The Creation of Meaning

As a result of our linguistic CNS, perception is informed by learning such that past experience becomes intrinsic to present perception. This added dimension of perception results in a radically new form of  perception which we usually call the creation of meaning. We think of meaning as the source of motivation and thus of behavior. But it is now becoming clear that the creation of meaning is a behavior. In other words, meaning does not cause behavior. The fact is that the very same preconscious processes that create meaning also create behavior. This brings us to the logical conclusion that in order to utilize our minds fully we need to become aware of, and then take control of, those preconscious processes that determine both meaning and other behaviors.

I propose that this is the essence of what we have traditionally called religious mysticism. In fact, however, it is not religious at all. It is the next step in the evolution of consciousness, i.e.,  an evolutionary process that can only proceed by and through consciousness.

The primary block to achieving this next step is our own learned identity, which tradition refers to as the ego. The ego is imposed on children in early childhood along with symbolic language and evolution ‘intends’ the individual to live for the rest of one’s life according to the emotional perceptions and responses that are inherent in our egos. This ‘design’ worked for about 50,000 years; from the inception of grammatical language until the rise of civilization.

The basic problem now is that civilization has been so successful that it has produced an entirely new environment whose principle characteristic is continuous change. But instinctual consciousness, even in its self-conscious form, emerged as an adaptation to an environment that did not normally change within the normal lifespan, which was certainly less than 50 years.

Hence, the current human predicament.