C'est la vie?

It seems that this will be a very sporadic blog, and for that I apologize to the one loyal reader that I have acquired in my brief career as a blogger. (And I suppose I ought to apologize to any disloyal readers as well)
And now for the true matter at hand: I find myself, once again, in the throes of an existential mini-crisis as I grapple with (yes, you guessed it dear reader) the meaning of life. Puzzlement to men and women for centuries, the road I now trod down is, if nothing else, well-worn. In nearly every piece of art, literature, film, and even some of the most ridiculous of television shows, one can find the artifacts of a quest for meaning.
Last night, as I read the entertaining Stranger than Fiction, by Chuck Palahniuk, I suddenly found myself ambushed by one of Palahniuk's philosophical sermons. Anyone who is familiar with Fight Club or Choke can testify to his penchant for sneaking value-ladden commentaries into pages that are otherwise beguilely mundane. Admittedly, I should have seen this coming, as Palahniuk had just finished telling the story of a seance:
"Oh I'd love to believe in an invisible world. It would undermine all the suffering and pressure of the physical world. But it would also negate the value of the money I have in the bank, my decent house and all my hard work. All our problems and our blessings could be readily dismissed because they'd be no more real than plot events in a book or movie. An invisible, eternal world would render this world an illusion."
So there I sat, book of short-stories in hand, pitched unwillingly and unwittingly into a quagmire of meaning-unmade. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that an invisible spirit world does exist. I am unsure, however, if its existence renders this life meaningless. And if I take the logical leap to say that it does, what then, in the words of Creed, is this life for? If we are not to live for money, or fame, or hard work, or nice houses, or travel, or [insert your favorite hobby here] then what? What is this all really about?
Many people look to religion for the answer to this question. Whether it be Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, or Judiasm, it seems that according to religion, the purpose of this life is to achieve heaven, nirvana, salvation, or other form of entrance to eternity. But this takes us back to square one. If the true crux of existence lies in eternity, what purpose does this life serve?
Exhausted by this line of questioning, I temporairily retire from the quagmire. Nonetheless, the importance of the pursuit of answers calls me and I vow never to leave it untended for too long.