THE MEANING OF MEANING The most basic meaning of the word meaning is association. If we associate two different elements (say, A and B) on a consistent basis, we say that A = B, which is another way of saying, if A then B, which is yet another way of saying, A means B. If we see, for example, a sliver of a moon in the sky (A) we know from experience (from consistent observation) that over the course of a few short days a steadily larger moon (B) will follow. We could say then that a sliver of a moon today means a full moon in a couple of weeks. There is always some form of association attached to the word meaning in the practical or mundane world. When we consider this most fundamental meaning of meaning, the popular question, What is the meaning of life? becomes downright nonsensical. What, after all, does such a question suggest? What is it associated with? If we apply the basic formula for meaning, using it as a sort of template, it becomes clear that the infamous question is really trying to ask, If life (A), then what (B)? In other words, the question is trying to ask what life’s purpose is, as if it were inquiring, If you have life (A), what are you supposed to do with it (B)? as if you have this thing (A), but you have no matching thing (B) to associate with it. My answer to this pervasive question seems somehow to naturally to spring from desire, the desire to experience pleasure. The purpose of life is pleasure, at least for me. You of course may say what it is for you. The very fact that we can do this (decide what its purpose is based upon our personal preferences), is surely proof positive that it contains no inherent purpose of its own. There is no inherent purpose (meaning) in life. Any purpose or meaning that we attach to it is just that; something that we attach to it. In other words, we made it up. We fabricated the very idea of meaning. The natural world contains no meaning. It only possesses atoms and molecules and the forces that move them. That, in summary, is all that the natural world contains. If we think that we see something else, something other than atoms and molecules, then we are seeing but the reflection of our own thoughts bouncing off those atoms and molecules.
But ... What Does It All Mean? Purpose-Driven Life? Fuck Off!
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