For instance, Wolf, the doyenne of the field, proposes the theory that ‘meaningfulness consists in active engagement in projects or activities of worth’. She recognises the threat of nihilism and accepts that her theory ‘would be utterly destroyed if it turned out there were no such things as projects or activities of worth at all’. Her response is

I had been enduring a crisis of meaning. I wanted to live a life that mattered, to do things that were valuable – and I was increasingly haunted by the suspicion that nothing really mattered, that everything was ultimately meaningless.

These fonts of meaning-making have a lot in common. They all transcend individual desires, they're oriented towards the interests of a group, and they're among the best ways to leave the world a better place than you found it. Relevant to our interests, they all demand a sacrifice of personal optionality on the altar of the collective good.