bound
What is the "meaning crisis" today? I have heard this term used in various places but besides a vague feeling that it describes something pervasive today, it's unclear what exactly it is. But I will attempt to summarize what I understand of it from my experience of living life.
Let us start with the common question of "what is the meaning of life?" This is the classic "deep" question that comes up ever so often in people's lives, but I do not think most people have given it very much thought. And perhaps for good reason.
This question, rather than inviting answers, seems to raise more questions. What is "meaning"? Often, people, especially in today's liberal democratic landscape, jump to the answer of "there is no meaning." This is a classic representation of the liberal attitude of being open to everything, but lacking any sort of framework to evaluate what is being accepted.
Often, just because something is new, and opposes tradition, it is considered good and welcomed. Tradition is by default considered restrictive, oppressive, and at best, unnecessary. And there are conditions in which this view of tradition came to transpire.
Traditional frameworks of gender, sexuality, and spirituality are no longer effective. This is not so much an assertion as much as an observation. Less people are interested in religion today, and gender and sexual orientation has become a contentious topic as people have begun to examine whether these frameworks are actually empowering or oppressive.
However, these frameworks did provide in the past, a simple path to a meaningful life. You grow up, get married, start a family, and in that family assume certain roles based on your gender. And all through life you must serve God. And this was the simple path to a fulfilling life.
Other systems of belief that have given people meaning, like patriotism, have also fallen apart. National unity in America is at an all time low. Trust in the state has fallen on both sides of the political spectrum.
Without getting into too much detail, the general attitude towards "meaning" has become that there is no meaning, or that meaning is something you construct.
How do you come up with meaning? Is it just based on how deeply you believe in it?
When people say that the meaning of life is something each individual is supposed to come up with, they mean it in the sense of self-prescribed goals. People who believe this do not think they are discovering the true meaning behind life, what they mean is that they have found something that they themselves deem meaningful enough that it overshadows everything else in their lives.
But that doesn't explain the meaning of life itself, which targets more deeply the nature of existence. What does it mean to exist, and why do we exist? Do we even exist?
Even before cogito ergo sum, existence is there. The logic of Descartes is sound, but he made an extra assumption: that what exists is this "I".
In existing, there is no "I". There is only existence itself. Imagine for a moment you had no thoughts. Not a single thought at all.
Existence is still there. And yet there is no I. What truly exists is not a self, but existence itself. Existence is what is existing. And this "I" that we have fashioned ourselves, is just a tiny part of Existence.
It is not that you are this "Existence". The Existence just is, and upon realizing there is no self, Existence still is.
Then, what is the nature of this Existence? It is everywhere, and simultaenously nowhere. It is everything, but also nothing.