How do you gauge Meaning?

Question

What makes something, someone or some place meaningful to you?

Do you see meaning as intuitive -- centered around caring for people, or intellectual -- focusing on the quest for spirituality/knowledge?

Answer away!

Answer 1

Personally, as a constant thinker, INTJ, not a feeler, or sensative type at all...there tends to be a list of requierments that have to be met before I can declare something as meaningful.
1. The mood, an elusive air of this is important must be present.
2. The people must be righteous, if not, I void the whole experience.
3. I must be happy at the time. Happiness meaning that all the requirements for unhappiness are lacking.
4. I did not plan the event.
5. Nothing is expected of me, but there is a sense that I should participate, otherwise it wouldn't work.

I believe those would be my requirements for something to be meaningful to me.


Very Shallow, I know.

Answer 2

It means to measure something, like "by looking at this person I can gauge how talkative they might be", or something along those lines. And there are devices called gauges that measure using a needle or numbers to see how high or how much of something there is, like air/water pressure.

Answer 3

What I find meaningful in the responses so far is that the guy that identified himself as a constant thinker, "not a feeler" listed all that was meaningful to him as "feeling" experiences...."mood" and "happiness"......me thinks this guy is confused between what it MEANS to think and feel.

Meaning is for each individual to decide for themself. What is meaningful to me is that which makes a lasting impression on me; sometimes that impression makes me think and sometimes it makes me feel, but either way it is something that I'll never forget.

Answer 4

To me Meaning, is a combination of Coarse and Affect, or the result thereof.

Thats the simplest way of looking at it, and before you start delving into the Care/Intelectual/Spirituality or Knowledge field.

Wouldn't it be, far easier to start with the simplistic approach. I think it would save confusion

Answer 5

meaning is how the individual interprets those things which affect him, whether an event, a place, a person, something seen or something heard. not all people have the same idea of what something means. it is the individual that determine what something means, but only for himself. others can agree or disagree with any other individuals meaning. that is what free will is for. to decide for one's own self what the individual wants or does.

Answer 6

meaning is not limited to intuition or intellect. it encompasses these, and transcends them. what may seem meaningless to us, is at a higher plane of existence, a deep truth of the universe.
every time we rise in our consciousness, lifting our soul higher through spiritual seeking, we percieve reality in a greater light of understanding.
therefore to answer your question meaning is a very personal thing and cannot be answered by a philosophical bantering. it can be everything or it can be nothing. it's for you to find out!

Answer 7

Meaning ... to which its own! We all interpret things differently (even though we may be looking at the same thing/situation). That's also the whole trouble (the way we see things) ... that leads to misunderstanding. My favourite illustration is the number '6' - '6' from one side and you see a '9' from the other! Who's right, who's wrong? :-)

Answer 8

If we don't doubt our reality (question is rooted in our mortality), everything has a meaning. However, every meaning is derived from a physical/physiological or mental/psychological need.

"Need" is the mother of nature. One might have more spiritual need than others, and one might have more psychological or physical need. The "meaning" is found in quenching the desires.

Answer 9

Intuition is one of those bogus terms.

Caring is a choice. Helping is a choice. These are beliefs, decisions and behaviours that we engage in, or not.

I choose not to care. I do choose to balance out my efforts between myself and my community.

Answer 10

I disregard meanings that don't reflect who I am, or who I want to be. I embrace meanings that compliment the Love that I'm made of.