"I consciously choose the alternative that gives hope of purpose over the one that says it's all for nothing."

but it is not 'for nothing' once we look at it! We give meaning and value to the things in our universe. There are no objective values of 'beauty' or 'useful'; they are values WE give things. We climb a mountain "because it is there"...we appreciate Autumn leaves and watrefalls because they affect us. There is no reason to have 'meaning' to a universe without us to concoct meaning! The universe just **IS**.....and will **BE** long after we are scattered to the atoms we came from.