Yes, hope and purpose are important. I like existentialism and cling hard to thought of being able to define that belief system myself and what purpose I have from it. That said as of late, after years I seem to be going through a bit of a dark night of the soul with that chosen system, to borrow more from religious terminology.

I guess one of the downsides of forming my own belief system versus religion is it's bedrock is just a wee bit younger and potentially less well formed as I've been learning. Back to the drawing board :P