Comment by sbf501 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sbf501 | Hacker News Reader

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Ah, excellent question!

Words are funny things, they have different meanings, and in the case of words with such broad opportunity it is my responsibility to clarify myself. That's why philosophy books always start out defining terms.

I put "purpose" and "calling" (and "mission") into a category of fixed, one-dimensional, outcomes. "My calling is thing X, that is all I do."

Same thing with "meaning". It is too big to be meaningful, ironically.

For me, what gives life value is experiencing peace of mind and detachment from suffering: it is what it is, along with novelty so that it doesn't get boring.

There is no "meaining" in there, no "purpose", no "calling", in this world-view.

I'm trying to steer OP away from a certain fixity, which in my experience (both in myself and in observing others, and in reading) only leads to more anxiety.

Interesting thoughts, thanks for the reply! I am very much in agreement with you on some of these points. I think you're absolutely right that people can think in a way that is too existentially broad and disconnected from concrete reality in a way that actually magnifies their suffering, rather than reducing it.

That said, I think "value" can be just as broad/general and, in some uses, might actually be being used as synonymous with "purpose." I don't think people generally have in mind the Aristotelian "final cause" (the end, that for the sake of which a thing is done) when they use the word "purpose". OP may have been, I don't know.

The way I think about it — and I think what most have in mind when they ask such questions, although, not necessarily OP, I acknowledge — is a feeling that you are using your time in a way that is worthwhile. Or, perhaps, in psycho-physiological terms, experiencing a signaling that says "there aren't more important things you I could be occupying myself with" (not at every moment, but generally).

Jordan Peterson was once asked about meaning and the way he articulated it gave me a lot of food for thought. He said: "To me, meaning is implication for action for reorganization of the perceptual frames that frame action." I think this is very useful and sort of responds to some of your points/concerns in that it anchors the question of meaning in action.

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