Zero to 1: Exploring Meaning & Meaninglessness & Mean-Making
5 INSIGHTS
I.
Claiming that life is meaningless is itself attributing meaning to life.
II.
Our feelings of meaninglessness reveal our core beliefs about the nature of reality and ourselves. Nihilism and absurdity have their roots in materialism.
III.
When we face a crisis of meaning, it's a sign that our old meaning-making maps are falling apart and we have the opportunity to rediscover life.
IV.
Mistaking our maps for reality itself leads to confusion and suffering.
V.
The very fact that we are aware and can update our maps of meaning points to our deeper reality that goes beyond name and form.
4 Quotes
I.
"Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer." —Joseph Campbell
II.
"Meaninglessness inhibits fullness of life and is therefore equivalent to illness." —Carl Jung
III.
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances." —Viktor Frankl
IV.
"We're all going to die, all of us. What a circus! That alone should make us love each other, but it doesn't." —Charles Bukowski
1 Question
Recall a moment when you felt that "nothing matters." What beliefs about reality were you holding in that moment?
Now consider how that changed when your strong feelings dissolved.