proportion.
The great religious myths state that continued pursuit of meaning, adopted voluntarily and without self-deception, will lead the individual to discover his identity with God. Abandonment of meaning, by contrast, reduces man to his mortal weaknesses. This makes him hate life, and work towards its elimination. Meaning is the most profound manifestation of instinct. The subjective sense of meaning is the instinct governing rate of contact with the unknown.