Fluidity

This chart is an overview of Meaningness and Time: the past, present, and future of culture, society, and our selves. https://meaningness.com/modes-chart Also - "In praise of choicelessness." The choiceless mode of understanding meaning has no "becauses." Explanations are unnecessary because you are unaware of any alternatives. https://meaningness.com/choiceless-mode You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Beginning the next book by David Chapman: "Meaningness And Time". Past modes of relating to meaning and meaninglessness have broken down. How do we move to the fluid mode of social organization? The problems of meaningness we face now are dramatically different from those of the past. We also sense new opportunities, and have new resources. https://meaningness.com/meaningness-and-time How meaning fell apart: Over the past century, systems of meaning gradually disintegrated, and a series of new modes of meaningness developed. https://meaningness.com/meaningness-history You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

At the start of every episode, I've said "Words with an entry in the glossary have an echo." Well, it's time for the glossary! https://meaningness.com/whole-glossary Terminology choices: "Complete." "Emptiness and form, nebulosity and pattern." "Non-dual." https://meaningness.com/terminology/complete https://meaningness.com/terminology/emptiness-form-nebulosity-pattern https://meaningness.com/terminology/non-dual Next week, the podcast will begin a hiatus for the holidays, returning in January 2022, with "Meaningness And Time." If you have ways of relating to meaningness through winter rituals, may they be as they put it in "Ritual And Its Consequences: An Essay On The Limits Of Sincererity". "...the endless work of building, refining, and rebuilding webs of relationships in an otherwise fragmented world." https://vividness.live/ritual-vs-mentalism Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

When you discover you are owned by an ideology, you can escape. Better, you can find a larger space. https://meaningness.com/vaster-than-ideology You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Intuitions of "cosmic meaning" root in hunger for personal significance, and in encounters with vastness. https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-meaning You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

No ultimate meaning: "Ultimate" means "at the end of a scale." What is the scale of meaning? Should you want to be at the end of it? https://meaningness.com/no-ultimate-meaning No eternal meaning: Meanings come and go; they are not eternally stable— and that is fine. https://meaningness.com/no-eternal-meaning You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

No absolute meaning: Are you adult enough to accept that the world offers no absolute guarantees? https://meaningness.com/no-absolute-meaning No transcendent meaning: If meaning lives only in Neverland, we can't make much use of it. Fortunately, it's here, now. https://meaningness.com/no-transcendent-meaning You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Lite nihilism, on the way to completion: Lite nihilism includes a valuable, accurate analysis of the failure of eternalism. https://meaningness.com/lite-nihilism Not really meaningful: "Nothing REALLY means anything" sounds plausible when you feel nihilistic. What does "really" mean, though? https://meaningness.com/no-real-meaning No extra-special fancy meanings: Nihilism rightly denies objective, ultimate, transcendent, absolute, cosmic, and eternal meanings. What is left? https://meaningness.com/no-special-meaning Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The many justifications for nihilism rely on a handful of mistaken patterns of reasoning. https://meaningness.com/nihilist-fallacies Links mentioned in this episode: Scott Alexander's blog post "Proving too much". "Finding Meaning In An Imperfect World" by Iddo Landau You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This episode narrates the new pages "'Nihilism is OK' is not OK" and "The uncanny absence of nihil –ism". "Nihilism is inevitable, but not a problem." This is mistaken: it makes you miserable and ineffective, and erodes social and cultural capacity. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-considered-harmful Nihilism, like botulism, is not an ideology or conceptual system. It is a stance: an emotionally-charged way of being. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-is-not-an-ism Links mentioned in this episode: In "Postmodernism vs. The Pomoid Cluster" John Nerst analyzes the relationship between postmodernism as an academic theory, and "pomo" as a popular way of relating to meaningness. The TV Tropes page "Straw Nihilist". I struggled with saying "schismatic subsects", but you only get the edited version in which I nailed it. :) You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

