21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview
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T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S
13. Meaning Will Always Allude Us
’Don’t seek the truth — just shed your opinions.’
Japanese Zen Master
If the true nature of reality is mystery, then it is difficult to see how any meaning could ever be discerned or understood. There may well be such a meaning, but by definition it is unknowable. Mircea Eliade says: ‘When something sacred manifests itself (hierophany), [that is, if we catch a glimpse of transcendent meaning] at the same time something “occults” itself, becomes cryptic. Therein lies the true dialectic of the sacred: by the mere fact of showing itself, the sacred hides itself.’ Since we do not know whether there is any meaning or not then life will of necessity be ambiguous and to some extent conflicted.
I would suggest then that the search for a transcendent meaning is really the problem rather than the solution. We look for meaning for ourselves, or at least to appropriate meaning, by looking outside of ourselves. We look for some objective truth that will centre meaning in our lives — perhaps backing up that truth with religious conviction. Simon Parke
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