[Shoreleave]

Dostoevsky, Steinbeck, Shakespeare, and The Bible all have very thoughtful takes on these kind of questions. And that's just a start.

I've been in your situation before, and immersing myself in great works of art was probably the most useful thing I did.

[adv0r]

I admit I definitely need to do some more reading of those authors. Anything, in particular, you'd suggest to get me started?

[jp42]

You might want to read Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Small novel(~150pages) but very relevant to your question.