Looking for Meaning
Many bright people live in a world devoid of meaning. By avoiding the devoid, they even get more and more in a strut. How to get out?
This is an important text to me…
and to you, dear reader, for one plain reason: without meaning, there is no meaning… of anything.
Meaning is related to depth.
Meaning is related to the subconceptual.
At the purely conceptual level
there is no meaning possible. If one says: the meaning of concept Y lies in concept X, what is then the meaning of concept X? One keeps looking for meaning as in a look-up table. That would be meaningful if one would, for instance, end up at concept A which would be truly meaningful.
But then I would ask: why?
– “Because I say it’s meaningful.”
Why do you?
There is no way
of getting beyond concepts in purely conceptual thinking. And ‘meaning’-as-a-concept is just not about the conceptual, at least not as I’m using this term and as you might have guessed.
This meaning is being lost in many scientific domains because that’s a world prone to concept-ualize everything.
Conceptualizing is OK where it’s OK.
Conceptualizing may have bad consequences where it’s not OK. [see: “Other Consequences”]
So, how to get out?
Perhaps by using scientist’s schemes: conceptualizing the subconceptual.
Well, I’m trying to do so as much as I can. Still, I encounter scientists who are ‘resistant’ to anything that could open their house of concepts. Outside of that house, they feel very uncomfortable to the point of – almost – losing rationality itself.
So, how does one find deeper meaning?
By finding it, of course. Which is: by experiencing it. Eventually, one is the other.
Experiencing is a here-and-now event. It’s about poetry, about art, being in nature, being in relationships, etc.
Hm. For instance, physicians see lots of patients but what many of them really see too much are diseases, prognoses, etc.
No depth. No warmth. No meaning in the job. Burnout.
Meditation
is according to me a nice way to reach deeper layers of meaning.
A lot of different stuff is being called ‘meditation’. One of them – my take on it – is centered on deeper contact with oneself. That’s also the goal of the 1000+ AURELIS health meditations.
It is my attempt to bring some meaning.
Related Posts
Romanticism, the Refusal to Give Up
Romanticism is not just an artistic movement; it’s a refusal to give up on what truly matters, even when faced with the inevitable transience of life. It thrives on the tension between the fleeting and the infinite, the seen and the unseen ― capturing the eternal human yearning for beauty, connection, and meaning. This spirit Read the full article…
Will Super-A.I. Make People Happier?
This is the paramount question — more vital than any debate about intelligence. It’s a bit weird that it is seldom put at the forefront, as if we’re more concerned about who is the most knowledgeable, therefore the most powerful. What people? It should not be about a few, as it should not exclude billions. Read the full article…
Freud and the Subconceptual
Freud’s theories about repression, dreams, and symbols brought the subconscious to the forefront of intellectual discourse. Yet, Freud’s ideas were a product of their time — shaped by the frameworks and limitations of early psychology. Modern insights into the subconceptual open a new chapter. The AURELIS perspective highlights the dynamic, fluid processes of the mind Read the full article…