The meaning of meaning
What is meaning?
As human beings, aware of the world around us, conscious of our own thoughts, and with the ability to self-reflect, we are always doing our best to make sense of what’s going on. That’s what we call ‘meaning’.
It’s an innate process. It’s in our bones. We make meaning all the time. Day in, day out, whether or not we are aware of doing so.
“Greater” meaning — reflecting our company name — is about creating more significance, more value, substance, worth, care, and concern in our lives.
And, if we are more aware of our meaning-making, we can live fuller, happier, more engaged lives.
We give meaning to things and events in our lives in order to establish what’s important to us. Once we know what’s important—what’s most relevant—we are able to guide our decisions and actions in life.
Creating meaning is basic to human nature because it’s a survival mechanism. What’s that noise? Is it a threat, or is it something enticing? What does it mean? We need to know.
And the more skilled we are at figuring out what that noise means, the better we can respond.
Dealing with reality is as important today as it was 100,000 years ago when we needed to protect ourselves from lions, tigers and bears. Meaning allows us to understand the significance of what’s happening.
But meaning is not just about surviving, it’s also about thriving. And that’s where we at Greater Meaning focus our activities—to help you find deeper, more positive meaning in your life — by any other measure, “greater meaning.”
Why look for more meaning?
When we feel lost, sad or lonely, we will sometimes declare that our life doesn’t have much meaning. We might even describe our life as meaningless.
What if we could find more meaning? Meaning that could overcome any sense of despair?
Or, even if we believe we are already living meaningful lives, is it possible to have more? We think so.
“People, more and more, are talking about not just sheer contentedness, but what it is for a human life to be meaningful. And it turns out that meaning in life is terrifically important. It's very predictive of well-being. It's very predictive of how well you are doing in your life in general.”
~John Vervaeke, Assistant Professor, Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Toronto
Meaning is the foundation for happiness and living a worthwhile life. People seeking more meaning in life are actually looking for positive meaning, for more personal significance—a fuller experience of being alive. Let’s examine what that looks like.
Our deep desire for connection
At Greater Meaning we have distilled the quest for more meaning in life to one overarching human desire—connection. And this connection is not just to other human beings, but to ourselves and the whole world.
Our desire for connection plays out in three primary ways:
The quest for oneness whereby we achieve a sense of unity and immersion, particularly with what is occurring in the present moment
The drive for friendship and companionship that gives us belonging and grounding in the world
The impulse for compassion and unconditional love—the generous giving of ourselves to others and to the world
All three of these desires are a type of connection that gives us meaning. All three are a type of love.
Not surprisingly, we always seem to want more! Let’s examine why.
1. The connection of oneness
Oneness occurs when you lose your sense of being an isolated self, set-off and apart from the rest of the world. It feels as if you are blending with the universe somehow, when time stands still, and your entire being is fully engaged, almost consumed, in the bliss of the present moment.
This type of connection happens when you are immersed and fully participating in the experience at hand, often something that feels greater than you, that you identify with.
The self-important ego fades into the background as you connect to the present experience in a way that makes you feel more fully alive, more fully human.
You have likely experienced this type of oneness in many different ways. The wonder of nature often evokes profound connections, such as being in awe of a beautiful sunset or magnificent landscape, walking in the mountains, or diving under the sea. Time seems to stand still, if only for a moment.
The connection of oneness occurs when you become enraptured and “lost” while listening to moving music, or watching your favourite team win the championship. It can happen when you’re fully focused on your work or hobby.
The sense of oneness happens when you’re entranced by the present-moment connection of children, or engaged in deep conversation with people you love, or in the joyous rapture of sex.
Flow states
This wholehearted connection with the world—becoming one with your current reality—is one of the most transcendent of human experiences. It is most exemplified by the psychological concept of flow. This is when you are in the “zone” and your attention is so focused on the experience at hand that the sense of time disappears and the ego takes a back seat.
Flow states occur when you are challenged in some way and need to perform at an optimal level. Playing games generates flow. Athletes experience flow states readily. When you are exercising or working out, whether jogging, tennis or yoga, you often experience flow.
