Do you find meaning in everything?
- Thread starter Gaze
- Start date
I like to analyse things. Not sure if that's searching for meaning or trying to achieve a better understanding. I enjoy it most of the time but I can get a little obsessive about it. One realization leads to another and another kind of thing. It's fascinating but I have to give my mind and self a break from the continual analytical scrutiny. That's one of the reasons I'm into sports. It's a good mind/body balance. The two basically take the same amount of concentration and effort just in completely different ways.
I have OCD so I can relate. My mind is hyper critical and analytical. It's like a trickster mind, constantly looking at everything from multiple perspectives. Like a detective. Life is mysterious to me, so there is always something, big or small, to figure out. Life presents us with a series of problems to solve. The deeper you can think about them the better. I am extremely psychologically and philosophically oriented. The infj in me is fascinated by ethics, personality and social dynamics. There really is too much data out there so you have to prioritize. You can go crazy from both extremes actually, both too much and not enough info/experience/stimulation. I try my best to not get overwhelmed. Easier said than done.
I also find meaning and simultaneously meaninglessness in everything.
Some of the worlds best thinkers conceded that we each apply our own meaning, to an otherwise meaningless existence... and I would add to that relevance. I'd very much like to fall asleep and never wake up again.. But until that happens, my greatest curiosity will be in the 'unexplained' and the 'unknowns'. Following the rabbit holes which are avoided or dismissed by most. After all, I want to discover something new, and contribute something new.. Not parrot off what is already 'known'.
I'd say that have been, and probably still am, obsessive in exploring the para-normal. I've had several paranormal experiences which I would like to understand better. I'm also obsessive in other capacities.
Last edited:
Probably I tend to look for more meaning in trivialities than is relevant/constructive to my life. For a long time it was really hard not to see significance in every look or comment I observed in others. I am trying to relax and realize that most people are just trying to get through their day and that often these things mean pretty close to nothing (or nothing relevant to me). I am not so great socially, and over-thinking/looking for significance in everything is one of my big set-backs.Edit: And to answer the question more fully, I think I tend to look for reasons in trivial things because I am so bad at social navigation that it is like walking around a foreign country with a translation dictionary. I look for meaning in everything because I feel I understand nothing, so I am missing some kind of filter which sorts the chaff from the important stuff.
Last edited:
I see God in everything. Life and death. Heart of cedar lying on a beach for many years worn to perfection. It is like the spirit of the tree living on.....to me.
Earthquakes have meaning to me. The world is fighting, but let us stop long enough to send food and blankets to someone.
A mere picture taken with a friend decades ago reminds me of them everyday while they have been long gone. All those fond memories.
Someone that doesn't want me to have a decoy to remember a friend by. Someone that holds out their hand now when promised something more specific earlier. Someone who can't bring a 12 pack to a weekly fireside chat and free dinner because they usually only drink two, but look at the new property I bought. Sell me something out of tolerance because it will cost them to fix it. No, we do not offer free dinner and fireside chats any longer. What was the meaning of that to them? Not the same as to me.
What is the meaning of an eclipse? Perfection in the heavens? Symmetry?
Why did someone stop trying to help me when they saw it was working? Do they want to see me fall? Shall I not fall in spite of it? What is the meaning of those feelings from both?
I said this, but I didn't mean it to sound that way.
Earthquakes have meaning to me. The world is fighting, but let us stop long enough to send food and blankets to someone.
A mere picture taken with a friend decades ago reminds me of them everyday while they have been long gone. All those fond memories.
Someone that doesn't want me to have a decoy to remember a friend by. Someone that holds out their hand now when promised something more specific earlier. Someone who can't bring a 12 pack to a weekly fireside chat and free dinner because they usually only drink two, but look at the new property I bought. Sell me something out of tolerance because it will cost them to fix it. No, we do not offer free dinner and fireside chats any longer. What was the meaning of that to them? Not the same as to me.
What is the meaning of an eclipse? Perfection in the heavens? Symmetry?
Why did someone stop trying to help me when they saw it was working? Do they want to see me fall? Shall I not fall in spite of it? What is the meaning of those feelings from both?
I said this, but I didn't mean it to sound that way.
My ex used to be like this and it made me kind of sick. I think because of that I stopped looking for meaning in anything on purpose.
Between assigning meaning to everything because you want to be over dramatic and manipulative vs not seeing significance/meaning/blah blah in everything? There's a difference.
Agreed.
At least in my opinion, meaning is subjective. To the rest of the world, passing by a lone tree along a highway, they would just see a tree. To the loved one of someone who had crashed into the tree, they would see much more.
Things have the meaning and weight we give them. Without meaning, paper currency would be worthless. You could burn it, and it'd just be burnt paper. But it means something. You aren't just burning paper. You're burning a $100 bill, which you possibly worked quite hard for.
Things are only worth as much as we let them be worth.
Totally agree. According to existentialism, meaning is assigned, not inherent. And everything is potentially meaningful and relative. Synchronicity speaks to this idea. If some meaningful coincidence occurs, is it inherently purposeful, or is it personal and imagined? Could be either or even both. Meaning can be a very complex topic. What I do know is that Socrates was right. The unexamined life is pointless. If you never find meaning in experience, you are basically a zombie. Why live if there is no meaning whatsoever? So yes, meaning is important and you need to seek it out, but sometimes a cigar is only something that smells bad. Writing this post is meaningful for me. Perhaps it is meaningless to you. Who knows?
Between trying NOT to find meaning in anything, just to prove something to yourself. Not everyone is manipulative or overly dramatic. People see what they see. Maybe you had a bad experience with someone?
I once saw something nobody else saw. I had to say something just to know.
People can be so exempt. I learned the things I see may not be for anyone else. That was thirty years ago. I still ponder it. Things we see can be offensive to others. They can be helpful. They can be kept inside or shared with the world we know. Sharing can be offensive to our own self, as people question you out of a pretense you might be crazy. Why me? Why not me? Why him? What the heck does that mean? To question is to be human.
People can be so exempt. I learned the things I see may not be for anyone else. That was thirty years ago. I still ponder it. Things we see can be offensive to others. They can be helpful. They can be kept inside or shared with the world we know. Sharing can be offensive to our own self, as people question you out of a pretense you might be crazy. Why me? Why not me? Why him? What the heck does that mean? To question is to be human.