Let's Say I Achieve "Meaning." What Do I Do Next?

[brewer]

What ever the fuck you want that is within your capabilities and within your set/setting.

Once again, POEish.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Of course, you'll have to define "meaning" for yourself in a cogent form. The way you're using it here makes me think you don't understand what it is for yourself, what with the scoffing tone and all.

It's possibly true that here I'm treating "meaning" as a commodity, and that I'm speaking of meaning using economic language, as if it could acquired, bought, and sold.  But is this really unjustified given our zeitgeist, which largely uses economic models to describe human life?  Everything from relationships and sex to religion and politics is spoken of in terms of "costs and benefits" and "supply and demand."  In a world where behavioral economics is the "cutting-edge" model for explaining why people do what they do, is it really wrong to speak of maximizing my sense of meaning in life, and to compare whether I have more meaning than other people do?

I was speaking more to the way you slather "meaning" willy-nilly in your OP to things that don't necessarily have, or need, meaning.

It seems to me to be a form of equivocation.

Life can be meaningful without applying that standard to every tiny facet of it, I think.

[InquiringMind]

live it?

This may be the correct answer, and is possibly the only thing I've talked about here that I actually have the power to do.  It may also be the thing that I was actually made fore.  If Nature created me to be a disposable one-generation vehicle for passing on genes, and if I'm just going to be thrown away and recycled after I've outlived my usefulness, then "living" is the only thing I can really do. 

So maybe it isn't meaning that I really want.  What I really want is immortality.  I seek meaning only because I can't have immortality, and meaning is ultimately unsatisfying to me because it's not immortality.  I want meaning because I want to say, "If I can't have immortality, I at least want to know that my finite life meant something.  But this is still unsatisfying, because I want immortality.  

So I suppose that the next be thing I can do to living forever, is to live for whatever time I can.  So perhaps "live" the correct answer to the question.

[Aroura]

Psychologists say you have to decide to be happy first, not keep looking for something over the horizon.

I'm happy. I have food and shelter, clothes and many luxuries like tv, video games, etc. I read books and sew shenanigans I can. I'm often disturbed by what feel like random thoughts on the futility and meaninglessness of it all, but I do my best to ignore them. Even if true, then thoughts on meaninglessness are meaningless. I'm here, I'm capable of enjoyment, and giving enjoyment to others, so wtf, just do that!

[InquiringMind]

I was speaking more to the way you slather "meaning" willy-nilly in your OP to things that don't necessarily have, or need, meaning.

It seems to me to be a form of equivocation.

Life can be meaningful without applying that standard to every tiny facet of it, I think.

I was trying to explore whether or not meaning was ultimately what I'm looking for.  I was seeing whether having the maximum possible meaning in my life is what I really want.

[Aroura]

live it?

This may be the correct answer, and is possibly the only thing I've talked about here that I actually have the power to do.  It may also be the thing that I was actually made fore.  If Nature created me to be a disposable one-generation vehicle for passing on genes, and if I'm just going to be thrown away and recycled after I've outlived my usefulness, then "living" is the only thing I can really do. 

So maybe it isn't meaning that I really want.  What I really want is immortality.  I seek meaning only because I can't have immortality, and meaning is ultimately unsatisfying to me because it's not immortality.  I want meaning because I want to say, "If I can't have immortality, I at least want to know that my finite life meant something.  But this is still unsatisfying, because I want immortality.  

So I suppose that the next be thing I can do to living forever, is to live for whatever time I can.  So perhaps "live" the correct answer to the question.

I understand, truly I do. I actually feel quite similar. Ultimately, in the grandest scheme of things, our little lives will probably have no lasting impact on the universe. This is depressing and frightening, to me.

But I've realized we just have to stop dwelling on it. As my kids grade school teacher says, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. We have fairly pleasant lives and somewhat deep conciousness, so just enjoy it while you can, and help others do the same. What else CAN you DO?

Many people struggle with these questions, and I hope you find answers you can live contentedly with. It may be something that some of us must always struggle with. Just don't give in to hopelessness and you can win each little battle as it arises.

[Excited Penguin]

Another chain yanker. I have a very difficult time accepting that any of this is sincere.

I think it is. 

And I think people need to start accepting new mentalities around here. I feel like this forum acts one of two ways towards new people. They either bully them into becoming their enemies, or encourage them into towing the line.

We need to be a little more accepting. Some trolls are obvious, but let's not spot them everywhere we look. That's just idiotic. Seriously, stop it.

[Arkilogue]

I was speaking more to the way you slather "meaning" willy-nilly in your OP to things that don't necessarily have, or need, meaning.

It seems to me to be a form of equivocation.

Life can be meaningful without applying that standard to every tiny facet of it, I think.

I was trying to explore whether or not meaning was ultimately what I'm looking for.  I was seeing whether having the maximum possible meaning in my life is what I really want.

And whether you approach it as a quantity of experiences or quality of overall experience and function.

What is the most meaningful function/experience of a lump of coal? To be burned/transformed to release energy? Or energy to be used on it to compress it's loose carbon into crystal diamond?

[InquiringMind]

I understand, truly I do. I actually feel quite similar. Ultimately, in the grandest scheme of things, our little lives will probably have no lasting impact on the universe. This is depressing and frightening, to me.

But I've realized we just have to stop dwelling on it. 

Maybe this is the right strategy.  Maybe the answer to the Great Question is that there is no answer, so stop asking.  Why do I go surfing, then, and why do I finish my PhD?  I guess there isn't a "why."  I do those things because I live.  Asking questions about meaning only takes me down to meaninglessness.

And interestingly, a lot of people who did things that have been lauded as "meaningful" were never trying to do anything meaningful.

[Arkilogue]

I understand, truly I do. I actually feel quite similar. Ultimately, in the grandest scheme of things, our little lives will probably have no lasting impact on the universe. This is depressing and frightening, to me.

You forgot to look on the bright side of that possibility: The universe remains unaltered and consistent for all subsequent lives it can support. Think of a house, what would happen over time if each occupant could alter the frame even by minute amounts? Accumulated deviation over the years would destabilize the house until catastrophic collapse.