Let's Say I Achieve "Meaning." What Do I Do Next?
September 24, 2016 at 1:46 pm
(This post was last modified: September 24, 2016 at 1:50 pm by InquiringMind.)
This is a spin-off of my other threads about meaning, but I think it deserves its own thread. Here's a thought experiment: why is "meaning" valuable in the first place? Why should I care about meaning?
Let's say (to create a hypothetical scenario) that I have a superlatively meaningful life. Let's say I have a life that is just oozing with meaning. Let's say that this is my day: I get up in the morning and eat a meaningful breakfast. I walk out to my car, and my car has deep meaning for me. I drive my meaningful car on a route to work that is profoundly meaningful. I get to work, and it's difficult to describe how profoundly meaningful, satisfying, and and fulfilling my job is. I spend eight meaningful hours at my meaningful job, where I get to do meaningful tasks that bring meaning to myself and the people who are meaningful to me. My job is so meaningful that I become overwhelmed and cry several times at the profoundness of the meaning that my job gives me. I then get back in my meaningful car and take my meaningful drive home. I arrive home and kiss my wife. Unlike the kisses of people who are just looking for pleasure, this kiss actually means something. I eat a meaningful dinner, and me and the wife and the kids have a meaningful conversation about meaningful things that really mean something in the world. Then I help the kids with their homework, and helping them is meaningful for me, because my relationship with them is so meaningful and because the stuff they're studying in school is so profound and meaningful. Then the kids go to bed, and me and my wife make love in way that is not just pleasurable, but meaningful. Then I slip off into a peaceful and meaningful sleep that is filled with meaningful dreams.
So let's say that's my day. Let's say I'm living a life that is infused with meaning. A life that is oozing with meaning. A life that is overwhelmingly meaningful. But now I have a new problem - what do I do next? Now that I have achieved a meaningful life, what do I do with this super ultra uber meaningful life? If I've got so much meaning in my life that I have to rent extra storage space to store all of the extra meaning, what do I do next with my life?
Let's say (to create a hypothetical scenario) that I have a superlatively meaningful life. Let's say I have a life that is just oozing with meaning. Let's say that this is my day: I get up in the morning and eat a meaningful breakfast. I walk out to my car, and my car has deep meaning for me. I drive my meaningful car on a route to work that is profoundly meaningful. I get to work, and it's difficult to describe how profoundly meaningful, satisfying, and and fulfilling my job is. I spend eight meaningful hours at my meaningful job, where I get to do meaningful tasks that bring meaning to myself and the people who are meaningful to me. My job is so meaningful that I become overwhelmed and cry several times at the profoundness of the meaning that my job gives me. I then get back in my meaningful car and take my meaningful drive home. I arrive home and kiss my wife. Unlike the kisses of people who are just looking for pleasure, this kiss actually means something. I eat a meaningful dinner, and me and the wife and the kids have a meaningful conversation about meaningful things that really mean something in the world. Then I help the kids with their homework, and helping them is meaningful for me, because my relationship with them is so meaningful and because the stuff they're studying in school is so profound and meaningful. Then the kids go to bed, and me and my wife make love in way that is not just pleasurable, but meaningful. Then I slip off into a peaceful and meaningful sleep that is filled with meaningful dreams.
So let's say that's my day. Let's say I'm living a life that is infused with meaning. A life that is oozing with meaning. A life that is overwhelmingly meaningful. But now I have a new problem - what do I do next? Now that I have achieved a meaningful life, what do I do with this super ultra uber meaningful life? If I've got so much meaning in my life that I have to rent extra storage space to store all of the extra meaning, what do I do next with my life?
