Meaning

Humans are creatures that look for meaning. The dreams we have, the goals we set, the actions we take, they are driven by meaning; everything that we as humans do, we do because it means something. Whether you want money, whether you want an impact, whether you want happiness, everything you do want is because the things you want are things that hold meaning to you. Today I’ll give an example of how meaning is more important than objects, expand on how humans chase the meanings of things, and what meaning gives to people.

To define meaning, meaning is representation, what does one thing represent? What does it show? That is meaning. Let’s give a hypothetical situation for meaning: let’s say that there’s a pedestal with a rock atop of it, and around that rock a small moat-esque ring around it with water and rocks that were congruent with the one on the pedestal. Let’s say this is a very special rock, and it represents something very deep for the people who come to witness it. If someone came, and while no one was looking, took the rock on the pedestal, threw it into the moat, took another rock and put it on the pedestal—which, again, is identical to the other rock—it wouldn’t matter, because people don’t exactly care about the rock, they care about what the rock means. I will say, if someone saw this happen, it would lose meaning because the meaning would become devalued if someone saw how easy it was to replace something meaningful to them.

The statement I made previously, “everything that we as humans do, we do it because it means something.” Let’s use some of the cases I presented: money, how does people’s greed have meaning? Money means status, money means power, money means opulence, money means safety (financially). Impact, impact represents your mark on the world, positive or negative, wishing to leave something behind. Happiness, happiness means peace of mind, it means serenity, it means well-being. There’s always a meaning behind the things that people want; make sure the meanings you chase is coherent with your values.

Meaning gives people reason. To put it bluntly, this life doesn’t have much meaning, you’re breathing on this rock, living life… that’s about it. However, humans evolve, that is the purpose, and we’ve evolved to find meaning, give meaning, chase meaning. We are creatures of meaning. This gives us reason, this gives us ambition, this gives us goals, this gives us meaning. It is not a negative thing that humans are creatures searching for meaning, on the contrary, it’s beautiful, and it’s a very positive thing we as humans do. Keep finding meaning, and keep chasing it, it’s what, to put simply, gives your life meaning.

What are your meanings? What are you chasing? Do they cohere with your values? These are questions that are important to ask and answer for ourselves, find your answer, and see whether you need to work out a new solution, or you’re happy. I also hope you’re happy knowing how meaning is more prominent than an object, how humans chase meaning not objects, and what meaning gives to people. I thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed, have an amazing weekend, I’ll see you the next, peace.