When I developed the Practices for the Renaissance Project I included, “Find Meaning” as one of them. The notion was that unless we feel our lives have some overall meaning, or significance, or purpose, the Renaissance Life becomes a kind of circular endeavor that amounts to little more than an ego trip. That is, if we’re trying to ‘do the improbable’ simply so we can say we did the improbable – we had a lot of interests, and poked around in a lot of creative areas, were Renaissance people in our own minds - and it’s all about us, it rings a little hollow. For me, at least.
Seems like we are hard-wired (if we are not personality disordered) to want to contribute something to the world. Maybe our contribution will be huge, maybe it will be small, but most of us seem to want to do some kind of good in the world. (I know! You can argue that our desire to make a mark is really just a desire to be recognized for making our mark, and so, in the end, it’s all about us anyway. We’ll get to that in a bit.)
For the next few blogs I’ll poke around at this idea of meaning. It’s pretty big really, and worth the dedication of a few blogs. After all, smarter people than I have wrestled with it for, what, 5,000 years?
Maybe a helpful way to think it through is to look at the possible sources of meaning in our lives. Seems to me there are two; extrinsic and intrinsic. Simply put: Is there a God who has already defined what a meaningful life looks like, or are we on our own and responsible for coming up with meaning for ourselves. Be careful! If you are too certain of either side of this argument ( and it is an argument), you’re probably wrong.
Extrinsic Meaning
This approach assumes a God, (god, gods, Source, Common Ground, etc.) and She (He, he, it, Tao, etc.) has either a plan for our lives or a divinely authored set of guidelines for what a “meaningful life” looks like. A few of the great religions (those with the most adherents) include this idea in the fabric of their belief system.
To the atheist this idea is readily dismissed. To the believer it is central. Interestingly, there are a bunch of very smart atheists and a bunch of very smart believers. Fascinating that they have arrived at opposite points of view on an issue that, arguably, is central to our life on earth.
I think a peek at the possibilities and implications of extrinsic purpose is worth our effort.
Intrinsic Meaning
This approach, of course, sees no higher power involved in anything. We’re here on our own, having somehow emerged from the primordial goo through millions of years of evolution, and now we find ourselves in the unique position of being able to conceptualize the notion of meaning for our lives. Where the primordial goo came from is a mystery, but that’s okay because if there was a God, where would He have come from?
To the atheist this idea is obviously reasonable and true. To the believer it is impossible to embrace. May I repeat myself? Interestingly, there are a bunch of very smart atheists and a bunch of very smart believers. Fascinating that they have arrived at opposite points of view on an issue that, arguably, is central to our life on earth.
A shot at wrapping our minds around the “intrinsic meaning” perspective is also a worthwhile effort.
Is There a Middle Ground?
Next blog, I’ll take a poke at Extrinsic Meaning, after that, Intrinsic Meaning. Then, the place at which I have arrived. (It will probably annoy you at first glance, so I’ll be asking you to give it a chance…)
