The Structure of Meaning in Life
The Structure of Meaning in Life
Last essay and reflection on the Meaning in Life Series
Over the last four essays, we've spent time elucidating the psychology of meaning in life and highlighting some of the modern philosophical problems that are getting in the way of achieving it (you can revisit those essays here). In this essay, I will briefly revisit these four dimensions of meaning in life and elucidate their overarching structure to hopefully provide some insight into meaning in general.
In his Awakening from the Meaning Crisis series, Vervaeke argued the meaning crisis comes from the loss of three orders: the nomological, narrative, and normative, and that these three orders correspond to the four dimensions of meaning in life:
Nomological order (Coherence) ensures there is a world out there governed by laws and rules which we can understand and grasp.
Narrative order (purpose) is that there is some overarching purpose to life which orients us into the future.
Normative order (Significance & Depth) is that we are connected to something with higher value than our egocentric concerns and that that thing we are connected to is real.
Meaning & Video Games
An interesting example from Vervaeke that can help you grasp how these three orders interact and reinforce each other comes from video games. Video games, and I'm including social media as a video game, have a version of these three orders built into them:
Nomological order: the game has rules and laws which you can learn and observe as you play that make sense of the world.
Narrative order: the game has a storyline and missions and goals to pursue.
Normative order: you can literally 'level-up'; see how you are progressing and improving as you play.
Without these three orders built-in, the game would become senseless, and your attention would wane - our attention is optimised for this meaningful edge. Vervaeke argues this is why many people opt for the digital world over the physical world, as the virtual world can provide this meaningful order that our current culture does not (Cults and ideologies also offer low-resolution versions of these three orders).
The Work of Meaning
What does this mean for meaning?
Meaning is about connection, connection to a sensible world, connection to a goal or mission, connection to others, and connection to something valuable beyond yourself. Therefore, increasing meaning in life is about increasing connections, which is done cognitively. The literature on meaning in life identifies building meaning as the critical human cognitive activity (animals don’t have meaning in life). Therefore, meaning comes from your interpretation of life.
Some interpretations are meaningful; others are not. Considering what we said above about cults, some interpretations are meaningful but false? But does that mean some interpretations are both meaningful and true? I would argue that this was the sweet spot that ancient philosophy was looking for: the optimal way of life results from the optimal interpretation of life. Hence, it is the job of art and philosophy to improve our interpretation of life and our connections and sense of meaning in life. Therefore, we can improve our interpretation of life by doing philosophy and art.
The current meaning crisis is a creative and philosophical call to action to generate a better interpretation, individually and collectively. In other words, the loss of meaning is an opportunity to find a deeper source of meaning! This work of a new interpretation that is both meaningful and true is the fight of our generation. Suffering, tragedy, and death equalise us all; therefore, the quest for meaning unites us all.
(PS Happy Christmas! I hope you enjoy the holidays, and we will be back in January with more essays and podcasts and some massive announcements)