Dear wonderers,
I’ve stumbled upon the video essay below, and it changed my understanding of existentialism and nihilism. Sure, there’s more to study here, but it made me think about meaning and how, even though there might not be an external one, we’re bound to create it — as moral, creative, social duty.
In the spirit of the fall as a form of *new* beginning or, at least, a mid-year reset, let’s create some meaning of our own!
I’ll go first:
#ToSee
We’ve been on a series bingeing spree, and boy, oh boy, do these stories make you think about life, death, and what to value every day — that’s all I’m going to say, just go watch them:
1.
2.
3.
#ToRead
Actually, part of the reason I started thinking about nihilism today is that I’m currently reading Wilson’s The meaning of human existence – highly recommended for an exploration of biology and humanism ;)
If we’re talking meaning, we can’t ignore the glaring problem at hand: AI. Here’s an essay that puts things in perspective, though I’m wondering if we can actually talk about intelligence in this case.
#ToListen
My latest musical obsession has a funny name: Vampire bat.
Poetry, the ultimate form of meaning-making.
Liberty, emotion, and an artist’s radical views.
#ToTry
How about some amazing world-building, characters, and music to test your skills? — or, as Nerdwriter would put it, escape into meaning with a splash of dexterity:
Check out:
and
#ToPonder
If there’s no inherent meaning to life, what gives meaning to your life? Or, maybe a better follow-up question, how do you *make* meaning in your life?
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Your turn!
Let me know in the comments below what meaning(s) you wish to bring into your day-to-day?
Ref to: If there’s no inherent meaning to life, what gives meaning to your life? Or, maybe a better follow-up question, how do you *make* meaning in your life?
What we know from neuroscience is that your brain has an automatic, unconscious predisposition to assign meaning to everything it sees and experiences. You cannot avoid assigning significance to what you perceive or live. If you ask it, your brain will immediately offer a story (a sense, a meaning) that will stitch together events and things no matter how disparate or random. Some stories will be more realistic, others more fantastical, depending on how your brain was educated in childhood. Some people will settle for the childlike stories born of their own mind or of those who’ve made a profession out of selling stories for others to believe. Others will try to verify these stories, confront them with the bio-psycho-social reality, and choose the stories (the sense, the meaning) that have the most positive real impact on their lives and on those around them. In other words, the same eternal struggle between two worldviews: the religious-authoritarian and the scientific-experimental.