A behavior feeling "meaningful" is a symptom of this state of consciousness, but meaning-making is neither necessary, nor sufficient to induce or sustain it. It is highly correlated though.
Conversation
I think this is practically a physics-level condition in a complex, autopoietic system. It is maintaining a low-entropy dynamic equilibrium, being alive or something, despite being in dissipative surroundings. Dissipative system like a tornado.
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If you identify "the state of experiencing meaning" with "the state of being a stable dissipative system like a tornado" you can connect up gonzo experiential modes of meaning with contemplative ones.
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Another way to come at this: define problem as "life, the universe, and everything."
"Meaning" is a serious, contemplation-first frame for addressing it.
"Gonzo" is a crazy, experiential-first frame for addressing it.
My "home" frame, humor, messes with boundary between them
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Humor I think is under-appreciated and under-theorized in merely epistemic terms. I've been thinking about this essay for a few days which has some good food for thought beyond epistemic functions of humor (ht ).
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For eg. This by is epistemic view of humor "The essence of a joke, in Hurley, Dennett, and Adams’ view, is that the teller of the joke surreptitiously introduces a certain epistemic commitment, and then reveals it to have been mistaken."
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The first link makes the important point that you cannot get at the essence of humor by looking for the essence of jokes. Humor (and this is my gloss on the implication, not the argument in either article) is a posture of being, not doing.
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tldr of this thread... the problem of meaning is a problem of life-force in disguise, and has historically been addressed via one of 3 stances: serious, crazy, and humorous. Meaning-making, gonzo-experiential, and humor. Maps to sorokin's ideational, sensate, idealistic perhaps?
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Replying to
This is good. Here for it <deer eating popcorn.gif>
Off the cuff question:
Do the 3 stances map in any predictable way...
(or could one shape one's life stances in a way)
that might rhyme or resonate with a developmental model (Kegan) or a traditional life shape (4 ashrama?)
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I'm thinking that serious is an early adulthood stage (cf bildungsroman/Brahmacharya/early career development)
Gonzo-experiential is either a deepening commitment to a major project (career & family, or a major step off the conventional path)
Humourous is a sort of Ironic Sage
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Replying to
Hmm I wouldn't map these to life stages. I think you lock on to one of the 3 fairly early, like as a teenager, and pretty much stay there. You might take a tourist detour into the other 3 paths, but I've never met anyone who's shifted fundamentally.
Replying to
I think you're mostly right...
Howevs, I have definitely oscillated through all three.
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