CHAPTER 5 CREATING AND USING MEANINGS

Summary: Chapter 5 Creating and Using Meanings
Gina Taylor

Finding or creating meaning can be very helpful. It is not always easy, and may take some time and work, but it can be very helpful and comforting in a difficult situation.

It is difficult to isolate all of the factors that play into how people consume news and alter their opinions, but it's probably safe to say that an individual will watch a number of finished news segments or read a number of articles and form a set of preliminary set of beliefs.

These beliefs are reinforced or challenged after discussing the news with his/her friends or family, But people usually surround themselves around friends who agree with their value system or so there isn't usually a lot of assumptions or attitudes being challenged.

Perception is a three phase process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information. You can understand interpersonal situations better if you appreciate how you and another person construct perceptions. Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it allows us to act within our environment.

Organizational skills can help you cope with the world around you. They provide structure, create a semblance of order and reduce daily stress levels. The organizational skills you apply toward planning each day insure that you are at least somewhat productive and that you accomplish what you must. They direct the demands on your attention and give you some sense of control.

Meaning is created and interpreted by people. While meaning is an internal process, much of what we perceive things to mean comes from what we have learned from our experiences with family, with friends, and from our culture.

All meaning is interpreted. It's just a matter of the number of people who follow one specific meaning, or if it's just your own interpretation. This goes for any experience you can think of. Regardless of the 'preparation' for the experience, you won't understand it until you live through it. This is why parents try to prevent their kids from making the same mistakes, but from the kid's point of view, they won't understand it until they go through the experience. By having someone else interpret something for you, you rely on their conclusion. I never understood why in every religion, profession, only 'certain gifted smart' people can read certain passages/books and explain them... it's because they have more knowledge regarding the topic than us, so that's why they are 'allowed' to 'teach us' what it means. I’ve worked in sales and marketing for years and If someone were to ask me how I manage to book so much business, I use the same logic. I make an interpretation on whether this person actually wants to know the in's and out's of how I work, or they don't really care, and just ask for the sake of it. Once I make that decision, then I can explain the answer accordingly. It is this 'filter' exercise which everyone does to a certain extent that encourages us to rely on someone else's interpretation.

Consider ambiguity. Look at the phrase, "Time Flies Like An Arrow". This phrase can be interpreted different ways. It has different meanings. Are we saying: time travels quickly, like an arrow travels quickly? Or are we saying: a particular type of insect, called a "time fly", has affection for a particular arrow? So it appears to me that interpretation can sometimes yield multiple valid meanings, which is QUITE DIFFERENT from saying that there is no meaning at all.

Personal meaning isn't a matter of getting "the answer" to the question, "What is the meaning of life?" There can be no single answer because the meaning of life is not a concept or philosophy that applies to everyone in all ages. Rather, one develops a sense of meaning, or loses it, it is a subjective experience similar to and in some ways slightly related to the sense of self. The experience of one's own life as meaningful or meaningless is of course often related to various ideas, belief systems, symbolically significant relationships, and so forth, and for most people the feeling of life as meaningful typically emerges from participation in a variety of activities. Stories, values, memories, and other experiences may be woven together–loosely or tightly–into a kind of psychological "tapestry." Generally, two themes stand out--a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose.