Voices 4: voices of meaningful experiences

It is the beginning of the second meeting of the philosophical practice workshop. The participants are eager to hear what philosophical theories Linda has prepared for today.

Linda shakes her head. "If you are interested in philosophical theories, then you should go to the university and take philosophy courses."

"No, seriously…"

"I am serious. In Philo-Sophia, philosophical theories are never a bottom line. They are a ladder to climb on, a step on the way. We examine them, we see their power and inner logic, and then we go beyond them. Because our goal is to be much more than any theory. Our aim is to be children of a broader reality."

Now Linda smiles, and her voice becomes lighter.

"Today," she announces, "we will philosophize by drawing. We will draw our philosophical understandings."

"Draw?" "A philosophical drawing?" "You want us to draw our ideas?"

"Sometimes a drawing can express more than words. A drawing can give voice to a different understanding inside us that comes from a different part of our being. But first let me say a few words to explain what we will be doing."

Linda explains that the topic of today's workshop will be meaningful experiences.

"Are you talking about the meaning of life?" Ruth asks.

"No, that question is too big for us. Philosophers sometimes distinguish between 'the meaning OF life' and 'meaning IN life'. The first is about life as a whole: What is the purpose of my life? What is life for? But we want to look at simple moments WITHIN life, at everyday experiences. So let's talk about meaningful actions or situations, like a meaningful conversation, or a meaningful decision, or a book that was meaningful to you."

"What do you mean by 'meaningful'?" Michael interrupts her.

"I don't want to give a definition, because I want to leave the concept open for investigation. But generally speaking, we can think about 'meaningful' as more or less synonymous with 'significant' or 'it made a difference to me', as opposed to 'trivial' or 'insignificant' or 'unimportant'. So our question today is: What makes an experience meaningful? When does a situation become significant to me?"

Linda now asks the participants to recall recent situations which they found meaningful. "Let's hear a few of them, to make sure that we are on the same wavelength."

Annette is the first to describe her experience. She tells the group about a meaningful decision she reached after many hesitations.

Phillip describes a meaningful conversation with his brother, in which they discussed some hard feelings between them.

John describes how, in the middle of a bitter argument with his girlfriend, he suddenly understood something important about himself.

Angela describes a music performance which she gave, and which was important to her.

"Very good," Linda says. "So far you have described specific examples. Can you now go deeper and try to understand WHY these situations were meaningful to you? What was it about Annette's decision that made it a meaningful moment? What made Phillip's conversation with his brother more significant than other conversations?"

"You are asking," Ruth said, "what makes a meaningful moment meaningful."

"Exactly. I'd like you to examine the experiences you chose and see what made them as meaningful as they were. But I don't want to hear your answer in words. I want you to draw it."

Linda gives each participant a sheet of paper and puts some color pencils in the middle of the circle. "Please draw the meaningful situation you have in mind, and try to express in what way it was meaningful. You can do it in an abstract drawing, in a figurative drawing, or in any way you want. But please don't write any words on the paper. Only lines and shapes."

For ten minutes the participants are busy drawing. Linda walks between them and looks at their work. When they finish, everybody gathers together.

"Phillip, your drawing caught my eye. Would you like to show it to the group?"

Phillip shows his drawing of the meaningful conversation he had had with his brother.

"These two rivers," he explains, "start at the bottom of the page, and they go towards the top of the page. They represent me and my brother. As you can see, at the bottom of the page we are distant from each other. This was the situation between us before the conversation. And here is our conversation," he points to the middle of the page where the two rivers turn towards each other. "After the conversation, as you can see in the upper part of the page, the two rivers are closer together."

"I noticed," Linda comments, "that at the bottom of the page the two rivers are turbulent, with many waves - does this represent anger?" Phillip agrees, and she continues. "Because it's interesting that after the conversation your two rivers remain just as turbulent as before. It seems that the conversation did not change your anger. Was this your experience of the conversation?"

"Hmm, interesting… I wasn't aware of this … It's true that the problems between us were not resolved. The same disagreements and anger remained."

"In other words," Linda says, "the conversation was meaningful to you not because it solved problems, but because of something else."

Phillip nods, but John interrupts him. "There's something else in your drawing: The two rivers never touch each other anywhere on the page, even during the conversation."

Phillip looks at his drawing thoughtfully. "Well, I guess you are right. My brother and I still feel distant from each other. The old tension between us still exists."

"And yet," Linda says, "you say that the conversation was meaningful. What was meaningful about it?"

"The fact that we became aware of the tension, of the differences between us, of the anger. We can no longer pretend that they don't exist."

"It sounds to me, Phillip, that you are saying that this conversation was meaningful because it made you aware of the problems between you. This is an interesting conception of meaningfulness: To be aware of the truth is meaningful. It would be good to explore this in more detail."

Then the other participants show their drawings, and similar conversations follow. At the end of the long discussion Lisa says, "Now that we have a deeper understanding of our own conceptions of meaning, let's have a look at the theories of several interesting thinkers."

CHARLES TAYLOR - MEANING AS PART OF A 'HORIZON'

A general perspective on the nature of meaning is offered by the contemporary Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor. In his book "The Ethics of Authenticity" he notes that we cannot decide arbitrarily what would be significant to us. I cannot simply decide that from now on I will find meaning in drawing circles on the sand, or in copying numbers from the telephone book.

Of course, it is possible to imagine a way of life in which drawing circles on the sand is meaningful. For example, if in my worldview a circle is a symbol of perfection; if drawing a circle allows me to connect to it and to participate in perfection; if I regard perfection as the pinnacle of existence, and so on and so on - then we can understand how drawing circles on the sand might be a significant action to me.

This shows that an action can be meaningful only if it is part of a worldview - a network of beliefs and values - which gives meaning to this action. What makes an experience meaningful is that it is part of a 'horizon' that makes sense of this experience and gives it its value.

Meaning, therefore, depends not just on our subjective tastes and feelings, but also - and most importantly - on our worldview. Meaning is based on our way of understanding the world, and as such it can be discussed, questioned, and supported by reasons.