Good show.
Many philosophers have asked this question. When pondering the meaning of life it’s only rational to consider that life might mean nothing at all.
I’m currently reading “a hitch hikers guide to the galaxy”. The sophistry of douglas adams often yields interesting things…
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
The wording of your question i also find interesting. In one sense you ask if “nothingness” is our “true reality”, as if we are somehow whole or complete before and after death (give or take a mataphor or two). But on the other hand if you say to yourself, the true reality of humans is “nothing” (something potentially similar to nothingness), we can construe a completely different meaning.
Is not nothing the absence of truth? (the absence of everything?)
Consider this. You are standing on top of a very high cliff holding a roundish small boulder. You throw it down the cliff and it begins it’s incredibly long decent, rolling and banging against the cliff side…
Now suppose on the surface of this plumitting boulder there was randomly formed tiny repeating patterns made up of a complex reaction of rock fragments. Then suppose that these patterns reproduced, became more sophisticated, and eventually there came to be a race of sentient rock based life forms on the surface of this plumitting boulder.
When this boulder hits the ground, these unique lifeforms are all obliterated, and never seen or heard of again.
Now, what is the meaning of life for one of these rock creatures? what is their true reality?
In my opinion, the existence and workings of all physical beings is a direct result of the physical workings of the universe. What i mean is that we are an expression of something. The something which all humans impatrially and imperfectly percieve; the external world.
The universe as it is; unbridled, and just plain, reality.
Now whatever ramifications you want to deduce based on the circumstances and series of events that lead to our creation, consider the boulder you threw off the cliff, and the little rock beings, and our potential similarities. Consider the significance of these rock beings to the world around them. Consider their significance to their creator.
In my personal opinion, humans are not nothing, but we are probably as close to nothing as it is possible to get, so our true reality isn’t all that helpful or great.
A lot of people forget to ask the most important question: what significance does life have to you.