"Whose diary is this?"
Noa picked up an old book. In a corner of the library, under a forgotten shelf.
Simon peered at it. "Should we open it?"
"...Is that okay?"
"Necessary to find the owner."
Noa turned the pages. Careful handwriting. The date was twenty years ago.
"'Today was another meaningless day.'" Noa read.
"A meaningless day." Simon repeated. "Did this person fail to find meaning, or was there no meaning?"
"Aren't they the same?"
"Very different. Does meaning exist externally, or is it created internally?"
Noa thought. "A philosophical question."
"The conflict between existentialism and essentialism." Simon explained. "Plato thought meaning exists in an eternal world. The theory of Forms."
"Meaning is something to discover?"
"Yes. But Sartre opposed this. He said meaning is what humans create."
Noa looked at the diary. "Which did this person believe?"
"Let's look at the next page."
"'I search for meaning but can't find it. But I can't give up.'"
Simon nodded. "They're searching for meaning. They might believe it exists externally."
"But can't find it."
"That's human suffering." Noa said quietly. "Seeking meaning but not finding it."
"Why can't they find it?"
"Maybe because they're looking in the wrong place."
Simon showed interest. "What do you mean?"
"Meaning isn't external. It's internal. No, it's in the relationship between self and world."
"Relationship?"
Noa turned a page. "'Today, I saw a flower. It was beautiful. For a moment, I felt the meaning of being alive.'"
"A change." Simon noticed. "They found meaning."
"Found it, or created it?" Noa asked.
"Does the beauty of a flower exist objectively?"
"Difficult." Noa thought. "The flower itself exists. But beauty is created by the observer's mind."
"Then isn't meaning the same?"
"The world exists. But meaning is generated by those who engage with it."
Simon smiled. "A beautiful answer."
Noa continued reading. "'I thought meaning was something to find. But no. Meaning is something to create.'"
"They reached the same conclusion."
"But," Noa stopped, "then is all meaning subjective?"
"Good question." Simon became serious. "Complete subjectivism has problems. Then anything could be justified."
"So there is objective meaning?"
"Intersubjectivity." Simon proposed. "Meaning is created individually, but verified through dialogue with others."
"Dialogue?"
"You say 'this is beautiful.' I agree. There, meaning is shared and reinforced."
Noa understood. "Meaning is created, but not completed alone."
"Yes. In relationships with others, meaning becomes certain."
Noa opened the last page of the diary. "'To whoever reads this diary. If you are reading this, my life had meaning.'"
Simon was moved. "They understood."
"Understood what?"
"Meaning also exists in relationships with future others."
Noa's eyes moistened. "By us reading this, meaning was born in this diary."
"The reverse." Simon corrected. "By this diary being written, meaning was born in your encounter."
"Both are correct."
"Yes. Meaning transcends time."
Noa closed the diary. "Is meaning found or created?"
"The answer?"
"Both." Noa smiled. "By finding, we create. By creating, we find."
Simon nodded. "A truth beyond contradiction."
The two carefully took the diary to deliver it to the librarian. Meaning connects past, present, and future. And it connects people to people.