# The Essence of Meaning...



## Makalakumu (Apr 14, 2008)

First of all, let me preface the following with the fact that, at present, I am a high school teacher and these questions have raged in my mind my entire career.  Now, I stand at the brink of quitting my profession and I feel like I just need to throw this out there to get as many opinions as possible.  

What is meaning?  What makes things meaningful?  And, lastly, for the brave, what kinds of things did a teacher do to help you find meaning or make something meaningful?

I'm giving this simple assignment in class today.  I don't know if some of my students are mature enough to handle it, but I've been surprised before.  I enjoy being surprised.


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## JadecloudAlchemist (Apr 14, 2008)

> What is meaning


 Any Dictionary can give you this however I do not think you are looking for a defination but something deeper. In its true essence meaning has no meaning it is thought that arises that bridges the gap between meaning and no meaning.



> What makes things meaningful


 Perception and view of belief that  it is illusion or real. 



> lastly, for the brave, what kinds of things did a teacher do to help you find meaning or make something meaningfu


 
By seeing that meaning and no meaning are the same coin different side.


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## Dagney Taggert (Apr 14, 2008)

Loaded question, and the answers are like snowflakes.


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## Makalakumu (Apr 14, 2008)

Dagney Taggert said:


> ...and the answers are like snowflakes.


 
They are all beautiful?


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## Errant108 (Apr 14, 2008)

They all melt down the back of your neck & get your underwear wet.


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## Makalakumu (Apr 14, 2008)

Errant108 said:


> They all melt down the back of your neck & get your underwear wet.


 
Very Buddhist.  I see your point.


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## Steel Tiger (Apr 14, 2008)

I was a long way through my formal education before I got any inkling as to an answer to this sort of question.  It came in the form of a university lecturer who introduced me to epistemology, the theory of knowledge.

At its most basic level it posits three questions:
What is knowledge?
How is knowledge acquired?
What do people know?

The theory further suggests that knowledge is the resultant intersection between what people believe and the truth.  That small mysterious place between these two is knowledge.

In my opinion meaning can only grow from knowing.  If I know nothing of something then I can derive no meaning from it.  Let me give you an example.

The last time I spoke with my grandfather we discussed, as we so often did, cricket and his involvement in it.  As I say we talked of this often but that particular conversation stays with me constantly.  Why?  Because in this instance I knew he was very sick and that it might be the last time we spoke.  Knowing this gave the conversation meaning because it was the last time I spoke to him.  The content of our chat was no different to those many other conversations but, where I cannot remember any of the previous ones, with this one I can remember all sorts of minute details.  I did not consciously seek to remember these things.  My knowledge gives that particular conversation meaning for me.

And there is a very important point about meaning.  It is very subjective and very, very personal.  The fact that I talked about cricket with my grandfather before he died has meaning, but only to me.


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 15, 2008)

Steel Tiger said:


> And there is a very important point about meaning. It is very subjective and very, very personal. The fact that I talked about cricket with my grandfather before he died has meaning, but only to me.


 
That right there pretty much says what I feel "meaning" is :asian:


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## thardey (Apr 15, 2008)

We see the difference in meaning a lot here of MT, particularly in the Study. 

Facts _mean_ what they mean only when you've interpreted them through your own world view.

Like Steel Tiger's conversation about cricket -- it means a lot more than the facts and history presented about cricket. It was the interpretation and value of those facts that were affected because of his personal experience.

"Words have meaning" - but that meaning can be different depending on how we each view the world. Words like power, submission, fight, love, and sex all bring up different _meanings_ to different people. Yes, we can agree on the dictionary's definition, but that definition has to be interpreted in my life before it has any meaning for me.

I think the idea of something _meaningful_ is one of those experiences that means _a lot_ to a person -- something that is used to interpret other facts, or is more than the sum of the facts put together. It's something that changes our individual worlds -- it changes how we see.



> lastly, for the brave, what kinds of things did a teacher do to help you find meaning or make something meaningful



My teacher was experience. I went through a period of my life that was only fact, rationalized and categorized. I interpreted each fact many different ways, and didn't allow any of them to become personal. Things that should have affected me didn't.

It was a living death.

Then I started to allow things to touch me, sad things brought sorrow, good things brought happiness. I became outraged at the sad state of the world, and I found hope in the little things. Facts began to mean something again. That's all I can really say.


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## diamondbar1971 (Apr 15, 2008)

The answer for this one is different for each individual. We always joke with my daughters as to what they want to do after college...we offer scatology as a choice for a major course of study. (the study of animal droppings) we could buy a gift for both of them and it would be a box of horse poop. one daughter would cry because thats all she got and the other one would be out in the yard trying to find where we hid the horse.


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## OnlyAnEgg (Apr 23, 2008)

I love these kinds of questions.

Seems to me that an event (and, subsequently, objects tied to the event) have meaning only when the profoundly affect me.  For example, I have a little McD's toy of Boo from Monster's Inc that I have kept because it reminds me of an interaction I had with my ex's daughter involving the successful and attempted kidnappings of her Sulley plush doll.  That time spent playing with her affected me because of the playful bond it created between us.  The toy has meaning to me because of the event.

