For such a simple little word there is so much
significance to understanding and applying it. It took me a very long time to
try and come up with something to write for my second M post - so long in fact
that I believe I am now ridiculously behind on the alphabet. But last night,
just as I was drifting off to sleep it came to me. I should write about the
importance of meaning. Now, as with all good ideas that spring to life in those
brief moments before you finally fall asleep they didn't get much further
beyond that initial thought (or it if did I don't remember) and so I apologize
that this post will probably be quite disjointed as I'm not entirely working with
a plan here.
What does it mean?
How often do we ask ourselves this question? I especially
see this trend a lot among those who follow a spiritual path of any description
(but mostly non-mainstream). The desire to understand why a series of events has
taken place and the importance of said events to our lives. Now there is a long
discourse I could go into here about how this is all a part of the human
condition. How we are creatures with the desire to know, to attempt to
understand the world and our place within it. This is after all why we have
religions and spiritual practices, it is all a part of our need to figure it
all out. But I'm going to leave that discussion there for now because its long
winded, involves a lot of referencing and honestly I don't have the time or
resources right at this moment to get into it. If people are really interested
I'll recommend some books. They'll make your brain turn to mush but they're
great.
So on to my point. We strive to find meaning in our
lives, its natural, its instinctive and it makes us feel less small. But is it
always necessary? Does everything have to have a significance? Does it have to
be something that was intended, or caused, or part of a bigger picture? Does
shit just happen? At what point do we draw the line between acknowledging the
pattern of things and the possibility that the energy in the universe can be
affected by our manipulations and surrendering to the idea that sometimes stuff
just happens?
Assigning Meaning?
This is another idea I've been pondering. Who gives
something meaning? Why do we give it meaning. This is particularly potent I
believe in our practices. We assign so much meaning to certain colors, symbols,
events, words etc but how often do we stop to think of why we do this? Are we
just doing it this way because the book says so, because your friends all do it
that way, or is it because to you there is a significance, a special meaning
that clicks inside your mind and that radiates with that inner power?
From that point, does something gain meaning and
significance because enough people have dictated that it is to be so? If it
appears to be generally accepted that a particular color has a certain meaning
yet this doesn't resonate with you should you be forcing yourself to accept the
meaning of others or your own? To my mind, working with things that hold
meaning in your own mind is of far greater power than attempting to fit into
the beliefs of others. However, there is argument too for the idea that if enough
people focus on a particular meaning than that has power too. See, no easy
answers.
Just the pondering of my somewhat caffeine deprived brain
this morning.
