{"id":7001,"date":"2015-04-04T19:10:08","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T02:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=7001"},"modified":"2015-04-11T17:32:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-12T00:32:07","slug":"meaning-without-substantiality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=7001","title":{"rendered":"Meaning without substantiality?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack asked if giving up our commitment to the proclamations of ordinary viewpoints means we will also give up what we view as meaningful\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsince meaningfulness<\/span> is itself a kind of proclamation.<\/p>\n

This seems to be a paradox.\u00c2\u00a0 How can we even specify what we intend, when the act of specification itself is being called into question?<\/p>\n

In the reading for this week, the text talks about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flattening\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as a way of challenging the proclamations of substance.\u00c2\u00a0 But I keep wondering how it is possible to deny extension in space without also reducing the fullness of experience?\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps the image of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flattening\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can encourage me to notice the move I constantly make to build a world of substance out of appearances that do not possess substantiality.\u00c2\u00a0 The mindfulness required may help to challenge the automatic attribution of substance.<\/p>\n

This still has a paradoxical feel to it–since creativity and imagination also embellish appearance.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, seeing elephants in clouds is an elaboration on the weather.\u00c2\u00a0 The Disney film \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fantasia\u00e2\u20ac\u009d goes a step further: providing a ballet of pink elephants who dance, fly and continuously transform.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems that creative imagination adds a dimension to perception which allows the mind to take flight in that new dimension.<\/p>\n

Watching a movie on a flat screen TV, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flattened\u00e2\u20ac\u009d plane of pixels unfolds for the viewer because he adds the dimension of his own experience to the matrix.<\/p>\n

I have to conclude that the image of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flattening\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is intended to specifically challenge the past-centered activity of substituting inert substance for the lively wisps of appearance.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps time is the key.\u00c2\u00a0 If we can flatten the cast of characters that have been performing the same play night after night, perhaps the cardboard cut-outs will lose their audience appeal and future possibilities will audition for new roles in a new play.\u00c2\u00a0 This new play, in providing parts for imagination and creativity, will be free to unfold a spacious world of colour, animation, and meaningfulness<\/span>.\u00c2\u00a0 But this meaningfulness will be a fresh response to an aliveness that arcs across time, not the projection of conclusions imported from the past.\u00c2\u00a0 There is still a paradox (that flattening can empower the dance of multidimensionality), but it also makes a kind of sense.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps inhibiting the extension into substance frees up a dimension now occupied by labels and identities, thereby allowing surprising connections to blossom among the infinite reverberations of being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jack asked if giving up our commitment to the proclamations of ordinary viewpoints means we will also give up what we view as meaningful\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsince meaningfulness is itself a kind of proclamation. This seems to be a paradox.\u00c2\u00a0 How can we … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,72,49,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-general-tsk-discussions","category-language","category-metaphysics","category-thought"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}