The point I want to get at is the difference between a person finding and having meaning in their life and something that has been called "Transcendant or Cosmic Meaning".
This branching sheds light onto exactly what I am driving at here.
Everybody finds meaning and meanings in their life. I don't have anything to add to that. That is something defined by the individual. What I am searching for is the possibility that there is a "transcendant" meaning to all of this.
So far I have been able to boil it down to a question that can be asked several ways. Here are two examples:
"Is there a transcendant meaning to all of existence? "or "Why do we and the universe exist?"
Nice, Now we have two options:
1. No
2. Yes
And of course there is always the fine art of dodging the question which gives us some possibilities:
3. Yes... but
4. dunno
This transcendant meaning is something that people have wrestled with for a long time. Here are some proposed answers to the question:
- Nietzsche (NO): He believed that life had no transcendant meaning but humans can create their own meanings. This is very much in line with existentialism.
- Frankl (YES): Believed that transcendant meaning was something that humans could not create. But they could discover it.
- Many Religions (YES, But...): Believe that there is a transcendant meaning but it is not possible for humans to understand it.
- Albert Camus: (dunno):"I don’t know whether this world has a meaning that transcends it. But I know that I cannot know that meaning and that it is impossible for me just now to know it."
"If we find the answer to that, (why it is that we and the universe exist), it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God."
hmmm... the search continues..
Am I still at square one?
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