Everything Has Meaning

The Meaning of Meany

adrowe — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:36:14 +0000

I recently finished reading John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany and I thought a discussion on it would be a good way to dust off the old blog. My hope with these posts it to start discussions about meaningful subjects and what people find meaningful in life. This novel was a beautiful revelation of literature that had a significant impact on my thinking and made me wonder about “the meaning” of a number of things. Maybe the impact was what it was because I had been stuck reading history textbooks for the past two years and was dying to read some good lit, or maybe the book really is a great work of fiction like many have said. Whatever the case, if you’ve read it, feel free to comment and if you haven’t read it, feel free to comment, then go read it.

I want to stick with one key point that Irving makes at near the end of the story when John Wheelwright (the main character) says that life is disappointment. Without referencing too much of the story, John’s life is fairly unassuming. The stories seem to happen to the people around him and his best friend Owen Meany, is at the center of most. Life is a disappointment because he aspires for his life to be a great story and it always seems to fall short of his expectations. It can’t be seen in an entirely negative way even though the thought of disappointment seems to be bad. If we can consider that humanity yearns for great things, has deep passions, desires so much, are we not constantly disappointed to varying degrees? We seem to live in a world where that same humanity finds ways to create systems and procedures that suck the life out of passion, limit our desires, tell us our yearnings are nothing more than chemical imbalances that can be manipulated with other chemicals. If one tries to rise about the morass of mediocrity the masses reach up to suck that one back down to their level. Ayn Rand wrote about this in Atlas Shrugged, where there are those who “keep the world in place” and limit the potential of humanity. Why should we try to be great if society is set against you being great. Try telling someone you want to write a book or be a rock star. You’ll probably get some stat thrown at you about how rare it is for people to make it in “that business,” followed by questions about your “backup plan.”

I would think that one way to combat this antagonism towards life is to search for meaning and try to see wonder in the world. Reading, watching movies, hanging out with others, are part of the active life and by taking time to reflect on this life we may just see the potential for the better life. Owen Meany believed he was destined to do God’s work from the moment he could think about that kind of thing. It drove him to be bigger than his own life (if you’ve read the book you can understand even more how his physical stature comes into play) and his best friend came to believe in the transcendent by being a part of Owen’s story. This may be the counter to John’s disappointment. If he had hope in something better, he wouldn’t be disappointed. Is that what our society needs? Hope?

Levels of Philosophy

adrowe — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:18:43 +0000

When people think of philosophy they usually think of abstract concepts that mean little to what happens everyday. However, this high level philosophy is only one dimension of the discipline. Really there are three levels of philosophical discussion and almost everyone participates on at least one level everyday.
Here are the three levels:
Level 1. High Philosophy – as I said before, this is the level of complex, abstract concepts that are mostly discussed in academic circles. This level provides the overarching framework for the following two levels and has great significance if we are to understand why we think they way we do. For example, if the predominant thinking of the time is that every person determines what is right and wrong according to how they feel, then we must realize that there is an overarching philosophy that provides the framework for this way of thinking. Everyone doesn’t have to understand this high level philosophy to live it out and therein lies the problem. If there are inconsistencies in level one thinking, and if not many question this, people are basically following something through blind faith.

Level 2. Art – painting, sculpting, writing, film and even television fall under level 2 philosophy. Artists take the messages from level 1 philosophy and display them in a way that make us contemplate the art we are seeing and look for the message behind the medium. Today these messages primarily reach people through film and television since they draw the most viewers. What does this mean for our society then when a majority of the media transmitting ideas is superficial and outright poor a lot of the time? “Does Two and A Half Men” really present something worthwhile when we think about what it means to be a person? I’m not saying that all shows and films need to be in depth, abstract thinking shows that hurts your brain when you watch them. What I am saying is that viewers have to be aware that messages are coming at them everyday through art and needs to at least be analyzed briefly.

Level 3. Water Cooler Talk – It used to be called talk around the coffee pot at work until Seinfeld changed it (interesting level two influence). Level three could also be called conversational philosophy that people engage in everyday. When we talk about what we like and don’t like we are making judgments on ideas and in turn expressing our own world view or lenses that we see life through. So as I have said before, we are all philosophers even if we despise the subject. It’s like a matrix we live in everyday but are unaware of. Once we realize that we are “plugged in” a whole new world opens up for use to engage in.

