Meaning (of life, or anything) is a human construction

Here's some wise words from Richard David Precht in his book, "Who Am I? And If So, How Many?" Great title.

Meaning is invisible to itself; a scale has no idea what it weighs.

The only way to address the question of the meaning of life today is subjectively, to ask what meaning I see in my life. The reason is simple. Meaning is not a characteristic of the world or of nature, but a quintessentially human construction.

"Meaning" is a need and an idea cooked up in our vertebrate brains. The point is not to find meaning in the world; instead, we have to furnish meaning to ourselves.

The question of meaning is thus a human question. Even questions of objective meaning in nature invariably adhere to human ideas, which are dependent upon our consciousness, that is human logic and human language.

Possibly the primary reason underlying our need for meaning is the knowledge that we have to die someday.

The brain does not enjoy contemplating day by day, hour by hour, and second by second the certainty that it is approaching its extinction. Some paleoanthropologists use this awareness to draw the line between animals and people.

The question of meaning in life is thus shaped by uniquely human concerns. And, like all human knowledge, it is an outgrowth of our persoanl experiences, which is why the best we can hope for is to find our own meaning.

But why are we so bent on exploring the meaning of life? And why should life have this one meaning? The need to zero in on a single meaning is very human.

We seem to devote far more thought to the question of the meaning of lie than to why and by what criteria we are actually seeking it. In other words, we examine everything except the quest itself. Writers have enjoyed poking fun at this.

"If there's no meaning in it, that saves a world of trouble, as we needn't try to find any," the King of Hearts says in Lewis Carrolls' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

...Most biologists would surely agree that the goal of life is to live it. That is how nature obviously thought of it -- assuming nature is capable of thought. But of all the characteristics dthat can be found in proteins and amino acids, meaning is not one of them. 

...Perhaps writers and aphorists are the only ones to glean the truth. "I believe that in the end, man is such a free being that his right to be what he thinks he is cannot be disputed," the physicist and author Georg Christoph wrote.

...The only ones ever to have truly grasped the meaning of life are the cast of Monty Python, who reveal the mystery to us at the close of their film The Meaning of Life. 

Now, here's the meaning of life... Well, it's nothing very special, really. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

And if you ask me: Keep your sense of curiosity alive, make your good ideas a reality, and fill your days with life -- not your life with days.

Comments

[Ultra Monk]

This skirts around an idea I've been thinking about. If I had no one to tell about the meaning of my life, would I bother to make it up?

I think that making meaning is taught to children. And if our life is meaningless then we are failures.

[june schlebusch]

My life has always had meaning for me. I,v been overwhelmed by "Its meaning" my big motivation has always been...How am I perceived by others and how do I perceive them, and then how do we all connect in "The great scheme of Things" Where are we going? Who is in control? And then ..:The Big WHY"?

[cc]

The brain does not enjoy contemplating day by day, hour by hour, and second by second the certainty that it is approaching its extinction.

But if the brain didn't mind contemplating its extinction, it wouldn't need the comforting distraction that meaning provides. Once the brain has no doubt that death is extinction and that "I" am ephemeral, it's open to all possible meanings that aren't self-serving, faith-based, or wishful.