Thoughts on the meaning of meaning

Posted by Marilyn on 3 April 2009 | 2 Comments

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I don't see that the idea that existence ‘being a lucky break’ takes away a meaningful meaning.

I agree with Gould – the fact that I am here is the result of successive lucky chance events that favoured the survival of my various lines of ancestors since time began - from the primaeval ooze at the beginning of the universe to the present. I am an almost impossible event in the scheme of events emerging from the great creative play of existence itself, on this occasion located in its current emergence from the Big Bang.

The fact that one exists is so improbable and amazing that it has to be a cause for celebration in itself. And those that did not feel like celebrating, the ones that complained that being here was an unlucky break, have probably not bothered to procreate and have died out.

However, the randomness of existence does not necessarily mean that there can be no ‘grand plan’. One can imagine that, given the basic components of creativity, the start-up kit and building blocks etc., themselves evolving into greater diversity and complexity since time began, again by chance combinations and permutations of events, and with future directions determined by what has gone before - one can imagine that a blue print could conceivably be conjured up for every form there is, was and ever will be. Existence can be experienced as a play of light and energy coming in an out of form. Not all permutations of the great blueprint will be manifested in existence now, but the possibility exists that any one version will be manifested at some time, past or future, given the right components and conditions and sequence of events. Today’s existence is just one of many possible expressions of such a grand plan. From this viewpoint I was always a possibility. And I could happen again – or not.

Although it cannot be known, everything is known.

So what could be the meaning of life and why do we ask the question. Why do we seem to need to have a meaning and sense of purpose. The search for meaning (making sense of the past, projecting into the future) is an inherent human quality. It is probably the reason for human supremacy on this planet (and much that is going wrong with it). So in a way we cannot help but search for meaning. But what if we ask - is there a purpose to existence itself? If the purpose, whatever it is, were achieved what then?

Nevertheless, I do think we create meaning in the creative lives we live and – as John has said – ‘in so doing .. manifest the inherently creative potential of the universe’. However, I don’t think the creation of meaning in this way is confined to human existence. I do not like any arguments that make humans so special – for example, the argument that we are here to interpret the universe. As if the universe needs us to interpret it. As if the universe needs us at all. Humility is needed in any meaning we create in life and the living of it.

Perhaps a related question. I have been thinking recently about what way does one exist as a 'self'? And over the years it now seems I have moved totally away from the Central Dogma (all in your genes, or unidirectional flow of information from DNA to RNA to protein) and to the opposite pole and I now see that I am what I let in. We are what we let in.

An individual is a reflection of the changing environment in which he finds himself. He is determined by information received from his external world and of course this depends on the receivers/receptors (senses, cellular receptors) and processors/interpreters (genes and networks of genes and their products, neurons and networks of neurons, cells and intercommunicating cells, circulating hormones, etc) he has at his disposal and which are open to receive/interpret/pass on information (openness to receive is also determined by environment and genes). So in a way my quota of consciousness is from outside (all information is out there after all) but it is only held together by its being received and held inside by my special receiver/interpreter facilities.

Alternatively I am mostly space in a space continuum so all information is flowing through me but do I have receptors/interpreters picking up cosmic consciousness information in this shared space?

Marilyn


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  • From the writing of Hazrat Inayat Khan:
    God speaks to the ears of every heart, but it is not every heart that hears Him.
    "Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan"

    God speaks to everyone, not only to the messengers and teachers. He speaks to the ears of every heart, but it is not every heart which hears it. His voice is louder than the thunder, and His light is clearer than the sun -- if one could only see it, if one could only hear it. In order to see it and in order to hear it man should remove this wall, this barrier which he has made of the self. Then he becomes the flute upon which the divine Player may play the music of Orpheus which can charm even the hearts of stone; then he rises from the cross into the life everlasting.

    I know the usual reaction to this sort of thing is "AAAArrrgh .... religious tracts!!!!" But from the mystic point of view, what if the information is there but you just don't have the software to download it?

    This e-mail message is also accessible for downloading in Papua, New Guinea but no-one (as far as I know) has the correct software program or connection and so it still exists in a time/space continuum until the relevant links are established.

    Of course how can we know what we don't know unless it is explained to us, and sometimes the explanations are so incomprehensible to our learnt logic (as with understanding the quantum realm) as to pose too great a threat to our sanity and so they are dismissed as non-valid.

    Robert de Vos

    Posted by Robert de Vos, 07/04/2009 10:37am (3 years ago)

  • I understand physical existence to be for experience, to be able to experience that which only the physical can provide; the purpose of physical lives. I have the advantage of higher senses, so I am directly aware of existence beyond the physical. As a result I am also aware of the limitations and restrictions of the physical, also that life is not restricted to, exists regardless of, the physical.

    We exist, non-physically, because that which always was, is, always will be decided that it be so; thereafter we are all co-creators. As a Healer I am well aware of the non-physical components of each person, as well as the non-physical structure of this World, universe in general.

    Time is an illusion, as is the physical for that matter, so that everything that is perceived to exist always is. I am living all of my lives now, in the Real Reality Now sense, along with everyone else; at the higher levels time does not exist.

    Human supremacy is an illusion, along with everything else, except the Ultimate, that which underlies all.

    We do, as you wrote, quoted, “manifest the inherently creative potential of the universe”, that is part of our experience; not our learning as, at the higher level of each of us, we know everything already; hence the limitations in memory of from whence we come, that which we really are, to make the most of the experiences.

    An individual may be a reflection of their environment, it is part of the experiences, though they are more a reflection of their myriad environments and experiences, not just the ones in their current perception. At this stage, in this lifetime, I am “determined by information received from” not just my “external world” but my “internal world” as well; all of my senses influence me, my physical ones and my non-physical ones.

    Consciousness is not so much outside the physical, or the person, consciousness is all, the precursor to that which our physical senses perceive.

    In the quantum physics sense, I know I am “mostly space” as you put it. On the other hand I know I am, at root, spirit, whence cam consciousness, whence came my physical body and my physical environment.

    Posted by Richard King, 03/04/2009 10:36am (3 years ago)

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