For most of us, meaning seems quite real and solid. It seems to really be there, somewhere.
If I look for meaning, what do I find?
Look at the word “meaning”. Look at each of the letters. Can you find meaning on those letters? (Yes, there is a sensation in the throat and images.)
Look at the images. What do you see? (A glow around the word. A dictionary. Something that looks like a representation of the internet.) Look at them. Are those images meaning? (No.)
Feel the sensation in the throat. Allow them to be there. Are they meaning? (No. They are sensations.)
Rest. Allow everything to be as it is.
Look at the word “meaning” again. Do you find meaning on those letters? (Yes, I feel it in the upper chest.)
Feel those feelings in the upper chest. Do you see any images with them? (Yes, a body image.)
Look at that image. Is that the actual body? (No.) Is it meaning? (No.)
Feel the feelings in the upper chest again, as if they feel themselves. Are those feelings meaning? (No.)
Rest. Allowing what’s here to be here.
Can you find meaning anywhere? (Yes, I see lots of faces of people – university professors, my parents, friends – who say there is meaning.)
Look at that image. Look at the shapes, colors. Is that image those actual faces? (No.) Is it those people? (No.) Is it meaning? (No.)
Is there a threat in not finding meaning? (I won’t function.)
Look at those words, “I won’t function”. Are those words you, the one who won’t function? (Yes, I feel sensations in the forehead and around the eyes, and see an image of that part of the body.)
Look at that image of the forehead and eyes. Is that image the actual forehead and eyes? (No.) Is it you, the one who won’t function? (Yes.)
What gives you the yes? (It’s me.)
Look at those words, “it’s me”. Are those words you, the one who won’t function? (No.)
Look at the image of the forehead and eyes again. Is it meaning? (No.)
Feel the sensations in the forehead and around the eyes. Take your time. Are those sensations you, the one who won’t function? (Yes. I see another image of my eyes.)
Look at that image. Is it the actual eyes? (No.) Is it a person who won’t function? (No.)
Feel the sensations in the forehead and around the eyes again. Are those sensations you, the one who won’t function? (No.)
Look at the words “I won’t function” again. Are they a person who won’t function? (No.) Are they meaning? (No.)
And so on. I plan to explore this further.
Thank you for this. Something resonates deeply here…. When I explore the relationship in myself between meaning and functioning, what comes up is a sense of children, including myself as a child. I see young children, especially in interaction with each other, living in the now – responding to life as it happens without needing a why, simply following their feeling with no need to know where it comes from. I see their connection with themselves, trust that their feeling is right for them, and ability to be in the moment and then let it go and move on to the next moment….There is also more freedom here to receive and respond to direct feedback from others and the environment, when there are fewer layers of a personal identity, or requirements from life in order to feel safe, that seem important to protect.