Inquiry into the Nature of Meaning
Humans are a complex dual mechanism. On one side, we have a body, and on the other, our consciousness. Both are unstoppable and inseparable. Practically, it can be said that one supports the other, and the body maintains our consciousness while our consciousness operates our body. I refer to consciousness specifically, not our brain, as it makes a big difference. Our brain is a biological mechanism that operates as part of our body. It can continue to work without consciousness if the body is artificially maintained. This separation is crucial, as we will see, as it holds one of the main keys to understanding the human condition.
Differently from the physical world, we associate ourselves with our consciousness. While consciousness cannot exist in the physical world without its body and arguably does not exist without it. When referring to a person, we rarely refer to him/her as his body. A fascinating proof is that if a person's consciousness will be swapped with another body. People will no longer refer to the body as the person. At the same time, if a consciousness suddenly appears with another body, if showing enough proof for it, people will consider the new body as the old person (consciousness). When a person acts differently from what he is anticipating to be, sentences like “Who are you?” or “Where the husband/ friend/ brother that I know went?”. This human perspective shows how we currently perceive human existence. In many ways, it elevates and separates the human consciousness from the obvious physical mechanism called the body.
The two parts of human existence are separate mechanisms operating on different time scales. The body always operates in the present, reacting to external stimuli and maintaining itself, aiming for mechanical optimization and survival. For our body, there is no past or future, only a reaction to the present stimulus and constant maintenance for the sake of its survival. Our body functions by itself. The blood circulation, digestion, etc., are all self-operating mechanism that the consciousness take for granted.
Moreover, for most people, it is only when a part of the body stops functioning smoothly that we become aware of it. We are aware of our eyes and sight only when something goes wrong with our eyes. We become aware of our hearing capacity only when it starts to ring or whistle, and we are aware of our heart only when it has a severe problem. To us, the body is so well self-managed that we often forget to recognize how significant it is in our existence.
On the other hand, consciousness is a mechanism mainly occupied with predicting the future based on past experiences, positioning its operation everywhere except the present. Our subconscious (which we will discuss later) is probably more attentive to the present. Managing all the external cues and connecting the data of the present. Our consciousness from the other side exists in three different states. It can operate in the past, revisiting our subjective perception of past events. It can be in the future, calculating the potential outcomes (especially the ones we prefer to avoid) or in the abstract. As a state in which wishful imaginary scenarios are constructed that are not part of our past or a real potential practical future. The consciousness is never in the present. As a processing mechanism, it is always one moment too late or too early.
Our lives have moments when both the body and the consciousness are aligned. It has been called in many names. Currently, the most spread word for it is “Flow.” This stage is usually categorized as a moment in which a person is so immersed in the present that nothing else matters. In this stage, many people lose the perception of time. We are all familiar with this state. It is always achieved when doing something we are physically habituated to do and find pleasure in doing. A “negative flow” moment is also achieved in extreme danger. In a “fight or flight” moment, our focus is so high on the present that everything around us disappears. Interestingly, moments can be categorized as moments in which our consciousness is not operating. Without any evidence, I will claim a mixture of our physical body patterns and our subconsciousness operates in those moments.
The brain and consciousness can be trained in and for different purposes. Our body can be trained toward optimization of muscle, reaction, or immunity. While our consciousness can be trained to ignore, add, or exist in different states. In our current day, both our body and our consciousness are not fully understood to us. We have made significant progress in both, but we are still far from starting to understand fully its essence or its details. Nobody can fully explain the mysteries of our body molecules, DNA, and even the functionality of our cells. When it comes to consciousness, we can map the brain and recognize patterns, but this is the best we manage to do.
