How and why modernity failed. All systems of meaning—religious, political, artistic, psychological—began to fall apart. Nihilism seemed the only alternative.| Meaningness
A reading list is a great idea—thanks! It would be a lot of work… but fun! For now, some books chosen without great care. The first three are the largest influences on Meaningness, but are quite difficult. There are some easier and more fun books later, plus one extremely fun movie at the end!| meaningness.com
Fluidity addresses the atomization of culture, society, and self with ships that sail the sea of meaning: collaborative, improvised, intimate, and playful.| Meaningness
Monism and dualism both offer concepts of the supposed true self as a coherent entity.| Meaningness
Great confusions about meaningness stem from the mistaken assumption that there must be some sort of eternal ordering principle.| Meaningness
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It would be an exaggeration to say that “Zen” was invented as a defense against American gunboats. It would not be completely wrong, however.| Vividness
The hippie counterculture was structurally and functionally similar to the Moral Majority Christian Right counterculture a decade later.| Meaningness
Ultimate is a word that can be legitimately used in discussions of meaning. Often, though, it is advertising hype, or a weasel-word.| Meaningness
Over the past century, systems of meaning gradually disintegrated, and a series of new modes of meaningness developed.| Meaningness
The culture war, political polarization, Baby Boomer bafflement: the unending zombie slugfest pairing the two countercultures of the 1960s-80s.| Meaningness
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My last post contrasted Buddhist Tantra with “Sutrayana,” which is supposed to be a summary of non-Tantric Buddhism. In future posts, I’ll ask how accurately “Sutrayana” reflects actual Buddhisms such as Theravada and Zen.| Vividness
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What we want most from meaning is guarantees. Religions, political ideologies, and other eternalist systems promise certainty; but they cannot deliver.| Meaningness
A bridge from systematic rationality to fluid meta-rational understanding may be necessary to prevent civilizational collapse.| Meta-rationality
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Systems of society, culture, and the self were the foundation of the modern world. Their glories have passed.| Meaningness
By “ethics,” in quotes, I mean talk about ethics, rather than what people actually do. This page explains “ethics” as signaling: personal advertisement. We all display “ethicalness” as a strategy for looking like attractive mates and coworkers, by signaling class status, tribal loyalty, and superior personality traits.| Vividness
Modernity was built on certainty in science and mathematics. That was revealed as delusional during the early 20th century.| Meaningness
Your post on the different stances mostly focused on ideation, regarding what goes on individually in relation to meaningness. I imagine that, for most of us, this cognitive process is habitual and out of awareness. That led me to think about the stances’ effect on behaviour, how that propels our flip-flopping from one to another - and how it might be a key to recognising our own underlying stances. This could be confusing: behaviours derived from a stance often appear to mean, and are r...| meaningness.com
Current pop spirituality is based on German Romantic Idealism from two centuries ago. I outline the key ideas these movements share.| Meaningness
Robert Kegan’s model of adult development has profoundly influenced my understanding of ethics, relationships, society, and thought. This page summarizes his theory.| Vividness
