Judging by your repeated references to meaning and purpose, I kind of get the impression that you are looking for some type of profound answer that would either reinforce some type of conviction you hold or give you a justification to abandon a conviction you might believe to be true but find distasteful.
It is an interesting topic to discuss and there are plenty of ideas to share, but many people approach such a subjective topic as if it were some sort of philosophical riddle that can be unlocked either individually or through the sheer force of collective reasoning via some majority vote. Unfortunately, there is no objective or group standard that will solve the riddle for you unless you adhere to a dogmatic system of thought where such profound questions have already been assigned an answer.
IMO, it would be more insightful to look at your current convictions and ask the following questions:
-- What principles underlay your notions of purpose and meaning?
-- How did you arrive at these notions?
-- Were these principles given to you or did you arrive at them through introspection and reflection?
-- Do you trust these notions, not just emotionally or 'from the gut', but intellectually as well?
These might seem like trivial or meaningless questions, but I believe anyone stands to learn a lot about themselves by simply giving honest answers to these questions.
Regarding Nietzsche, he is very 'old-school' on the Existentialist scene and really made the error of concluding Nihilism is the inevitable result of a world without God.
A world without a personal God leads to nihilism only if there is nothing to take its place when God disappears. If your eggs are all in one basket and the basket is suddenly emptied, of course despair and angst are the only things left -- that is, of course, unless you realize that all along there was bound to be something else to fill the basket back up.
As an Agnostic who does not believe in a personal deity or afterlife, I often get perplexed stares from friends or relatives. They are likely to ask things like, "What's the point?", "If we just die then why not jump off a cliff?" -- things like that. It is as if in a world without a personal God, the result will be a loss of humanity -- we will suddenly stop being human and will no longer think, feel, dream, wonder, desire, laugh, and cry like we did in the past.
This is kind of like walking into a movie theatre and declaring, "Why bother? The movie you are watching is absurd. This production has no absolute meaning whatsoever and will come to an end. You will find just as much meaning or purpose by sitting at home staring at the ceiling. You are totally wasting your time. Just go home, kick your dog, and then roll over and die."
A riot will ensue with an angry mob proceeding to smash the seats apart, burn the theatre to the ground and then run into the streets declaring, "The projectionist is dead and we have killed him !"
I doubt too many people are contemplating the finitude of the production or its total lack of objective purpose. They are finding their meaning in the moment and not letting it be defined by the future.
IMO, it is the irrational belief that holds Nihilism is the only alternative to God that keeps a personal deity alive and well. God is far from dead.
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