Creating meaning involves bringing order to the contents of the mind by integrating one’s actions into a unified flow experience.
What is meaning?
- Pointing towards the end, goal, purpose, significance of something. Events are linked
- Person’s intentions. She means well. Purpose revealed in action.
- The identity of different words, the relationship between events. Thus it helps to clarify, establish order among unrelated or conflicting info.
Cultivating Purpose
Sorokin divided civilizations into 3 categories: sensate, ideational, and idealistic
- Sensate – views reality designed to satisfy our senses. Epicurean, utilitarian, concerned primarily with concrete needs.
- Ideational – looks down on tangible, strive for non-material supernatural ends. Religion, art, philosophy, Nazi interlude, communist regimes in China, Islamic revival in Iran.
- Idealistic – combination of acceptance of concrete sensory experience with a reverence for spiritual ends. late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Mihaly proposes that perhaps what matters most is not whether a person is materialistic or ideational, but how differentiated and integrated are the goals one pursues in these areas. A well thought out sensate life may be better than a non-reflective ideational life, and vice versa.
Emergence of meaning along the gradient of complexity of life:
Step 1. Self preservation
Step 2. Family and community
Step 3. Reflective individualism. Desire for growth, improvement, actualization of potential. Rebels against conforming blindly
Step 4. Turning away from the self again, back toward an integration with the other people and with universal values. Willingly merges one’s interest with those of a larger whole. A cause, an idea, a transcendental entity.
Not everyone goes through all 4 phases. Can happen if one is lucky and succeeds in controlling consciousness.
Forging Resolve
(The ability to act on the purpose/goal we set)
Goals justify the effort they demand at the outset, but later it is the effort that justifies the goal. e.g. One gets married because the spouse seems worth of sharing one’s life with. The partnership will only hold its value if one then behave as if this is true.
People have made their lives more meaningful devoting to their art, country, religion, children. If done consistently, life becomes an extended episode of flow: a focused, concentrated, internally coherent, logically ordered set of experiences, which, because of its inner order, was felt to be meaningful and enjoyable.
As a culture’s complexity evolves, it becomes more difficult to achieve total resolve. Which goals deserve our dedication? Too many option, tons of freedom.
Freedom does not necessarily help develop meaning in life – on the contrary. If the rules of a game becomes too flexible, concentration flags, and it is more difficult to attain a flow experience. Commitment to a goal and to the rules it entails is much easier when the choices are few and clear.
How do we have freedom AND resolve?
Know thyself through action and reflection.
Do lots, reflect lots by asking questions such as “Is this something I really want to do and enjoy doing?” Know your “why”.
If we develop the habit of frequent reflection (Jesuits’ test of conscience – reviews at least once a day if your actions in the past hours have been consistent with your long term goals)
RECOVERING HARMONY
Flow is a natural part of living, as seen in animals, simple societies, and children (before self consciousness begins to interfere). Desires are simple, choices are clear.
UNIFY MEANING VIA LIFE THEMES
Life theme, or project, is the goal-directed actions that provide shape and meaning to one’s life.
Accepted Life Theme – what we think ought to be done, because they are what everyone else is doing. Following a predetermined role in a script written long ago by others (Inauthentic)
Discovered Life Theme – we write our own script for our actions out of personal experience and awareness of choice (Authentic)
One strategy shared by many who have built meaning into their lives: extract from the order achieved by past generations patterns that will help avoid disorder in one’s own mind.
Learn from other people who have achieved flow, meaningful lives. No need to reinvent the wheel here.
Complexity consists of integrations and differentiation. We have learned how to be individualistic. We must now learn how to reunite ourselves with other entities around us without losing individuality.
The future problem of meaning will be resolved as the individual’s purpose merges with the universal flow.