The Search for Meaning: Part Three

(Continued from The Search for Meaning: Part Two)

But perhaps we are close to going too far. If truth is a woman, then she is not just any woman. If she is to be seduced, then we must first know something about her, lest we miss the mark entirely and seduce the wrong woman.

What we are after is meaning herself, and not simply truth. We do wish to say true things about meaning, and to discover the truth about meaning, but we do not want to mistake meaning for truth, or truth for meaning. It would be an easy error to make: after all, meaning and truth do tend to frequent the same circles. It would be easy to accidentally seduce truth, and bring her home to bed, only to later discover that we took the wrong girl home.

We may easily become bogged down in our quest and begin asking such seemingly relevant questions as "What is the meaning of truth?" and "What is the truth of meaning?". But we are not interested in the relationship between these two women and how they came to be friends! We are only interested in bringing one home with us. We are in pursuit of meaning, which is not the truth of meaning, but rather meaning herself.

Furthermore, the meaning of meaning is not just another meaning. It is easy to forget this, in a world of dictionaries, enumerating endless words with their corresponding meanings, giving an apparently equal weight to each word and every meaning. It would perhaps be better if dictionaries left certain words undefined, leaving them for the user to define as they will. After all, that is more akin to how things work in the real world. Plato would have us believe that for every word there is a single and certain definition, the form of which exists in a world beyond our own. But in reality the meaning of a word is neither single nor certain, but rather manifold and fluid; not otherworldly, but quite pragmatically of this world. Language is developed by its users, and is always developing. Language is dynamic, not static.

But perhaps again, we have come close to going too far. Here, we are on the road to meaning. If it will help us on our journey to explore meanings, then we welcome the opportunity, but only insofar as it helps to bring us closer to our destination, which is meaning itself.

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 - "

The Search for Meaning: Part One

If it is possible to mean something with the words that we use, if it is possible for language to have meaning, and to hold it, what then is the source of meaning? If language is built upon the foundation of meaning, what then is the bedrock upon which meaning is situated? Or are we to believe that it is, so to speak, "turtles all the way down"?

There are those who would advocate a sort of infinite regress in language. After all, "meaning" is a word, just like any other word. To search for a meaning of "meaning" that exists outside of language might not be logically possible. Words get their meanings from other words; to look for a single "origin" of meaning is absolutely impossible. Words only mean what they mean because of the total language they find themselves in. This is, roughly, the "structuralist" position regarding meaning and language, as was first given shape by linguistic pioneer Ferdinand de Saussure.

But although this question is apparently only a linguistic concern, it has much broader philosophical implications. Effectively, structuralism amounts to a transcendental nihilism, a denial not only of meaning in the world, but of meaning itself, effectively charging meaning itself with meaninglessness. But, if meaning itself were truly meaningless, surely that wouldn't mean a damn thing.

Meaning is not meaningless. There is meaning, both in the world and in the words we use. Where does it come from, and where does it go? This is perhaps the most elusive question we can ask. Like Orpheus trying to lead his beloved Eurydice out of the underworld, if we glance back at her too soon, we shall lose her forever. It is this way with meaning: it is always closest to hand, yet if we reach out to touch it, it slips away and our hands "grasp nothing save the yielding air".

Suffering and Strength

Only those that suffer hard develop iron wills. Living softly, comfortably, it is difficult for us to think of a good reason to move; like a man lying on the sofa on a lazy Sunday, he only shifts his body so as to be more comfortable; sometimes he must get up, for he has to use the restroom or get himself some food. Those who are comfortable value their comfort, but only realize how much they treasure it when they have become uncomfortable. Additionally, the level of activity of a person is directly proportional to the level of discomfort they are under.

Being comfortable is like living in a viscous sea: you cannot move much, for you are so enveloped in relaxation that you don't even notice how stuck you are until the muck slips away. And even then, you just yearn for this sea of slime to return to you, so that you may slop about in it for just a little bit more.

It is only natural that in such times as ours, nobler souls will yearn for displeasure and actively pursue the painful; despising slime, they yearn to suffer in the dry, arid sun. Let our skins dry and crack, let them even burn! Anything for the chance to move freely and swiftly, with purpose, direction and intent. Let the rest of our brethren wallow about in the muck, for we will have no more of it.