A world of total license: the catastrophe some fear if nihilistic views become widespread. https://meaningness.com/nihilist-apocalypse You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Nihilism has a taboo allure of forbidden power—because everyone knows eternalism is wrong. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-black-magic Recognizing meaninglessness requires unusual intelligence, courage, and toughness. Nihilist elitism renders you stupid, cowardly, and helpless, though. https://meaningness.com/nihilist-cynicism-elitism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Nihilism promises you don't have to care, because nothing means anything. But you do care—and you can't escape that. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-promise The end-state of nihilism is not suicide, but catatonia. https://meaningness.com/accomplishing-nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This mid-week bonus episode is another interview with David Chapman, in which we discuss nihilism, both as a book section, and nihilism itself. Since the time that I started recording, he has since written six more episodes worth of chapters in the Nihilism section of Meaningness. I could move on and record "Meaningness And Time", but instead I'll loop back and read his newly-written chapters out of order. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.d

Materialism says that only mundane purposes like money, sex, and power count. It wrongly rejects higher purposes—but those too are not ultimate. https://meaningness.com/materialism Common critiques of materialism, from religion, political idealism, personal idealism, and nihilism. https://meaningness.com/materialism-rejection Mingling mission and materialism attempts to gain both self-indulgent and self-justifying goals—but loses both enjoyment and empathetic joy. https://meaningness.com/mingled-mission-materialism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The delusion that you can find your true, unique personal life-purpose causes only suffering and failure. https://meaningness.com/mission-defects-obstacles Just discover your unique talent, follow your passion, and success is guaranteed—this is terrible advice! https://meaningness.com/do-with-my-life You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Dividing purposes into higher and mundane, mission pursues higher ends and rejects pragmatism; materialism seeks only selfish goals. Both are mistakes. https://meaningness.com/purpose It is attractive to think that we each have a unique, transcendent, ultimate purpose in life. Unfortunately, this belief is both false and harmful. https://meaningness.com/mission You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Abandoning selflessness and egoism equally, we can play with the ambiguous self/other boundary; supple, skillful selfing for successful, satisfying interaction. https://meaningness.com/self You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Stances concerning connection and separateness: monism, dualism, and participation. https://meaningness.com/monism-dualism-and-participation Monism and dualism are opposites. But because each is obviously wrong, each turns into the other when cornered. Sneaky! https://meaningness.com/monism-dualism-recursion Errors of monism and dualism: denying and fixating object boundaries and connections. https://meaningness.com/boundaries-objects-connections You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Going beyond resolutions of specific problems: consistently maintaining an accurate stance toward meaningness. https://meaningness.com/stabilize-complete-stance Since this episode ties together what we have learned so far, it references previous episodes. They are: Obstacles To The Complete Stance Stances Are Unstable Exiting eternalism Finding the complete stance Textures of completion Meaningness as a liberating practice You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Open-ended curiosity gives you the freedom to interact with the world without metaphysical presuppositions. https://meaningness.com/curiosity Other works by David Chapman mentioned in this episode are: In The Cells Of The Eggplant is a book-length treatment of this episode, explaining the application of open-ended curiosity to professional, technical work such as science, engineering, or organizational management. "Upgrade your cargo cult for the win" is a long essay version. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Wonder at the vastness, beauty, and intricacy of the phenomenal world: a texture of the complete stance. https://meaningness.com/wonder Recordings mentioned in the episode include: "Deference, Humility, and Awe," a lecture by Brian Cantwell Smith. Hoppípolla, "a song with qualities known to evoke awe," by Sigur Rós'. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The fundamental method for resolving problems of meaning: by finding nebulosity, pattern, and their inseparable relationship. Wonder → curiosity → humor → play → enjoyment → creation. Patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting in the complete stance, which resolves problems of meaning. https://meaningness.com/finding-complete-stance https://meaningness.com/complete-textures You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Peak experiences and the complete stance are similar in texture, but differ in intensity, conceptual content, and causes. Meaning and meaninglessness, pattern and nebulosity all obviously exist—yet we resist recognizing and admitting this. Why? https://meaningness.com/peak-experiences https://meaningness.com/complete-stance-obstacles You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Meaning is nebulous, yet patterned; meaningfulness and meaninglessness intermingle. Recognizing this frees us from metaphysical delusions. Resolving problems of meaning, by recognizing inseparable pattern and nebulosity, will improve your life. https://meaningness.com/meaningness https://meaningness.com/complete-stance-appeal You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Nihilism says nothing means anything—but no one actually believes that. Lite nihilism weakens the claim, to make it plausible. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-hardcore-vs-lite https://meaningness.com/190-proof-nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Nihilism is the wrong idea that nothing is meaningful, based on the accurate realization that there is no external, eternal source of meaning. https://meaningness.com/nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The author has moved the chapter of the book we'll read in today's episode. The chapter now belongs earlier in the book than where we are. It belongs between episode 16, "Meaningfulness", and episode 17, "Eternalism". So, I'm going to back up and read this chapter now, out of order. Meaning cannot be either objective or subjective. But meaning does exist: as interaction. https://meaningness.com/objective-subjective You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

