“The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.” – H. P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft espoused a very grim outlook on the world early in life, and viewed that all things men do were essentially meaningless. This shines through in his writings, especially the Mythos. I feel that it is when Meaning itself is challenged or destroyed is when we feel horror. More to come on that thought. What do you think?
Horror Struck 
I would tend to agree with you. I don’t think that there is anyone out there who wants to conceive of the idea that their life really has no meaning. I think in part that is why we created religion. Religion gives us meaning, a sense of purpose and a hope for something beyond the here and now. But religion is just one faucet to the idea of our lives having meaning. To those who don’t believe that religion provides us with meaning then I would assume that it is found in other ways, like building up or caring for our fellow man or the exact opposite of that. But one could argue that those who live in battle ravaged places like Somalia where they are starved, raped, and murdered have no meaning. What is their purpose? What is meaning of their existence if only to survive one day to the next? From a religious standpoint I have an answer but from a non religious one I don’t. And this I think provides some sense of horror.
Interesting points, and I would agree that what you are saying is true, for the most part. Religion is one of man’s most popular modes of creating meaning, and I would also agree that there are plenty of non-religious people who find meaning. But I would caution not confound hopelessness with meaninglessness. I think there are lots of people who live without hope, but still find meaning. To use your example of Somalia, the fact that people are in a very bad situation and little or no hope they still strive to exist, it may be that survival itself is their meaning. On the flip-side there are many Americans who survive day to day in relative wealth and saftey,but have no meaning, or have a realization that to them they feel like their life has no meaning.