Appearance and Reality: The World and Its Chains

Man lives not in a cave, but behind a fence. We are chained, and see wonderful things beyond the fence, but few see the fence. And how quickly do we stop even noticing that it is there!

The masses look quickly beyond, and delude themselves for all their lives that the world beyond the fence is the real one. Few realize the fact that we are chained, to walls and through fences, and we shall never escape.

Fewer than these few both see the chains and come to love them. Graced with a wisdom not of their time, they accept the inevitable and live happily with their chains, knowing full well that they are a necessity of life itself. For, just think: what is real? If we will not be free of the fence nor the chains for all of life, then bondage becomes as real and as necessary as food and water.

However, there is a problem. We, who are bound, know how to communicate our ideas about bondage, and thereby enslave ourselves even further. Unfortunately, life has this tendency to wrap around itself, so “society” is born, and with it, new chains. How do these new chains compare to the old? Woe to mankind, who bring endless misery unto themselves! These imaginary constrictions, although no more real than the world beyond the fence, endlessly confuse the unwise in how closely they resemble the truth.

Postmodern Disconnection

While the virtue of language may lie in its ambiguity, the virtue of thought lies in clarity and precision. But what has happened to the common language? We have none – each of us excels in speaking only our own language, with the too-personal meanings that we put into our words. In what may be called a “postmodern disconnection”, distinct cultures gradually dissolve into one another as we move toward a global community.

But as this happens, we lose more and more faith in our basic ability to connect to social unities like nations and cultures, and so we increasingly retreat into our selves, abandoning all hope of connecting to or communicating with any social whole whatsoever.

As time passes, we lower and lower our expectations – at first not caring to communicate with the world, then losing interest in speaking with a common cultural tongue, next forgetting our national identity, eventually losing even the hope of having a genuine connection with those closest to our hearts.

There is a profound disconnection in the world around us, from the smallest, most intimate level to the grandest, most universal level – no matter where we are, everyone we meet seems to be unaware of a vital something – the scientists don't understand intuition, while the religious cannot grasp reason; the old become rigid and unyielding in their ways, while the young are too youthful to simply sit still and listen. Whatever the case, everywhere there are impossible barricades separating mind from mind and heart from heart. And this is what we call a global community?

Everywhere, people “just don't get it” - whatever “it” happens to be. And so we search – desperately. If we can find just one person to share a common tongue and understanding with, someone whom we may fully trust to understand the meaning of our words – then we are happy, and happily say: “Let all the world be destroyed, so long as I have my other.”

But isn't this consolation the saddest thing of all?

“Us against the world!” - but aren't you still part of that world, and doesn't it still pain you to witness the disconnections that persist? This connection that you were so lucky to find – does nothing to change the fact that we all have lost a much more primal connection – and does nothing to assuage the duty of each human being to fight to reclaim this lost humanity.

Madness and Civilization

Moderation in all things, even things that aren't stuff. And so too, with sanity? Between madness and sanity lies the brilliance of possibility, the power of strength, and the luminosity of spirit.

And it is this way even before society has determined what madness is; for homo sapiens is both naturally social and evolutionarily socially-aware. What is this evolved sense of social awareness? What it is aware of is not always clear (that is to say, what it attunes itself to and how it is affected by this attunement). However, its presence is evident always and it is felt most keenly in this thing called empathy. It seems that our specially (species-ally) social-egregious nature has developed the literal-physical capacity to in-feel (em-pathos), which is the capacity to feel myself exactly what it is that you feel. It was and remains best for our species that we each have this capacity to share our emotional experiences with one another, and be confident that they have been shared accurately.

But what of madness and culture? What we seek are the roots of civilization, since it is civilization wherein our own roots lie. And though it would seem that culture is the expression of a civilization, that civilization predates culture, the truth is precisely the opposite.

There is a pre-civil culture that has been imprinted upon the genetic makeup of every human being. And we are approaching it again, returning back to a more basic humanity.

And so, civilization, as the civilizing of mankind, as the domestication of homo sapiens by itself, as the human counterpoint to the ecological process of evolution, as the attempt for mankind to provide its own impetus for the improvement and progression of the species... and so, this great experiment called civilization has thus far achieved nothing, precisely.

It is my hope that civilization has thus negated itself such that it may come to know itself better and thereby proceed toward the creation of a truly human civilization, where humanity itself (as the humanness of humans) is neither demonized nor deified, but rather cherished and, more frequently, cautioned.