We are only alive because we wake up in the morning. It is as easy as that! We cannot stop it from happening. We close our eyes when the physical system signals that it needs recovery, and after a limited time, we wake up, and here we are again. There is no nihilism in this sentence. It is just a fact we are all aware of. Our body, unlike our consciousness, is just running its mechanism. It is a question of the unpreferable continuity of any well-functioning system that is powered up and constantly continues to get what it needs to operate. On the other side, our consciousness is extremely different. It is a by-product of our body that wakes us up constantly without giving us a good explanation, as consciousness is busy calculating outcomes based on past experiences. It works by constructing inner mechanisms of “logical” and constant cause-and-effect structures. It is a reinforcing machine that is optimized to predict successful future outcomes. We know how to add things together, creating combinations that, in their turn, make new variations. After all, if one is searching to predict the future, some basic past cause and effect should exist. Without it, it is pure guesswork, which cannot be trusted for survival. In many ways, our consciousness can be described as a relentless self-correcting mechanism that optimizes for successful prediction and not survival.
When using the words trust and control, we mean predictability. Trusting someone eventually boils down to being able to predict one action. It reflects the consistency of patterns and our trust it will continue to do so. In many ways, we can trust our enemies to be who they are if they follow a certain code. Trust is a function of subjective belief in our capacity to predict one future behavior into the future. Sometimes, we agree upon it aloud; sometimes, it is part of an observation process. Control is not different. It is our capacity (or belief) that we have and will have the power to influence the future the way we want it to be. When referring to the idea that somebody is in control, it usually means that he has a conscious belief in his capacity to influence the future favorably. Anxiety comes from recognizing we do not control future outcomes, and mistrust is created when our predictive mechanism fails us. Both refer to future outcomes and our predictive capacity based on our past experience.
One of the by-products of advanced consciousness is the requirement of meaning. It is the essence of human existence and the common denominator of all of us. We require meaning; without it, our consciousness cannot truly validate its existence. Let me explain this statement. Our bodies exist as part of the physical and objective world. We feel hunger, pain, and variation of heartbeat that constantly validate its existence. The enjoyment of pain felt by some people is a consequence of the need to validate our body's existence or compensate for a lack of deeper meaning. Consciousness is not physical.
Moreover, it is not part of our present in most of our lives. In many ways, consciousness is the essence of what we call abstract, as it represents an entity that we know exists that is always there. One we cannot see, touch, or physically validate. We know it is there, but we cannot prove it. Due to that, humans require meaning. One that will justify and validate the existence of consciousness. It is an unstoppable process, as consciousness is unstoppable. It is part of the human mechanism. It is human's biggest blessing and its biggest curse.
Historically, human actions can be understood as a search and validation for meaning. Eventually, the human experience is based on the creation of meaning and its protection. It can come in many forms that all boil down to what we call Identity. Identity is meaning. It is the structure we attach to ourselves. One that allows us first to create a logical path that explains our existence and secondly (and more importantly) it validates our existence by attaching ourselves to something recognizable and accepted by other people around us (which is an extension of the physical world we are part of). As we will see later, meaning and identity come in many forms, and a lack of them will create havoc by forcing people into extremism. It is the only denominator of human existence and its capacity to flourish. All other aspects of our life are just a second or third order from it.
As I mentioned previously, conscience has two separate ways to validate itself. The first is to recognize its pattern and prove itself it is successfully constant over time and accurate in its capacity to predict itself, which is internal. The second is by external validation. This is done by associating itself with outside factors that react to it, validating its existence. It is unclear if only one can exist without the other for a functioning healthy system. Possibly, both are required to a certain extent, balancing and reinforcing each other. As we will see later, the need for power, obsessive need for control, religions, the pursuit of money, and most mental problems can be explained and traced to a lack of internal meaning or a general collapse of its validating principle. Relationships, family, and affiliation to society are also part of meaning in the form of purpose. (We will delve into it as well later on). Meaning is the essence of our existence. Whether we like it or not, it is built into us.
