The meaning of life

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Art at its best contains "meaning" to beat the band! The holy grail in the idea of the "total work of art", a fully immersive aesthetic experience where as many of the senses and sensibilities are stirred simultaneously, down to the environment framing a performance. Greek theatre would be the archetype, Wagner tried to recreate it at Beyrouth, but the ideal of it is captivating as something to tend towards. As music nerds, we yearn for it when we laud the vinyl experience; beyond the music, the ritual of it, the inlay that can fill the visual field, following the symbolism of the lyrics in real time, and so on.

I still don't know about "meaning" per se being found anywhere, neither through philosophy nor science nor religion, but in terms of experience, being brought through art to sensations that feel so alien yet rich when they occur, reading Nabokov or Dostoevsky, Goethe or Shakespeare, getting a sense of just how infinite experience can be without actually living it...to be honest, when philosophy is at its best, to my taste anyway, it's when it's creating that same kind of effect.

Our experiences are all we have, whatever domain we're exploring, so like my starting point here was, if you want to seek after something, go for direct experience, as Terence McKenna used to say.

[Eoin McLove]

Sounds interesting.  I'll keep an eye out for it. Funnily,  there was an expert on Moncrief yesterday trying to get to the root of why we dance when we hear music,  and saying it seems to be instinctive rather than taught. There is a theory that groups of people moving in harmony is useful from an evolutionary perspective, possibly for hunting and escaping danger. 

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Anyway, art schmart, philosophy schmilosophy - if you want an up close and personal experience of some kind of "meaning" to life, an intense psychedelic (from the Greek "what reveals the mind") experience is the royal road, hands down, no doubt about it. Carried out in the proper environment, you could be decompressing meanings from that experience for years! There's evolutionary theories about that too, if you need 'em! (I always thought we moved instinctively to music due to the centre of balance being in the ear, so a biophysical explanation rather than a "this evolved for this" reason).

[Eoin McLove]

What's the royal road? Ayhauasca?

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I've not taken ayahuasca, though many would reply yes. Any (relatively) non-toxic intense psychedelic experience will give you plenty to mull over. The Doors of Perception was on mescaline. You can easily get as transcendent an experience from Irish psilocybin mushrooms or psilocybin truffles available online. Let's not turn this into a psychedelics thread, but if you're really, really going after meaning, throw your mind out of your head and have a good long look at it.

[Eoin McLove]

I love hearing about people's drug experiences but I'm not into taking them myself so that's an avenue I'm unlikely to explore. The Doors of Perception has been on my shopping list for a couple of years but I've yet to come across a copy.

[Scáthach]

I'm still unpacking and being inspired by an ayahuasca experience I had over 10 years ago. I worked it into longer ritual, fasting and meditation. It still provides often changing meanings to my inner life. It's still an inspiration to the noise and drone I make at home for my own listening. If you do choose to use it, keep a bucket handy 

[Eoin McLove]

Haha yeah,  I've heard a few detailed descriptions of the process and its immediate physical effects.  Maybe a nappy would be more convenient 

[Kurt Cocaine]

You can't bate a couple of lines of hash at home on a Wednesday night lads.

[Eoin McLove]

Oh Kurt, you truly are a crackpot. 

[blessed1]

I love hearing about people's drug experiences but I'm not into taking them myself

Why not?
Drugs are great.

[Eoin McLove]

Simply my choice.

[blessed1]

Simply my choice.

You may find some of the answers you are looking for in them!

[Eoin McLove]

I didn't start this thread to get advice,  it was just a discussion to see where other people look for meaning.  Getting a few reading tips and new perspectives is always a good thing but,  to be honest,  the chances of my beginning a career in drugs at 37 are well outside the bounds of likelihood,  and the prospect holds no interest for me. As I have maintained all along,  I think all of these options are just that,  options. I think that meaning is where you find it yourself. 

[Pedrito]

Doing mushrooms when I was in my late teens def changed me. Also a bad trip I had in the US changed me just as intensely. The doors of mind opened and I went into absolute overload, I was seeing thibgs, voices talking to me. Great to come out the other side but my God was it frightening. You realise that we deliberately, for good reasom, must have some sort of coccoon that we exist in mentally, that maybe evolved over millenia, to block out all this traffic and energy that exists. I'd love to do Ayahuasca but I don't have the balls. Currently here in Mexico though so never say never 

What does strike me, jyst being here in the Yucatan peninsula is how the world must have looked to the ancient people. The sky is incredible, the storms, the stars, the animals. You can see how people were in a religious conversation with what they saw in the sky, when no electricity existed. Must have been incresible powerful.