Meaning, therefor, is a spectrum.  I have memories of events that affected me enough to cause a memory and events that touched so deeply as to cause a change in the way I live my life.

It was said that meaning is subjective.  I agree.  The level of meaning is entirely subject to the depth in which something touches us.

Hope the assignment went well!


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## Dagney Taggert (Apr 27, 2008)

I have read these posts, and the consensus seems to be that meaning is intense and personal; and arises from the moments that are deeply connected to emotional scenarios, moments of intense LIVING, thinking, seizing the moment. 

If true living produces meaning, and that which makes meaning is different for all, can meaning be an art form? Can it be a weapon?  Can it also be our beacon of ethics?

Do humans sometimes allow meaning to cause our own self destruction?  Do we have the power to use meaning to change our society to a superior level?


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## hkfuie (Jan 3, 2009)

Maunakumu,

I had a teacher who gave assignments like the one you are describing.  At the time, many of my classmates thought he was the greatest teacher they had ever had.  I, unfortunately, was not very mature for my age, so I did not get alot of the lessons on the level the teacher was hoping for.  But he produced booklets of poetry and essays from the students' assignments in the class.  I still have those books and now I agree.  He was the most amazing teacher.


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## shesulsa (Jan 3, 2009)

Maunakuma ...

"Meaning" is simply what YOU make it.  The meaning in anything is all about what you want it to mean, need it to mean, make it to mean.  It is assigned purpose decided upon by you.  

This will come from a mixture of intent, desire, position in process, mood, requirement in its category and moral compass.  In fact, I'd say Meaning comes from purpose which comes from personal moral compass.

For example:

My oldest son has autism.  When he was diagnosed, it was a bit like mourning the death of the child I thought I had and accepting another one I didn't know at all.

What having this child in my life *means* is all, really, about me. It could have been a tragedy, it could have been a disaster, it could have been just another challenge, it could have been rejected and have no meaning whatsoever in my life, it could have been the greatest opportunity to help someone I've ever encountered, it could have been the best chance I'd ever get to know what I'm really made of, learn a lot, develop a treatment plan for something considered untreatable, etc.

For me is was a handful of those things but there are many others for whom it is the others.  So why is the same event defined differently from person to person?  I think it just comes down to that old and true adage, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  If you want the biggest heartbreak in your life to define who you are, then it will mean your ruination.  If you want or need it to mean a bump in your very long road - something you learn from, then you will make it that.

So meaning, to me, is much like truth - all about perspective, experience and need.

Nice assignment for teenagers.  It will get some of them really thinking.  It's surely an assignment none of them will ever forget.  I had a teacher like you in HS.  We had some of the best conversations in my life and they got me through some pretty tough times.

Keep up the good work.


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## GBlues (Jan 3, 2009)

maunakumu said:


> First of all, let me preface the following with the fact that, at present, I am a high school teacher and these questions have raged in my mind my entire career. Now, I stand at the brink of quitting my profession and I feel like I just need to throw this out there to get as many opinions as possible.
> 
> What is meaning? What makes things meaningful? And, lastly, for the brave, what kinds of things did a teacher do to help you find meaning or make something meaningful?
> 
> I'm giving this simple assignment in class today. I don't know if some of my students are mature enough to handle it, but I've been surprised before. I enjoy being surprised.


 
I think the meaning of the question has more to do with the answer than the question. You've asked this question for a reason, and prefaced it with the fact that you have been a teacher your whole carreer, and are now about to quit your chosen trade. The meaning of the word 'meaning' is not 'what is meaning'. For you it is what gives meaning to your job. The reality is, nothing gives any meaning to a job or carreer, unless you make it have meaning. Otherwise it's just a job, something you do to make money and pay the bills. If that is all your job gives you is money, it's pretty much worthless. You won't like it, you'll hate it all the time, and for you it will have no meaning, no point. As a teacher your meaning comes from the teaching of students and watching those that take the knowledge that you have imparted upon them, and become successful because of the things that you have taught them. In other words to see the fruits of your labor become something more. If one can not see the benefit, in the moment that they are in, it will not be meaningful. It just will be. If you can not see the benefits of what you do, it will not be meaningful, it will be a laborous, demeaning task for you. If you can see the benefits of what you do, then yes, there will be days that your bummed, because you just can't seem to get it right. However, 90% of your work life in that job or path, will be joyous, because you will see the benefits of your work. For yourself and for others you have helped. That is what I think that your asking. Not what does it mean, because to every person it means something different. I believe your asking in the context of our jobs, our work, our home lives perhaps, not in general. So, really the question I think is, Is your life and work meaningful to you? Do you see the benefits, the fruits of your labor? If so why quit? Unless your retiring and then I say congratulations enjoy it. If not, you started teaching for a reason, what changed?

Humbly:asian:


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