Meaning resides at the very core, heart, centre, or cross of facilitation. We usually talk about facilitation of groups. In order for a group to move ahead, it has to discover its own meaning (“what are we doing here?” “who are we?” “where do we want or need to go? “,”what’s driving us” or “what is our vision”, … ). In my map of reality perceptions, meaning (ideas, dreams, future) is facilitated (liberated, if you want or “realized”) from feelings, emotions residing in a group. It is an emergent process, from green <--|--> yellow, social & mythic. It is lion (no article!, I’m using ( ) archetype) coming out of see, luctor at emergo. It is child from mother, fire from water.
No life as we know it
Meaning, I tend to conclude, is an autonomous emergent property of interacting. Meaning is not ( ) thing nor is nothing. Meaning “pops up”, as if she has a life of her own. Even more, I have to conclude, there IS NO fundamental DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND MEANING. They’re two aspects of the same phenomenon. Life make meaning of meaning, meaning of life. It is paradox@work!
As George Spencer-Brown states: world has created itself in order to see itself (Laws of Form).
Meaning of living is living of meaning
Depending on your point of view (aspect): evolution has created life and meaning or (inclusive or) meaning has created life and evolution. Using different words here, is only because they signify different points of view, not different (intended) meanings. Life – or meaning – has created men AND vice versa.
IT’S ALIVE
This makes meaning for human beings and groups fascinating and threatening. (the correct word is “numinous“). Life is al about surviving, maintaining your self. Not on your own, you cannot. We have to co-operate. Having meaning is no difference. Men creates meaning, as we need meaning to survive. And a group can have a lot more meaning, that’s why we attribute more meaning to a group – it has a name, so it must exist – than to ourselves. There is meaning in numbers. The price we pay? Not having a meaning of our selves: not to become free, to become enslaved out of free will. A small price.
Fascinating
A. It fascinates us, as it is born out of ourselves, and is a part of us. As child is to mother. It even reflects our self, we “made it”. We can play with it, juggle, hide it, imply or find it. It is part of us and we incorporate it (hence “body language).
Even more so, language has created women (women is used in the archaic sense, the source of men), first men. The word “men”, hu”man”, “mean”, “min”d, com”mun”ity, com”mon” …. and com”mun”ication are different perspectives on the same “thing”: emerging meaning. It is a kind of auto-catalytic process. Meaning liberates, we can liberate our self. We can become free humans!
Threatening
A. It feels threatening as it is also autonomous: we have to respond to our own meaning. As creator of meaning, you are responsible (YOU are, not me: I’m responsible for these letters, nothing more – read the disclaimer. You, the reader interact with it and create meaning!).
Parent responsible for child. However, as any child, it wants to become independent, have a life of its own. It wants to become free, and then conquer, or even worse, kill us. It has to be controlled, or it will get a life of its own and destroy its maker.
Capturing meaning
Now, this is my way of thinking, because we have invented writing, we can “capture” meaning and use it for our own purposes. At last, we can control meaning! That’s why we lock up it up in books :-). We finally can define it (no you cannot, they’re just endless cycles of recycled words). That’s why we continuously seek to better define what we’re talking about: in order to control child-that-has-become-monster. The better the definition, the more control, the better we’re understood and the less ambiguity. But the only thing that doesn’t change is death. In order to preserve meaning, we have to kill it, kill ourselves.
In groups, this meaning thing becomes gargantuan: as a group is so much larger than an individual, its meaning must be more powerful, overwhelming. Meaning no longer serves us, we are becoming controlled by it. Meaning has become mean, to us? Groups impose their perspective, their rules and principles on the individual. Because then, and only then, you’ll be save(d).
The end
How will this end? Never. Every-time meaning tries to annihilate itself, meaning is recreated, revived, reborn. There will always emerge lions out of see. Leaders who liberate. The only thing we still have to learn, is to carry our own sufferings, our own burden, anxieties and not attribute them to others.
In terms of the map: this is the Renaissance movement. Facilitating renaissances. Love liberates.
Note: ( ) is used to signal there is no article, like “the” or “a”.
— Disclaimer.
The meaning of the words in this text have no meaning other than the meaning you’re reading. Words about words are about words. Any other meaning, intended or not by the author, is part of this disclaimer.
Maar hoe win je zo’n prijs? Kom naar onze masterclass We’re going to win. BIG. Op 19 april aanstaande. Een innovatieve, interactieve MasteClass met Judith de Bruijn en Marcel Collignon. Winnen was nog nooit zo leerzaam!
