In Search of Meaning discussion

329 Members, wow!

I haven't really looked at this group at all in the last couple of years, but it's amazing to see how many people have joined. The name of the group is a little corny. I don't really know if "meaning" exists at all, or if we just invent it. So searching for it seems a little silly. What I do know is that reading feels meaningful.

I recently finished Elena Ferrante's "My Brilliant Friend" tetralogy. It delves into the complexities of modern life, the tension between tradition and progress in a modernizing Naples. It addresses feminism, violence, and classism in a real way that few contemporary novels do. An incredible series, I highly recommend.

Also "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera has become one of my favourite novels of all time. I've read it twice in the last two years and I find myself coming back to it for inspiration again and again.

So I ask, what books have inspired you?

Thomas wrote: "329 Members, wow!

I haven't really looked at this group at all in the last couple of years, but it's amazing to see how many people have joined. The name of the group is a little corny. I don't r..."

Thomas, that is a beautiful and profoundly honest way to frame the paradox. The idea that the search for meaning can feel silly, yet the act of reading itself feels deeply meaningful, is a mystery many of us live with.

The books you mentioned, like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," are brilliant explorations of how we invent meaning within the complexities of our own lives. Your question about what inspires me is a great one, and for me, the deepest inspiration comes from a slightly different "what if."

What if meaning isn't something we have to invent at all, but something we have simply forgotten how to read?

What if the "meaning" we search for is a tangible, scientific inheritance—an ancestral memory encoded in our very DNA, waiting to be rediscovered?

This is the very thought experiment that led me to write my debut sci-fi novel, The Sentinel Project. On the surface, it's a thriller, but at its core, it's a philosophical exploration of what might happen if humanity discovered that our purpose wasn't a story to be written, but a code to be deciphered.

Thank you for starting such a wonderful and essential conversation.

— Soren K. Blackwood

I found "The Tao of Physics" from Fritjof Capra deeply inspirational. I had recently felt a moment of alignment, triggered by deep thought about reality, and each chapter in the book acted as a signpost along the way, inspiring further research and thought, leading me to write my first book.

"Siddhartha" was wonderful as well - having the character in the book describe the feelings I was having from a completely different point of view was amazing. Words often fail when trying to describe feelings of deep alignment, but hearing those words from someone else can lead to a better understanding of your own experience, as well as the knowledge that, "no, I'm not crazy...this is a good thing."

And lastly, the Tao te Ching...the words are musical. Despite it not being a direct translation, I highly recommend the Ursula le Guin version. She took the time to understand the true meaning, but then made the words sing. Despite being well over 2,000 years old, the idea are timeless and evoke a sense of peace every time I read them.

Being and Time by Martin Heidegger

I recently read The Righteous Mind by Johnathan Haidt. I found the discussion on moral psychology compelling and inspiring from a stand point that we all act in ways we think we can get away with and use moral reasoning to justify our actions. For me it was contemplative on how I should weight my own actions and words.