> "In order to have a happy, meaningful life, you have to contribute to people who accept you and have those efforts reciprocated."
I'd say finding meaning is broader than that. "Life is what you make it" rings true for me. It's possible to live a fulfilling life as a hermit if that's what you prefer, it's not always about finding meaning through relationships with other humans.
Unless you are projecting your own subjective mental map onto others which is what parent did with his proclamations.
His definition of meaning is a popular one that stems mostly from "consensus reality" but it, as you and virmundi point out, is far from objective. In fact, the work of John C. Lilly [among others] teaches us that there is no objective reality of any sort and that the human mental map is programmable.
We can learn to shift and radically alter the way we view the world and therefore the reality we experience, and thus create and project our own meaning, which is no longer immutable but ever-shifting.
In philosophical terms, this is very similar to Nietzche's concept of the Übermensch. Alas, I feel that collectively, we have a long way to go until "consensus" catches up.
I'd say finding meaning is broader than that. "Life is what you make it" rings true for me. It's possible to live a fulfilling life as a hermit if that's what you prefer, it's not always about finding meaning through relationships with other humans.