Meaning: A reflection

Not intrinsic, but created

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Meaning was the first poem I wrote in a crisp, new poetry notebook, a good omen for what is to come…

Photo by Austin Neill

Themes

Our existence is mysterious. While various sciences begin to address the How of the question (that is, how we came to be and how this all works), any explanation that we make sense of still boggles the mind. Try understanding just one fact of quantum physics, the science of all things counterintuitive. Or more simply, seriously ponder for a minute the questions ‘when did time begin’ or ‘where does the universe end’. You invariably will find yourself in a mental state of wonder, confusion, or even more likely, both.

While I find the exploration of the How fascinating, the questions of Why and What seem to give humans the most trouble. I consider the Why and the What our questions of meaning. Who has not felt troubled at times wondering why they are here, or what it is they are meant to do?

I used to think there were right answers to questions of meaning. At various times, answers centered around God, love, provision, and generosity. But listen to a hundred people who have thought about these questions, and you hear a hundred different answers. Any ultimate truth seems elusive.

Words disappear into air, thin air,
wind blows and they are gone forever,
speak little or speak much
they are carried away, carried away.

For some reason humans have a type of consciousness that feels for and seeks an answer to questions of meaning. Whether we answer or simply hold these questions informs our beliefs, drives our decisions, and often is directly correlated with the amount of equanimity and contentment we find in our lives. To acknowledge there is no right understanding or concrete answer feels right in a deep sense. Leaving the questions of meaning unanswered means our meaning remains free, open, and expansive.

But what about the part of us that wants to answer this question so it can help inform our life? This is what this poem really gets at. My way of usefully but non-dogmatically answering the question of meaning is to see the meaning of life as simply to create meaning. If there is no intrinsic meaning in our existence, but we seek meaning to help define our existence, then it is up to each of us to create our own meaning.

This acknowledgement provides space for us to create unique types of meaning. It allows our meaning to evolve as we evolve. It gives space to respond to different societal challenges in a way that we are uniquely skilled. If I am a poet, and you are an accountant, and he is a strategist, and she is a leader, and they practice law, this view creates no imperative that we must all accomplish, other than to create meaning rooted in who we are, where we find ourselves, and what we have chosen to do.

Another way of saying this, and another point in this poem, is that meaning is found in the relationship between you and another. It is the third entity that arises between two. It is found in the space between you and your job, you and your partner, you and your child, you and society, you and anything else. It arises, and it passes away. It is mysterious, and it will change. It will create, and it will be destroyed.

Speak you must, sound into meaning
for meaning is not found in stone beneath your feet
or in the upright way you hold your head
but in the breath that spreads between us,
in the way you declare and I hear
and for a simple moment
a word is a brick and then gone
but our necks tilt toward the other
and smiles rise along with the hum,
and wind writes prose with the forest
that settles into silent space.

As long as our eyes can meld with the others
and trees respond to the wind,
whisper we will
and we will be whispered,
a body will be breathed,

In the stanza above we experience the creation of meaning in an open, relational, and mysterious way. But I still come back to the desire for a concrete answer to these questions of Why and What. This is the tension in questions of meaning. They arise and they change, they can’t be pinned down, but in this moment, if you look right now, you can find a concrete meaning. There is something specific and clear in front of you that you are to do, or you are to embrace, or you are to allow. This is how the poem ends, in a strange but specific visual paired with a call to act. Choose that clear, specific action, take that step, and you can trust that in some mysterious way, you have found your meaning.

and a hand can pluck a petal
from a beetle’s back,
now scurry along and leap
with wings spread wide.

The air will catch you.

Writing Notebook | Meaning

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Final thought

Just be prepared. Your meaning may change tomorrow. And that’s ok, for the air will catch you.

May you leap with wings spread wide…

Brian

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If you missed the original “A Poem” post of Meaning, I hope you will read and enjoy! You can find it here.

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