Why the search for meaning?

[Borachio]

I think we find meaning in living when we stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about others.

It also satisfies my instinct for being nosey.

"Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse and "Way of Zen" were my introduction to eastern thought.

These are both excellent, imo. And Alan Watts wrote quite a lot of other books. "This is It" springs to mind.


Link to video.

But if we don't search for meaning, what else are we going to do? We have to do something, don't we? And isn't all activity just a search for meaning in the end?

 

[bhavv]

I enjoy thinking about others. About their doom.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Have to put our well-developed brain to use somehow.

 

[warpus]

Why are human beings so obsessed with finding deeper meanings to their lives?

It's mainly that there are still many unanswered questions about existence out there: How did life begin? How did the universe begin? What, if anything, happened before the Big Bang?

This is always going to lead to people claiming to know these answers, not via scientific discovery, but rather via mystical means. Humans are fascinated with "the undiscovered country", and so people will be drawn to these answers - since they provide a potential answer to something that used to be undiscovered.

On the other hand it also gives people more solid footing to base their life around - if they start by "answering" some of the most basic questions first.

Questions we don't have answers to yet will always seem "deep". And there will always be people out there who claim to have the answer.

 

[Phrossack]

People do seem to have a psychological need to answer questions. If they can't discover them, they'll often resort to inventing them. Consider creation myths in every culture. I don't really know how the universe came to be. But, here it is. That's enough for me. I'd rather admit I don't know something than invent an answer.

 

[warpus]

People do seem to have a psychological need to answer questions.

I think it has to do with the nature of our species. I think we survived in the past due to our unique problem solving skills - but also due to our drive to explore and answer unanswered questions. This pushed us into new habitats, exposed us to new technologies, etc. I think it's who we are. It's why so many of us have been explorers, why space exploration strikes such a chord with so many of us, and why I love to travel to far away places.

 

[Borachio]

I think, as well, we simply aren't happy with uncertainty. It does take a lot of living with. People who are seriously ill would often rather know they have disease XYZ than not know what it is at all. Even if XYZ is a nasty terminal illness.

Relatives of soldiers who are MIA seem to experience more distress, in total, than those who are known to have died.

 

[Farm Boy]

Meaning? With meaning can come being in the right place. With being in the right place can come a measure of peace.

 

[warpus]

Yep. Ignorance is bliss.

(meaning that it doesn't matter that the answer isn't right - if you think it's right, and it puts you at peace, that's all that seems to matter)

In other words: the unknown makes us uneasy. We want to figure it out.

 

[Farm Boy]

A blue-piller if ever I seen one.

 

[Borachio]

Feeling happy in your skin, and that all's right with the world.

I'm fine with that.

 

[warpus]

A blue-piller if ever I seen one.

Oh, I doubt it. I'm just explaining what I see around me and what seems to work for most people.

I take the red pill every day for breakfast.

 

[Farm Boy]

Oh, I doubt it. I'm just explaining what I see around me and what seems to work for most people.

I take the red pill every day for breakfast.

I see. So you take the red pill, but everyone else must be taking the blue one?

Now that's interesting.

 

[warpus]

I see. So you take the red pill, but everyone else must be taking the blue one?

Now that's interesting.

Well, not everyone. But I do see that accepting meaning works for almost every single person I ever meet - People love to ground their lives in well defined metrics - existence is {A}, reality is {B,C}, and so on. People seem to prefer to worry about the details of life - What show do I watch? What do I buy for dinner? How do I pick up my son from soccer? etc. And not. - What is reality? Why do we exist? - Maybe I'm wrong, but I think most people would prefer to accept an answer and move on - it makes their lives easier (and I think I've read happier)

Those of us who don't accept an answer until it's been fully figured out - I think we suffer a bit as a result. But I can't accept any other way of living - I wouldn't be true to myself and the way I view the world.

 

[Farm Boy]

Getting to worry about the details you choose is a luxury, needing to worry about details you can't choose is a curse. But I don't know that most people aren't contemplative. Perhaps somewhat less now that most of everyone seems to store their brain in their phone and look at it rather than observing and mulling on the world directly in front of them. I mean, I could buy that people are having deep thoughts on the interwebs while they're waiting for the bus, but the popularity of Candy Crush seems to be providing evidence to the contrary.

 

[warpus]

But I don't know that most people aren't contemplative.

I don't doubt that most people probably are - but it just seems like most people accept a worldview at some stage in their lives - and they move on to other matters - even if the worldview they've accepted hasn't exactly been proven to be correct. Other research I've read tells me that I'm probably right when I assume that people who make such assumptions lead happier lives - there's less existential conundrums and such running through their heads at any point in time, distracting them from farmville.

I think it's a matter of .. well.. the axioms of your life being well grounded, in whatever you choose them to be grounded in. It makes life easier, whether those axioms are actually true or false.

 

[Farm Boy]

So the blue pill aside is primarily about people of faith? Or something different? Anti-vaccers? Organics food advocates? Armchair feminists? Internet environmentalists? Video-game aficionado hicks?

 

[warpus]

So the blue pill aside is primarily about people of faith? Or something different? Anti-vaccers? Organics food advocates? Armchair feminists? Internet environmentalists? Video-game aficionado hicks?

I don't think I'm willing to make any claims about who it's "for". Some people bite, some don't. Different folks - different strokes.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I think we find meaning in living when we stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about others.

God fits nice into this POV, in a way. Because our social reality makes this hard to do, at least in some ways, we invent someone we can care about as much as we like. Whereas with real people we can only care for them under certain conditions.
And moreover, I'd say a fundamental issue of modern society is that we have to do a lot of things for a lot of people we do not care about and that makes it more difficult to find meaning.

What is meaning then? Something that isn't you and that you hold very dear, something which is important to you and which is worth of effort to you.
That can be ideals, a hobby, religion, and yes I think most of all other people. I suppose it can also be a kind of image of oneself. But that sounds rather unhealthy.
So no I don't think meaning is about merely understanding reality or understanding anything (though that is one way one can look for it). Meaning is to have something worth living for which does not just exist in the moment but transcends and stays as a reason to exist and do stuff. Sometimes this may be a small and trivial and not very powerful and not very lasting affair. Sometimes it may be something very powerful and reliable.
It in any case is something people will enjoy to have and to not have it can have pretty undesirable consequences. Though one can always try to ignore it.

 

[Farm Boy]

I don't think I'm willing to make any claims about who it's "for". Some people bite, some don't. Different folks - different strokes.

mkay.