So if I describe this post as a sort of bottom up construction then it seems useful to come from the other direction and investigate* the physical feelings of meaningfulness as they arise and trying to backchain from that to general principles, and then bouncing back and forth between the forward and backward chaining to see where and how they might meet. To wrap the ouroboros, one could then reflect on this process as a meaning making one.
*e.g. what are the qualities of the experiences that meaning is assigned to?
Something about how I tried to communicate this here bothered me and it took me a while to figure it out. I wanted to point to something like ‘be a confucian naturalist about meaning’ i.e. observing your own meaning making process the same way you’d watch an unknown species of animal. But the way I said it more implied that there is a pre-existing right answer which cuts directly against that sort of mental stance.
So if I describe this post as a sort of bottom up construction then it seems useful to come from the other direction and investigate* the physical feelings of meaningfulness as they arise and trying to backchain from that to general principles, and then bouncing back and forth between the forward and backward chaining to see where and how they might meet. To wrap the ouroboros, one could then reflect on this process as a meaning making one.
*e.g. what are the qualities of the experiences that meaning is assigned to?
Nod, agreed that that overall process sounds fruitful.
Curious what the experiential-focused version looks like when you do it?
Something about how I tried to communicate this here bothered me and it took me a while to figure it out. I wanted to point to something like ‘be a confucian naturalist about meaning’ i.e. observing your own meaning making process the same way you’d watch an unknown species of animal. But the way I said it more implied that there is a pre-existing right answer which cuts directly against that sort of mental stance.
similar to focusing, acknowledging the proto thoughts (images, feelings) but less getting caught up in their train rides.