I believe that most, if not all, of the problems we face in the West are part of a meaning crisis. Extreme liberalism, depression, suicide, hate, extremism, and social crisis reflect it. It is a lack of internal meaning and a lack of positive and constructive external validation that makes us feel lost, detached, lacking control, anxious, and angry. God gave humans an internal source of validation by creating a relationship with his consciousness. In my latest book, “The Human Perspective- New Lessons from Genesis,” I discuss the idea that God can be seen as our consciousness. Based on that assumption, the “Death of God,” referred to by Nitzsche, can be seen as the death of our clear connection and pursuit of understanding with our inner world. By reaching this point, the only validation people are left with is external, making them more meaningful than they should be. This is also reflected in the little space and studies we apply to Philosophy in our current society. Philosophy is an alternative path toward internal meaning. By “killing our gods” and leaving philosophy behind, our capacity to understand, speak, and positively evolve from our meaning crisis seems complicated.
Before moving forward, I will add a short discussion about the subconscious. Without it, we cannot move forward peacefully and reach true conclusions that can help us understand ourselves, life, and the possible solutions. Zigmond Frued has popularized the concept of the subconscious. Making it familiar to most of the Western world. To explain it simply, subconsciousness is part of our thinking mechanism that works outside our consciousness. It works faster and on a larger scale. It constitutes a lot of different patterns and memories we cannot always recall. It is a mechanism that spits to the consciousness conclusions. Some parts of the subconscious process can be reached by a concentrated effort (as rebuilding a certain logic slower), and some other parts of it are unreachable. In other cases, we become aware of our subconscious assumptions only when reaching a new point in life.
A good example is the discovery most people reach when they first become parents. A complete set of beliefs and mental structures flood their consciousness from one moment to another. They are full of values and ideas about which kind of parent they should be (we will come back to), how they expect their spouse to behave, and what person they should become. These values were always there in the subconscious, built up over life but never addressed or reached. They become real and relevant from nowhere, moving forward to the consciousness.
While it is all true and fascinating, when it comes to meaning, I believe the role of the subconsciousness needs to be seen as a secondary machine that serves ideas to the consciousness. It is a bit like a coffee machine. It will spit coffee based on the capsule you insert into it. As long as the machine works (meaning the subconscious spits things out), what is happening in the machine is irrelevant. Life and meaning are, in many ways, all about what you do with the coffee once it is out.
Additionally, the relation between consciousness and the subconscious is not a one-directional path. Consciousness affects the subconscious and vice versa. Controlling and exploring the subconscious is a fascinating topic that can occupy a lifetime. Still, it is not relevant or practical if we are to understand the role and importance of meaning truly. The belief that there is an untouchable void in ourselves that we cannot reach and affect our lives is not helpful (and even destructive). If we are to bring ourselves from nowhere to somewhere, it is only the concentration on what we can control and our reaction to it that matters. Only our consciousness can be controlled, trained, and understood in this context. Making it the only relevant conversation worth having.
Consciousness is a given, and so is our need for meaning. It is not a question of will. As our body needs food, our consciousness needs meaning. How we handle it and the path we choose to adopt in the subject matter will determine our life, happiness, and peacefulness. There is not a single true meaning to fit them all. Oppositely, endless paths fit each person and possibly each period of an individual life. I believe that how we build and maintain this meaning makes all the difference to start with. I will develop the concept and detail it in my following posts.
When we lack purpose, life is meaningless. With a meaning, our consciousness gets lost and requires a power struggle and external extremism to validate its existence. Most people look for simple external answers to deep and complicated topics, making them vulnerable to bad actors that pull them into their madness for the sake of power and fame. I believe it is not our society that is broken but our capacity to create internal meaning and positive external validation. Only by addressing this subject can we start to understand how to get out of our current crisis united and with better youth. Our youth need guidance (and most of us, too). It is our duty to help them as they are our future. Meaning is the essence of the human experience and our shared denominator. If we stop arguing about gender, pronounce, patriarchy, politics, and all the rest of the temporary nonsense that mainly makes us feel weak, lost, and victimized, and start talking about shared meaning, internal purpose, and positive role models. Maybe we still have a chance. A chance to give ourselves and our children hope for a better future.