OK, so the question is, can that sense of meaning be hijacked?
And the answer to that is, absolutely. Absolutely.
Because you could say that the ultimate sense of meaning is composed of the union of fragmentary senses of meaning
And the fragmentary senses of meaning can be overwhelmingly powerful
Anger. Sexual lust. And the sorts of things you experience, say, when you're playing a video game
Which are very carefully calibrated to keep you on the edge of exploration, let's say.
Now, I'm not a foe of video games, because games are complicated and it isn't clear what people are doing when they're playing them
You know, they may be expanding their cognitive skills.
They may be learning to cooperate.
They may be learning to engage in complex problem-solving.
And so, but -- Part of it's also a matter of balance. You know...
Fifty hours a week, probably not. Unless you're gonna go pro. Right?
Because there's other things you need to be attending to.
It's not a stable solution for you, your family, your society.
It's too one-sided.
Yeah, and you can get pulled down rabbit holes of all sorts that are one-sided pursuits of meaning.
So-- And that's something we're actually going to talk about as the later classes unfold
The question is, how do you stop yourself from falling prey to a pathologized sense of meaning?
And I think one of the answers to that is: Don't lie.
Because what you're hoping is that your nervous system is sufficiently healthy and well-programmed so that what it reads out to you is reliable.
And if you pathologize your psyche by--
Either through sins of omission, let's say, or outright deception,
you're going to warp that internal structure and it's not going to read out properly to you.
And then your sense of meaning will lead you astray.
So, like, one of the reasons for speaking the truth--
I shouldn't say that, because you don't know how to speak the truth, but you do know how not to lie.
And... It's a game you're playing with yourself. You can define the damn lies; no one else has to do that for you.
You try not to utter falsehoods
cause you warp your neurological structure by doing so
and then it will read out pathologically.
And then if you rely on it to guide you it will run you right off a cliff.
So, that's why there's a moral element to this.
If you're going to rely on your sense of meaning
make sure that you don't pollute the mechanism.
See, this is partly why people go to confession.
Right? Which is, like I said, a psychotherapeutic technique.
It's like, okay, what stupid, miserable, wretched things did I do this week?
Well, that's a good thing to make conscious, right?
Because maybe you can not do them the next week.
And you think, well why would you bother?
It's like, well, you're in a ship. It's sailing across the stormy seas.
If you're hacking holes in it with a pickaxe you should probably pay attention to that before you sink.
So, it's a good idea to keep what you're doing that's stupid in mind, so that you can stop doing it.
And so, then you can more and more rely on yourself, and your own... you know, your own conscience, let's say, as a guide to proper action.
You know, in the Pinocchio story, the conscience was not an unerring guide for Pinocchio.
It had to learn.
And so-- It's also partly pushing yourself into new situations
And differentiating yourself so that you get wiser.
And so it's courage as well as truth.
Those might be the two... There's more:
Beauty, courage, truth. You know, the fundamental virtues.
Why be virtuous? That's the question.
It's so that you can bear the suffering of life without becoming corrupt.
Right. It's practical.
It's practical. There's nothing more practical than that.
So, unless you want misery -- and people do, you know.
It's exciting, misery.
So. Other questions?
All right, then.
See you next Wednesday. [applause]