written 28
April, 2018
published 5 May 18
The belief in meaning is a personal decision,
perhaps the core expression of free will.
Meaning is a subjective experience, even if rooted in the objective
world, and will differ for each one of us.
It is a personal construct of our relationship with a larger context,
and how we define who we are in this life.
If we view the world as whole and wise, then every part and event has
meaning arising from that larger context, waiting to be perceived.
Shamans and seers of all cultures
use many techniques for guidance and inspiration throughout the ages. The I Ching has been used for over 2500 years,
to interpret the casting of yarrow stalks or coins. In the west, the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck
has been used in a similar manner for over 500 years.
Dreams have long been interpreted
for meaning. Carl Jung introduced the
concept of synchronicity (meaningful coincidence) to western psychology in the
1920s. The idea came to him when a
patient related a dream of a scarab beetle and at that very moment, a scarab beetle
began beating at the window. The
conjunction of the inner dream and the outer waking reality helped the patient
make a breakthrough. Subsequent research
in synchronicity shows that the more we interpret these as meaningful events,
the more they occur, as we train ourselves to notice them.
In a meaningful world, every person
we meet has information for us, as we have for them. We don't always successfully exchange those
messages, but as we hold the possibility, the likelihood of communication
increases. Apparently unconnected
events, such as songs on the radio, bumper stickers, or overheard
conversations, can lead to sudden clarity of purpose, and therefore be
meaningful.
The alternative is a meaningless
world. Western materialist science
dismisses meaning in the world, citing the random nature of material processes
as proof. However, the dictionary
defines random as "having no pattern or objective", implying
meaninglessness and unpredictability, so randomness is not proof of
meaninglessness, just a restatement of the concept.
Can we really determine a random
process? If you are red/green color
blind, and someone picks all the red M&M's out of the red and green
Christmas mix, it looks like a random selection. However, it is an error to say that selection
"is" random; an accurate statement is the selection "appears to
be" random. Similarly, anyone
reading this is viewing marks, that, for a person who does not read, could be
described as random scribbles. That
assessment is true for them, but not true for you the reader.
By ascribing a quality to an objective
experience, rather than acknowledging a limited perception, we commit what
Buddhists call reification, a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. If I accept that "I see" no
pattern, there is opportunity for me to learn and possibly perceive anew. But if I assert there "is" no
pattern, I am unlikely to search further, and will remain ignorant. As finite beings contemplating the infinite
unknown, we have to acknowledge that everything we know is either wrong, or at
best, incomplete.
The idea of a larger context, which
includes us all, is the root of meaning.
Some people do not experience such a context, nor any kind of meaning, and
therefore believe there isn't one. That
belief makes the proposition true for that individual, but that doesn't mean it
is true for everyone else.
This is open for consideration, and
each of us gets to choose what kind of life we live. There appears to be a deep human desire to
matter in some way, if only to ourselves, and choosing to see life as
meaningless seems to foster despair. Many
people choose this path, which might account for the skyrocketing numbers of
people battling anxiety and depression. But I believe it is possible to consciously
choose to live a meaningful life, even if the exact meaning is not clear. Life then becomes a journey of exploration, and
with that orientation, we continue to learn more about life the longer we live
it.