To engage in this matrix, check out The Philosophy Matrix

Philosophy is for Everyone

adrowe — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:29:16 +0000

There is a perception in our society that to talk philosophically is to engage in meaningless babble that has no relevance in “real life.” “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin you say?” Who really cares. What kind of a job can philosophers get anyway? Philosophy majors are pompous know-it-alls who couldn’t survive with a real job and are forever trapped in the confines of the academia. I’ve heard these kinds of statements many times.
Yet we sell ourselves short when we think of philosophy this way. In reality, we are all philosophers. The carpenter, the baker, the candlestick maker (if they still exist) all participate in the great conversation that is society. However, what we’ve lost is a sense of respect for those who devote much time and energy into the study of dialogue, of debate, of logic and critical thinking. Far from talk of meaningless things, these people seek to enrich culture by helping the rest of us to raise our level of awareness and question what goes on around us. If we think deeper, perhaps we reduce the number of times we stumble into wars, or accept useless trash on the television. One place to start is at the Philosophy Matrix. The hope is that the resources on this site will enhance people’s understanding of philosophy and it’s importance in our culture. Aristotle, perhaps the greatest philosopher ever, said that talk that has no practical relevance is useless chatter. This, philosophy is not.

Talk of War

adrowe — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:54:24 +0000

We are in a unique time when our country is at war yet it has been so long since the last great war that most of us don’t know how to react to our soldiers being killed. So I figured a site about the last world war between 1939-1945 is a way for us to realize what our nation has accomplished in the past and how being killed for a cause, was acceptable and accepted by both people at home and those on the front lines. www.learnaboutworldwar2.com.
You can also post your thoughts on war and the state of war right now.

In Defense of Food

adrowe — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:49:22 +0000

The comment below gives the review and here is book. You can get it at In Defense of Food.

And don’t forget, the best food in the world is at allaboutitalianfood.com.

The death of reason

adrowe — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:14:23 +0000

It’s official, the end is nigh, buy the casket and get the embalming fluid running, reason is dead. Oh how pissed Plato would be to discover that instead of people breaking out of The Cave and helping others to do so, we’re setting up recliners with mini beer fridges attached and strapping ourselves in for a lifetime of semi-literate states of being. I’m not going to go into details because the examples are many. Maybe figuring out why reason is dead and looking for examples is good way to start to dig reason out from six feet under (speaking of great shows…). I’m hoping for a huge comeback (not of the Bret Favre type) so who’s with me? Let’s start with a few good books and movies that stimulate the mind creatively…any suggestions?

Learn about Europe!

adrowe — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:47:23 +0000

I’ve always had a secret affair with Europe and European things. In fact, whenever I think of traveling I think of going back to Europe. I don’t really know why since I didn’t always have the best experiences there (like being harassed by French police for simply walking with my backpack). There is so much more to learn about Europe that I will probably be going back my whole life. To see more visit the link on the side to learnabouteurope.com

Dreaming of Italy

adrowe — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:23:52 +0000

It’s time to reflect on where I want to go to get away from all the mess and it’s Italy. It’s an Italian condo on the west coast, somewhere north, with a garden in the back and a little balcony in the front that overlooks the beach. My family is there and it’s a party that doesn’t stop until we say it does. A short train ride away is the stadium of a Serie B team because Serie A would be too intense right now. My brothers and I can pretend we’re fanatics and maybe even get into a few fights with the ultras from whatever opposing team shows up. No weapons though, only a few fists thrown. Then it’s back to the condo for a huge meal where my Grandpa, il patrone, regales us with tales of another age. We drink wine until the sun goes down, then we sleep. That’s my vision and it will come true…I promise.

Learn about Italian vacations at funitalianvacations.com

Dad’s To-Do List

adrowe — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:59:45 +0000

Yesterday was Father’s Day and I heard a good talk what it means to be a dad. Too often, kids are left to figure things out on their own and it’s either a conscious decision on the parents’ part to think this way or it’s neglect. For the latter, not much can be done (other than a swift whack to the head), but for the former, a word of advice from someone who sees a lot of kids every day. Kids are like sponges. They watch and listen and copy what they see modeled in the adult community and guess who is the most important role model in their lives? That’s right, parents. So if a child is left to figure things out they will figure things out by watching what you do. So dads, time to take a look at what we do and see if our actions are worthy of our kids copying. It is a huge responsibility since these are little people who will turn into bug people. I think it’s safe to assume that every dad wants their kids to grow up to be good people. So are you a good person as a parent? What is a good person and how do we know if we are or not? That’s one for another time.

Check out where this message came from at jerichoridge.com