Excellent reflections, thank you. I appreciate your perspective, and your openness to learn from other places and cultures. I think this is the best way to try to understand "the meaning of life," because it is different everywhere.

Your post reminded me of the idea, "you can't be happy if you are searching for happiness." Personally, though this idea resonates with me, I am also attracted to the search, even if it's impossible.

I studied philosophy too, and I came to look at the question "what is the meaning of life," as an ill-formed question. In English, it seems like it makes sense... but is life the kind of thing that has something called "the meaning?" I don't think so, I think it's a trick of language to even think that sentence makes sense.

With the hypotheticals you ask, I would pose more, even further culturally from the Westernized world, to expand one's view... What if you are a Buddhist in the Himalayas? Indigenous, living in a tribe in the Amazon? Etc. etc.