The mindless cosmos and inherent meaning

Since the so called "enlightenment" many seem to have become accustomed to a mode of thought that sees external reality - our universe - as some sort of mindless backdrop. In itself it has no meaning. We, as human beings, finding ourselves the seekers of meaning, then assume that we simply project our meanings upon an outside world that is essentially meaningless in and of itself.

This assumption has been questioned by many. The alternative to it has been ascertained by those such as Carl Jung. In speaking of Jung's thought another has said:-

(Jung implies) that meaning is not just subjectively projected onto a meaningless external reality but can be an inherent feature discoverable in, or creatively emergent from, the one reality that we also are.

The "that we also are" takes us back to our world's Faith Traditions.

That is all for now.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

SW-User

Here is a poem by Wallace Stevens, "The Snow Man"

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

I can't quite get my head around this. In some ways it seems to support both the ideas that are the subject of this thread i.e. that we must be snow men (or women....😀) ourselves, objective, and yet this will reveal an inherent meaning in the world around us.

What do others think?

All views welcome.

May true Dharma continue.
No blame. Be kind. Love everything.