In this part I want to talk about meaning. It partly overlaps with what I was talking about in part 2, but it's still important enough to dedicate another post to it.

Nothing has inherit meaning. You can see that when you look at children. They have to learn the meaning of everything. Without someone telling them what something  means, they can't understand it. So obviously the meaning isn't in the thing itself, but you create that meaning. It's an automatic process as long as you aren't aware of it, and it's so fast that you don't even notice that and when you are doing it.

Think about how you give meaning all the time and how you change it in different situations. Your doctor tells you that you have to drink a lot of water, because some  kind of virus or whatever (secondary cause btw). When you see your glass of water you can only think of the bath tub full of water you have already drunk today and you really don't want to drink anything anymore. Look at that same glass of water when you are in the desert without water. Same object, different meaning. This example  should make it very clear that we are what gives meaning. Nothing has meaning. Objects, circumstances, words - all is meaningless.

Why is meaning important? Because what meaning you give influences your state. In part 2 you learned that there is no secondary cause. So when you have mastered that lesson, you don't need to care about meaning anymore, because you know that the outer world can't do anything to you and so you stop giving meaning. But in the  meantime, we should be very aware what meaning we give.

Example: I was taking a nap today. I heard music that I identified (gave meaning) as my phone ringing. I gave the incoming call meaning by thinking that this has to be my mother because who else should call me? Again, I gave meaning. I could have assumed something else here and that had affected my reality. I looked at my phone and saw that I was right, it was my mother. So I gave further meaning and tried to figure out what she could want. I assumed that she called because something went wrong with her return of tax and she needed some documents. Based on that, I gave the meaning that the call wouldn't be too pleasant. I  didn't answer the call and returned to my nap. When I called her back later, I was right to the point that it ended in a big fight which was indeed not that pleasant. If I had given the meaning that she had something nice to tell me, the call had ended totally different. But I chose to give meaning on autopilot and that's what happened. You may say now that this sounds pretty logical and that your assumptions had been the same in my situation and that the situation had turned out the way it turned out anyway. I guarantee you, it hadn't. But I have another example which is much more impressive.
Two years ago, I applied for a student assistent job at my university. I got to know about the job via a news email from university that every single student gets twice a week. It was a programmer job for the psychology department. I am a programmer and I am studying psychology. So I was fully sure that I would get that job. I just made one mistake in my reasoning. In that emails, they promoted psychological experiments. I gave this fact the meaning that only psychology students get those emails. I was pretty sure that I was the only programmer under all that psychology students, so I was confident like hell. I applied, went there for an interview and..well, it felt backwards. It was more like they were promoting the job and hoping for me to want it. They didn't mention any other candidates and I got the job right away. I gave the email the meaning that there was no competition and there wasn't (see what was the cause here?). After I got the job, I started to think. My assumption felt stupid suddenly.  Why should only psychology students get the news emails? Doesn't make sense. Till today, I don't have proof of either of my claims. But the meaning I gave that email led me to getting this job completely effortlessly. Why? Because it led to me changing my state to literally "this job is already mine". If I had believed in competition, I had gotten competition.

I hope those two stories made it clear how important the meaning is you give to things. Every meaning you give determines your state. And your state determines your thoughts, feelings, actions and circumstances. It all starts with meaning. When you look at something and it gives you anxiety, you gave it meaning before you started to feel anxious. When you  look at something and it gives you joy, you gave it meaning before you felt the joy. When you realize that nothing has meaning and you make it all up, you can more easily give things another meaning and FEEL it to be true.

Short exercise:
Watch yourself assigning meaning to things. Find alternatives to the meaning you give. "Oh the fridge is empty, I have to go grocery shopping.". Stop right there. The fridge is empty. That's all. How can you know that a neighbour won't bring you their food, because they have to go to the hospital? Or someone invites you to a trip NOW and it's good that your fridge is empty, because that someone pays for all your food in very good restaurants. That may seem far-fetched. Come up with this possibilities anyway. They only feel far-fetched because your state is very different from the state that would create those experiences.

Key Points:

- nothing has meaning
- the meaning you give determines your state and your state your circumstances

Last edited by Sanshi (1/10/2018 12:51 pm)