The Search for Meaning: Part Two

(Continued from The Search for Meaning: Part One)

But how can we possibly be satisfied with this? If meaning is our Eurydice, who shall disappear the moment we turn back to grasp her, how can we be sure that she is behind us at all?

We may know the myth of Orpheus, but do we know it well enough? Do we sympathize with Orpheus well enough, not only with his loss, but so too with his anxiety before he turns? Too many of us may be quick to criticize Orpheus, blaming him for his mistake without adequately understanding his position. We should be careful to understand him, for we are in just this position ourselves. Walking forward, leading our beloved Meaning out from the netherworld of obscurity and vagueness and into the light of day, can we really trust that Hades has been forthright in his deal with us? Perhaps it was merely a trick, a ruse to get us to leave without our prize. Don't look behind, he says - because there is nothing there! Shall we risk bringing only a phantom of meaning into the light, just because we were naive enough to place our faith in the Devil?

That is to say, if meaning is always close to hand and yet slips away the moment we grasp for it, what leads us to believe that there is any meaning at all, and that meaning itself is not just an illusion? Is meaning a mere article of faith, to be accepted and never questioned, lest it be revealed for the vacuous dogma that it is?

But there is meaning, both in the world and in the words we use. During pivotal moments in our lives, we celebrate that something meaningful has come to pass. Birthdays... Graduations... Marriages... Funerals. And these significant events are always accompanied by certain ceremonial words. Happy Birthday... Congratulations... 'Til Death Do Us Part... Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust. Now these words and events may be repeated endlessly and grow to become mundane mere simulacra, devoid of any "weight" or significance. But, though meaning may be forgotten, it cannot be lost. If only one person comes along and says the ceremonial words with sensitivity and conviction, we are immediately reminded of the vital significance of what has happened. A thousand people may say "Congratulations" in passing, and we will forget it means a thing; but if just one congratulates us in earnest, all that is forgotten and we immediately remember why we say it in the first place.

Meaning may be forgotten, but it is never lost. It is locked deep within the words we use, ready to come to light if the right speaker comes along to subtly coax it to the surface. Here, the job of the poet and the philosopher is the same: both strive to lure meaning and truth out from the deep and into the light.

As Nietzsche wrote: "Supposing truth is a woman - what then? Are there not grounds for the suspicion that all philosophers, insofar as they were dogmatists, have been very inexpert about women? That the gruesome seriousness, the clumsy obtrusiveness with which they have usually approached truth so far have been awkward and very improper methods for winning a woman's heart? What is certain is that she has not allowed herself to be won - "