As far as I can tell, Buddhists seek enlightenment. To understand how everything is interconnected and why that is. To not be attached in unhealthy ways to anything or anyone, and to love all living beings. 

Stoics seek to understand what they can control, what they can influence, and how to forget about everything else. So they can live virtuously. 

Absurdists seek to relish in the uncomfortable fact that 1) we all have an unquenchable thirst to know why we’re here and what all this means and 2) that we can never get the answers.  

Why do these people want these things?

I think it’s to have some peace of mind. To understand. And to be able to focus on the things we all know to be true. To be together. To tell stories, play games, to sing and dance, and to experience life. 

Since we’ve been humans, we’ve been sitting in circles and listening to stories. We’ve been watching performances by players on a stage of some sort. We’ve been playing games. And singing and dancing. Drawing on the walls and in the dirt. 

All cultures. Forever. 

This, to me, is the meaning of life. To be together. With each other as equals. Experiencing life. 

Leisure isn’t a thing you do when you don’t have anything else to do. It’s not the reward. It’s the reason we’re here. To “fart around” and play. To create and communicate and share ourselves with each other.