The Importance of Meaning
Meaning is important, choose your plates wisely
I’m learning Spanish and I’ve become fascinated at how sounds and symbols come together to create containers that hold meaning.
Part of learning a language is learning how to pronounce the words. Each word can be broken down into small sounds, or syllables. Syllables are like pieces of Lego; once you’re familiar with them you can join them together to create a distinct sound that’s recognised as a word.
For example, the Spanish word for science, ciencia, is made up of two syllables thyehn-thyeh. Once you can pronounce ciencia, you’ve learned how to make a sound that conveys the concept of science to Spanish listeners. The sound itself contains the meaning, the concept you want to convey.
Concepts by themselves, without the container of words, have no form - they are intangible and ethereal. Whereas a word is a distinct and recognisable sound that can hold a concept and allow us to communicate it to others.
It’s remarkable that we think in language - that we use silent sounds to process our ideas - without the silent sound of words we cannot even convey meaning to ourselves. It is through sound that concepts are coded and stored in the neural archives of our brains where they can be recalled to form ideas and thoughts.
Several thousand years ago, we made another breakthrough; we learned to use visual symbols to represent sounds. These symbols - letters - each represented a specific sound, for the first time we were able to record sound and the ideas they represented in script. It was revolutionary, now we could capture and store knowledge outside the mind.
Today, there are more than seven thousand languages in the world and roughly a hundred different scripts. Yet they are all sounds and symbols for the same concepts. That’s why languages can be learned and why even the most complex codes can be broken. We only need a cipher - a common concept - to unlock the meaning.
What do we mean when we talk about meaning in the context of personal growth? Here, meaning is not linguistic but experiential, it’s the sense of worth we derive from what we do.
Again, meaning is intangible and ethereal.
Just as words are containers for the meaning we wish to communicate - our actions and activities are containers for a deeper spiritual meaning.
Meaning is our measure of worth. The felt sense that we are doing something of value for ourselves, or for others.
The Plate Spinning Club is where we learn to choose and practice the activities that nurture and sustain our wellbeing. Each plate represents an activity in which we invest our time and energy. Some plates provide entertainment or distraction - but leave us feeling dissatisfied and disappointed. Others demand more effort - but reward us with a glowing sense of satisfaction and fulfilment.
The meaning held by each activity is unique. While the purpose of an activity is identifiable, it’s meaning is much more nuanced, discrete and multi-layered. It’s true significance often lies beneath the surface.
It could be something that interests and engages us and brings a sense of achievement. Or, perhaps it connects us with something bigger than ourselves and brings a sense of peace and fulfilment.
The importance of meaning is that it is contained within the activities we choose to do, the plates we spin.
When you are spinning a plate - engaged in an activity - look deeper into the meaning it holds for you. How do you feel? Do you feel satisfied or dissatisfied - restful or restless? How many different layers of meaning can you find? What value does it hold for you?
Asking these questions - spending time unwrapping meaning - helps us to find the activities that nurture and sustain us, the ones that matter most to our wellbeing.
Just as choosing our words wisely brings clarity of meaning, choosing our activities wisely brings richness of meaning.
Meaning is important, choose your plates wisely.