Fluidity

Nihilism says nothing means anything—but no one actually believes that. Lite nihilism weakens the claim, to make it plausible. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-hardcore-vs-lite https://meaningness.com/190-proof-nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee...

Nihilism is the wrong idea that nothing is meaningful, based on the accurate realization that there is no external, eternal source of meaning. https://meaningness.com/nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Or...

The author has moved the chapter of the book we'll read in today's episode. The chapter now belongs earlier in the book than where we are. It belongs between episode 16, "Meaningfulness", and episode 17, "Eternalism". So, I'm going to back up and read this chapter now, out of order. Meaning cannot be either objective or subjective. But meaning does exist: as interaction. https://meaningness.com/ob...

We're taking a break from narrating Meaningness to read an important foundational essay by the author of Meaningness, David Chapman. As we reach the end of the Eternalism section of Meaningness, it's time for one of the essays I included in the Patreon backer survey. This essay is an overview by David Chapman of the work of psychologist Robert Kegan, a scholar of adult cognitive development. This...

Accomplishing eternalism would would mean knowing the meaning of everything, and acting accordingly. This is impossible, because there are no fixed meanings. https://meaningness.com/accomplishing-eternalism Learning skills for escaping the grip of eternalism—the delusion that everything is meaningful. https://meaningness.com/after-eternalism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week earl...

Systems such as religions and political ideologies reinforce eternalism. They dispel doubt by denying nebulosity. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalist-systems You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Ori...

Eternalism -- belief in fixed meanings -- makes promises it can't keep. It makes us do stupid, crazy, evil things. And we still love it and keep going back for more. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-considered-harmful You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider...

This episode contains the final page of "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism's final promise is to keep nihilism at bay. There is a better alternative to both! Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-as-salvation-from-nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consi...

This episode contains the fourth part of "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism promises answers about good and bad- the meanings we care about most- but cannot deliver. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/wheel-of-fortune You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me...

Last episode, we covered the first two pages of the section "The Appeal Of Eternalism", about the illusions of certainty and understanding. This episode contains the third page, about control. Eternalism promises complete control over life — but that is an impossible fantasy. Influence through collaboration and improvisation are possible, however. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/control...

This is the second of our bonus episodes, outside of the audiobook. I interview David Chapman on the secular and the sacred. I ask him questions about his background in Buddhism and Wicca, and my experiences with the TV shows "Cosmos" and "Veggie Tales", EPCOT Center, Burning Man, and the Universism movement active from 2003 to 2007 (as distinct from Unitarian Universalism). The question for you,...

Parts 1 and 2 of this book's section "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism promises everything you could want from meaning: safety, support, certainty, reassurance, and control. Solid ground! 1. The promise of certainty: What we want most from meaning is guarantees. Religions, political ideologies, and other eternalist systems promise certainty; but they cannot deliver. 2. The illusion of underst...

Eternalism is the wrong idea that everything has a definite meaning, fixed by an external ordering principle. I get duped by eternalism in a casino: Gambling, religion, and addiction-- a personal story. Great confusions about meaningness stem from the mistaken assumption that there must be some sort of eternal ordering principle. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism https://meaning...

Some things are meaningful, and others aren't. This is obvious; yet most confusions about meaning begin by denying it. Claims that everything is meaningful, or that nothing is, are motivated by fears: fear of the opposite. We have a choice of explanations: ones that are simple, clear, harmful, and wrong; or ones that are complex, vague, helpful, and approximately right. Original text at: https://m...

For the past few months, I've been assembling cast members, to edit their performances together into a full-cast recording of this week's chapter. What is the meaning of an extra-marital affair—or any relationship? A philosophical short story illustrates the puzzle of the nebulosity of meaningness. Thanks to Bruce Webber of the Phase Shift podcast for his performance of the viewpoint character, Ch...

At 48 minutes, this episode is longer than most. A complete summary overview of all the dimensions of meaningness, with all the common stances one can take to them. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/all-dimensions-schematic-overview You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consid...

This mid-week bonus episode features a 20-minute excerpt from my interview with David Chapman, in which we discuss his plans for finishing Meaningness. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold   Original music by Kevin...

Dualism, nihilism, and monism are the three main approaches to fundamental questions of meaning. This book proposes a better, fourth alternative. This begins the third section of Meaningness, "Doing Meaning Better". Original text at: https://meaningness.com/big-three-stance-combinations You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/...

Relationships one may have with "stances" (basic attitudes toward meaningness) include adopting, committing, accomplishing, wavering, and appropriating. This ends the second section of Meaningness, an introduction to stances. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/relationships-with-stances You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon...

The key aspects of a stance toward meaning, and how to use them effectively. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/stance-anatomy You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podc...

A practice of replacing confused, dysfunctional patterns of thinking and feeling about meaning with accurate ones. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/meaningness-practice You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnol...

Properly understanding meaning eliminates needless suffering. An application: ethics. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/confusion-completion-misery-and-joy You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original mus...

Note: This is episode 8, but it first aired with the audio file for episode 9. I have now corrected it, so you may wish to listen again. Confusions about meaning can be resolved using a method for looking at ways nebulosity affects the subject matter. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/resolution The method for resolving confusion about meaning through accepting nebulosity is not a genera...

Fixation and denial are the two simplest ways of refusing to deal with the nebulosity of meaningness. https://meaningness.com/fixation-and-denial Wrong ideas about meaning come in mirror-image pairs, which fixate and deny opposite aspects of reality. https://meaningness.com/confused-stances-come-in-pairs Polarized pairs of confused stances cannot be resolved by compromise. There is no middle way b...

Meaningness is cloud-like: nebulous. It is real, but impossible to completely pin down. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/nebulosity Brains automatically find meaning and pattern; we need them to act. Unfortunately, brains also find meaning and pattern where there are none. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/pattern You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early...