We're taking a break from narrating Meaningness to read an important foundational essay by the author of Meaningness, David Chapman. As we reach the end of the Eternalism section of Meaningness, it's time for one of the essays I included in the Patreon backer survey. This essay is an overview by David Chapman of the work of psychologist Robert Kegan, a scholar of adult cognitive development. This essay has become very useful for how I see the situations of my own life, and I'm excited to finally share it with you. David Chapman recently wrote the chapter of Meaningness about Eternalist Systems, and he is currently writing a chapter on how to become meta to systems. That will make a lot more sense after you hear this episode. So while he's writing that chapter, this is a perfect time. https://vividness.live/developing-ethical-social-and-cognitive-competence You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Accomplishing eternalism would would mean knowing the meaning of everything, and acting accordingly. This is impossible, because there are no fixed meanings. https://meaningness.com/accomplishing-eternalism Learning skills for escaping the grip of eternalism—the delusion that everything is meaningful. https://meaningness.com/after-eternalism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Systems such as religions and political ideologies reinforce eternalism. They dispel doubt by denying nebulosity. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalist-systems You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Eternalism -- belief in fixed meanings -- makes promises it can't keep. It makes us do stupid, crazy, evil things. And we still love it and keep going back for more. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-considered-harmful You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This episode contains the final page of "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism's final promise is to keep nihilism at bay. There is a better alternative to both! Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-as-salvation-from-nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This episode contains the fourth part of "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism promises answers about good and bad- the meanings we care about most- but cannot deliver. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/wheel-of-fortune You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Last episode, we covered the first two pages of the section "The Appeal Of Eternalism", about the illusions of certainty and understanding. This episode contains the third page, about control. Eternalism promises complete control over life — but that is an impossible fantasy. Influence through collaboration and improvisation are possible, however. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/control You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This is the second of our bonus episodes, outside of the audiobook. I interview David Chapman on the secular and the sacred. I ask him questions about his background in Buddhism and Wicca, and my experiences with the TV shows "Cosmos" and "Veggie Tales", EPCOT Center, Burning Man, and the Universism movement active from 2003 to 2007 (as distinct from Unitarian Universalism). The question for you, our listeners, is this: Does English have a single word, neologism, or portmanteau, which might convey the sense of the Buddhist word "kadag"? It means a type of sacredness which is blended with the banal, and can sometimes be found in unexpected places. As sacredness is traditionally conceived, there is a category of things which are set apart to always to be considered completely sacred. Kadag differs from that. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Parts 1 and 2 of this book's section "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism promises everything you could want from meaning: safety, support, certainty, reassurance, and control. Solid ground! 1. The promise of certainty: What we want most from meaning is guarantees. Religions, political ideologies, and other eternalist systems promise certainty; but they cannot deliver. 2. The illusion of understanding: It's deluded to think we mostly understand issues of meaning (ethics, purpose, value, politics). Ideologies deliberately create and sustain that illusion. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-appeal https://meaningness.com/certainty https://meaningness.com/understanding You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Eternalism is the wrong idea that everything has a definite meaning, fixed by an external ordering principle. I get duped by eternalism in a casino: Gambling, religion, and addiction-- a personal story. Great confusions about meaningness stem from the mistaken assumption that there must be some sort of eternal ordering principle. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism https://meaningness.com/finding-god-in-a-casino https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Some things are meaningful, and others aren't. This is obvious; yet most confusions about meaning begin by denying it. Claims that everything is meaningful, or that nothing is, are motivated by fears: fear of the opposite. We have a choice of explanations: ones that are simple, clear, harmful, and wrong; or ones that are complex, vague, helpful, and approximately right. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/meaningfulness-and-meaninglessness https://meaningness.com/extreme-examples-eternalism-and-nihilism https://meaningness.com/meaningness-first-explanation You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