Engaging in your favourite hobby puts you into the flow state, as does being at work when you are engrossed in the challenge at hand. Meditative states are a type of flow as you become immersed in a deeper, transcendent state of consciousness.
Being one with others and the world
While you might be expending huge effort along the way, the experience of flow seems to be one of ease and grace. Flow most often shows up when you are doing your best and are at your best. Your attention is fixed and you are one with, and in, the moment. This is an optimal state of being—some call it a ‘peak experience.’ And we humans crave it.
The quest for oneness can also be a source of addiction. Computer gaming is an example where the flow experience becomes easily addictive. But flow addictions are not necessarily bad, as long as they are temporary and don’t fully consume your life.
There’s a way to ensure the oneness of flow does not become the totality of your existence. And this is where the other two essential desires for connection can “save us” from ourselves.
2. The connection of friendship
In addition to the sense of oneness, friendship and companionship is the second type of connection we crave and which gives our lives so much meaning.
Indeed, whether introvert or extrovert, engagement with others makes our existence worthwhile. We are social animals through and through, and without connection to others and the world around us, we easily dissolve into alienation, anxiety and worthlessness.
As human beings we find deep meaning from being involved with others, knowing them, being known by them, cooperating with them, being open and vulnerable. The concept of the good life since the ancient Greeks has always forefronted the basic human need to connect with family, friends, colleagues and community.
Friendship and the “Good Life”
Psychologists have long held that one of the most crucial components to happiness in life is camaraderie, particularly close friendship. Close friendship affords the opportunity to be authentically known for who you are, and be accepted as the unique, vulnerable human being that you are. Friendship creates the space to be truly yourself and fully express your uniqueness.
Besides close personal friendship, companionship and camaraderie exist whenever you are an accepted and contributing member of a group. A sense of camaraderie often shows up in the workplace, as well as being a member of a sports team, a community organization, political party, or any type of group participation.
Connecting with others at a personal level is one of the great joys of life and one that brings us great meaning.
3. The connection of compassion
The third type of connection we seek is our ability to show compassion and give unconditional love to one another—to be generous and giving of ourselves to others.
Compassion brings forth kindness and perseverance, patience and wisdom, and connects us at a truly holistic level so that there is no meaningful separation between self and others.
Through compassion, we open to the flow of life—feeling the love and pain of others, feeling interconnected with all beings. In this state of connection, we feel as one—an ultimate state of belonging.
At its fullest level, compassion is having love not just for people, but for Gaia and the natural environment, for all sentient life (not just the cats and dogs we love so much!), and extending compassion beyond time, to all generations, and throughout the ages.
Compassion is a creative act
This act of compassionate, unconditional love is a creative stance in the world. It gives others the opportunity to not only be themselves, but to become more fully their potential no matter their state or circumstance in life. Having compassion enables people, yourself included, to grow and become their unique and special selves.
This is possibly the highest form of connection we can have with the world around us. It is the type of connection that spiritual teachers throughout the ages have exemplified. And while it might seem a difficult, even unappreciated thing to do, it actually creates the space for each and everyone of us to be fully human as we connect and care for others and the world around us.
Connection with yourself
As much as we crave connection externally to others and the world around us, we secretly crave that same connection with ourselves.
At Greater Meaning, we believe that connecting with yourself—which is essentially loving yourself—is the most important thing you can do to live a full and satisfying life. Why? Because loving yourself is a gigantic step to you being fully your radiant unique self, authentically showing up, and being comfortable in your own skin.
Just as we all have the capacity to love others, we also have that same ability for ourselves. But the strange thing is that many of us somehow neglect this critical point of connection. Rather than loving ourselves, we often beat ourselves up, neglect our needs, abuse our bodies, pollute our minds with nonsense, and judge ourselves not-good-enough.
As long as you don’t love yourself and accept yourself for who you are, you’ll never be able to transcend your life circumstances and fully become your “True Self,” the emerging you that is always in a state of becoming more authentic, more connected, more alive.
What does connecting with yourself look like?
In order to show up 100% as your unique, beautiful True Self capable of connecting and helping others as you pursue your dreams and purpose in life, you need to connect fully with yourself—you need to love yourself.
Imagine if your relationship with yourself was one of deep connection?
Imagine the connection of oneness whereby you are completely comfortable being in your own body and mind, comfortable in your own skin, being at one with the world, at your best ‘in the zone’ of life.
Imagine the connection of friendship where you are your own best friend, able to be alone and still enjoy your own company regardless of the situation at hand?
Imagine the connection of compassion and self-love where you are able to accept and appreciate yourself for who you are, just as you are, including every aspect of yourself from mundane physical imperfections, to the regrets and bad memories we all have, and the fear, anger and sadness we all occasionally feel?
Imagine that! Imagine connecting with yourself in all your wondrous glory and empower yourself to make those same connections with the world around you?
That would be a type of liberation. Connecting with yourself wholeheartedly and unreservedly, so that you could, in turn, more powerfully connect with everything that mattered to you.
This is a primary motivation we have in the world, though it often passes us by unnoticed, below the radar.
In truth, we want to love ourselves, and in doing so, love the world.
The absence of connection is an absence of meaning
What happens when we don’t have the experience of oneness? When we don’t have friends and the feeling of being united with others in common pursuits? When we lack the ability or will to demonstrate compassion and love to the world around us?
We find substitutes. We seek alternative ways of connecting to the world. And this can be summed up in one word: consuming.
The absence of meaningful connections leads us to consume in order to fill the void in our hearts. We replace being with having.
A common way we do this is by shopping, believing that if only we have something better, newer and shinier, we will feel more connected to the world.
Connecting with things is no substitute
When we are unable to connect to life in any meaningful way, we find ourselves looking for something to fill the deep void in our hearts. While searching for a substitute there’s no end to the amount of consumption that derives only temporary and shallow satisfaction.
Buying more. Having more. Knowing more. Travel more. More TV. More entertainment. More distraction. Anything and everything, as long as it’s more!
And if it's not acquiring stuff, it’s other forms of consumption, like unhealthy foods, booze and drugs. These distractions are the false gods of connection, because we think they will be a source of meaning in our lives, when in fact all they do is mirror the emptiness, the lack of connection we feel in our hearts.
This is why meaning is so important to a life well lived. It enables us to have a more profound experience of being alive.
The Purpose of Greater Meaning
While we can’t keep you safe from lions, tigers and bears, our mission at Greater Meaning is to help you find more meaning in your life, so you can create a life that is a richer and a more authentic expression of who you are. By doing so we believe you will lift not just yourself, but all humanity.
How can we help you find more meaning in your life?
With a simple approach in three essential steps:
Identify what’s real in your world and what really matters to you without denial or distraction
Take your understanding of reality and what’s important to set clear directions for a fulfilling life
Develop deeper connections of oneness, of friendship and with your True Self.
The spirit of living
Creating more meaning in your life is a lifetime journey. Why? Because when you look at the world around you, there are always greater truths, deeper understandings, closer connections to be found.
That’s part of the spirit of being alive and the quest to be your “True Self.” Always seeking and discovering more profound understandings of what it means to be you and connecting with the world in more meaningful ways.
That’s the “greater” in Greater Meaning—it’s making deeper, more profound, more meaningful connections between yourself—your inner psyche—and the world in which you live and the body in which you inhabit.
Yes, it’s a hefty project to take on, but in truth, you’re already doing it. You create meaning from the moment your dreary eyes blink to the morning alarm, to late in the day when you drift off to sleep.
Creating a life of meaning
We’re not saying there is some omega point, some sudden realization, that you need to achieve in order to lead a happy and fulfilling life. We’re not talking about one particular thing here. We’re not talking enlightenment after twenty years of contemplation in a cold mountain cave.
No, we’re talking about everyday baby steps. The stuff you’re already doing. You’re already making meaning in your life, every day, every hour, so let’s help you to make it more consciously, more intentional!
Meaning is how we find “value, depth, care, concern, worth and significance” in our lives, it is the door to dignity and freedom, justice and beauty. Notice it. Make better use of it.
After all, meaning is what makes us smile on the inside. It’s the awareness of what’s worthwhile, and that lights us up. It gives our life value and purpose.
Ultimately, meaning helps each of us live a life of personal significance. Let’s do more of that!