For the past few months, I've been assembling cast members, to edit their performances together into a full-cast recording of this week's chapter. What is the meaning of an extra-marital affair—or any relationship? A philosophical short story illustrates the puzzle of the nebulosity of meaningness. Thanks to Bruce Webber of the Phase Shift podcast for his performance of the viewpoint character, Christine Kitchens as the philosophy professor, Shianne Nocerini of the Daily Detroit podcast as Suzie, Sarah Elkins as Janet, Jeremiah Staes of the Daily Detroit podcast as Chris, and Sofia Syntaxx of the ANGR podcast as Kim. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/nebulosity-of-meaningness You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

At 48 minutes, this episode is longer than most. A complete summary overview of all the dimensions of meaningness, with all the common stances one can take to them. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/all-dimensions-schematic-overview You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This mid-week bonus episode features a 20-minute excerpt from my interview with David Chapman, in which we discuss his plans for finishing Meaningness. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Dualism, nihilism, and monism are the three main approaches to fundamental questions of meaning. This book proposes a better, fourth alternative. This begins the third section of Meaningness, "Doing Meaning Better". Original text at: https://meaningness.com/big-three-stance-combinations You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Relationships one may have with "stances" (basic attitudes toward meaningness) include adopting, committing, accomplishing, wavering, and appropriating. This ends the second section of Meaningness, an introduction to stances. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/relationships-with-stances You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The key aspects of a stance toward meaning, and how to use them effectively. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/stance-anatomy You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

A practice of replacing confused, dysfunctional patterns of thinking and feeling about meaning with accurate ones. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/meaningness-practice You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Properly understanding meaning eliminates needless suffering. An application: ethics. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/confusion-completion-misery-and-joy You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Note: This is episode 8, but it first aired with the audio file for episode 9. I have now corrected it, so you may wish to listen again. Confusions about meaning can be resolved using a method for looking at ways nebulosity affects the subject matter. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/resolution The method for resolving confusion about meaning through accepting nebulosity is not a general dialectic, or logic for resolving all false oppositions. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/not-a-general-dialectic You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Fixation and denial are the two simplest ways of refusing to deal with the nebulosity of meaningness. https://meaningness.com/fixation-and-denial Wrong ideas about meaning come in mirror-image pairs, which fixate and deny opposite aspects of reality. https://meaningness.com/confused-stances-come-in-pairs Polarized pairs of confused stances cannot be resolved by compromise. There is no middle way between them. https://meaningness.com/no-middle-way You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Meaningness is cloud-like: nebulous. It is real, but impossible to completely pin down. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/nebulosity Brains automatically find meaning and pattern; we need them to act. Unfortunately, brains also find meaning and pattern where there are none. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/pattern You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.