Meaning Making & Justification (Good vs Evil)

[gainesvillecathy]

I am thinking about writing a piece on this topic for my blog, so I thought I would hash out my thoughts here on PD. This topic idea came to me today during my usual morning meditation, but the specific points are still in the introductory phase in my mind.

So far, this is what I have.......

'Meaning Making' seems to be the driving momentum of life. It is currently a pretty hot topic among many scholars. If 'Meaning Making' is what makes us strive for improvement in our existence, could it be that 'Justification' is the opposite? Could 'Meaning Making' be likened to societal enformy and 'Justification' be likened to societal entropy (good & evil).

People seem to have two distinct outlooks on life. They can either be altruistic and find meaning in their life by contributing to our existence in one positive form or another, or they can spend their life always finding an excuse, or rationalizing away their inability to be empathetic, compassionate, or a positive contributor. This seems to address the core issue of justification by faith and forgiveness of sin by Jesus's crucifiction, and possibly why some people are so attracted to the idea while others are repulsed by it.

From these thoughts I went on to ponder how we approach this problem as a society. From a holistic perspective, it only makes sense that we be pro-active rather than re-active. So far, I believe we have always approached this problem in a reactive way by punishing after-the-fact.

If this is a case of opposites creating strife in order for us to keep reaching, perhaps a person is wired to select one path or the other.

We are understanding more and more about biology in regard to nutrition and preventative health care. So, if we are addressing this from a holistic perspective, why do we continue to be soley reactive? We now know that 90% of a child's brain development happens by age 5, so why are we just sitting around and waiting to be reactive when they become criminals in their late teens and twenties. We know what it takes to improve their brain development so that they can be more productive members of society, so why are we still in the stone ages with our reactive approach?

I wish I could time travel into the future to see outcomes of children who had a proper environment for optimum brain development compared to those who had the worst, and determine the numbers of 'Meaning Making' citizens versus those who would be riding the 'Justification' band wagon.

Thanks for letting me put all of this down in writing. That always helps. Feedback is welcomed.

[gainesvillecathy]

Altruism comes naturally to infants. It is our society that makes them egocentric and narcissistic.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/10/11 ... 30233.html

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[Varokhâr]

Altruism comes naturally to infants. It is our society that makes them egocentric and narcissistic.

Fascinating

Not surprising, though; as a Deist, my faith is that God gave us reason and a natural sense of altruism as our intellectual tools with which we build our understanding of morals and truth, et al. It makes the most perfect sense that infants have a natural sense of what it means to be good - they were intended to

[siti]

Bula!

Doesn't the study really show that infants are capable of learning to be altruistic at a very early age? My take on altruism is that the capacity is genetic but the expression is cultural. Our neurochemistry naturally rewards altruistic behavior with feel-good hormone "cookies" - but we can fool our system into providing the same rewards for less than altruistic behaviors. As an intelligent species, we have the responsibility to nurture behavior that benefits our species not just our individual "selves". When we do that, we naturally feel good about ourselves too.

[loveroflife]

Altruism comes naturally to infants

I agree with that, but believe the other two traits you mention come naturally to babies also. All traits are "there" in everyone to one degree or another, it's societies job to bring out the "good" ones.

[Helium]

Well I'm not particularly well read nor particularly well educated but the first part of your thread reminded me of one book that I did read and continue to be fascinated by was Victor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning. He's a Holocaust survivor and the first half of his book recounted his first hand experiences surviving a concentration camp, and certainly the conclusion he came to was that those who found meaning to their lives - something to live for - did not give up. Certainly they did die in great numbers, but at least not of their own choosing. Those with something to live for - whatever it was - were hardier in those horrific conditions then those who had nothing they were living for.
As for your premise of the opposite of 'meaning', I might look at it a bit differently.
For instance, what's the opposite of hot?
Cold, right.
But if you delve deep enough, cold isn't really literally the opposite because our heat is generated by a star (notwithstanding that we can generate our own heat). But there is no cold generator. There's no anti-star that generates cold. Rather, cold is simply the absence of heat. So to me the opposite of meaning is simply ... lack of meaning,nothing to live for.
The meaning of life, for us as humans, may be love. And similarly, the opposite of love, on the surface, is hate. Or you can also look at it as the absence of love, much like cold is, technically, the absence of heat.

And now to skip directly to your second part. I'm not sure how we could gurantee that children receive optimum upbringing in their formative years. Many in the world are too poor to enable this, and they have no right to the freedom we have because of arbitrary borders which artificially and arbitrarily divide the world sometimes into haves and have-nots; and sometimes parents are just bad parents, and then you get into the issue of how bad parents must be before you take their child(ren) away. And if you take their child away, how are you going to guarantee that they will then be moved into an environment optimal for upbringing.

[gainesvillecathy]

Here is a video explaining the work I do and where my heart is deeply invested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbSp88PBe9E

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[gnomon]

Altruism comes naturally to infants. It is our society that makes them egocentric and narcissistic.

I'm not familiar with Social Semiotics and related theories of "Meaning Making", so I can't comment intelligently on that topic. Also, I'm not sure how Meaning Making relates to Justification, except possibly in the sense of pro-actively taking responsibility for creating the meaning for your own life, instead of passively waiting for "justification" by Faith---playing the role of inert Pawn.

However, I am currently reading the latest book by Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization. In the chapter on Becoming Human, he discusses the topic of how children learn to be altruistic adults. As you pointed out, babies already have an instinct for empathy, << The toddlers expressed a pure sense of altruism . . . >>. He asserts that we are "wired for empathy", but that the family and social environments can modify the personal expression of empathic feelings as the child matures, resulting in "cultural variations in empathy".

Children raised in financially and culturally impoverished environments may learn to repress their innate altruism as a survival technique, and focus on more cynical & selfish goals with instant gratification; which may result in anti-social or criminal behavior. Unfortunately, the parent(s) of those children probably were raised in the same kind of dog-eat-dog milieu; so they may not know any better. That's where Early Childhood Development programs come into play.

But it's always tricky for School or Social Services personnel to intrude on the child-raising methods of parents. Some may be grateful for the help, but others may resent the implication of poor parenting skills. In any case, public opinion on State intervention into private matters is highly emotionally-charged and politically-polarized. Historically, Utopian social programs were well-intentioned, but they have tended to come across as authoritarian and heavy-handed. Consequently, current politically-correct programs may be so hemmed-in and ham-strung that they are powerless to actually change the self-defeating situation with its feedback loops of ignorance & poverty.

Knowing what needs to be done, and knowing how to get it done, are often contradictory, but ultimately complementary social issues.

[gainesvillecathy]

1_ I'm not familiar with Social Semiotics and related theories of "Meaning Making", so I can't comment intelligently on that topic. Also, I'm not sure how Meaning Making relates to Justification, except possibly in the sense of pro-actively taking responsibility for creating the meaning for your own life, instead of passively waiting for "justification" by Faith---playing the role of inert Pawn.

2_ But it's always tricky for School or Social Services personnel to intrude on the child-raising methods of parents. Some may be grateful for the help, but others may resent the implication of poor parenting skills. In any case, public opinion on State intervention into private matters is highly emotionally-charged and politically-polarized. Historically, Utopian social programs were well-intentioned, but they have tended to come across as authoritarian and heavy-handed. Consequently, current politically-correct programs may be so hemmed-in and ham-strung that they are powerless to actually change the self-defeating situation with its feedback loops of ignorance & poverty.

Knowing what needs to be done, and knowing how to get it done, are often contradictory, but ultimately complementary social issues.

1_ As you know, I am in contact with the author of "Reviving the Living: Meaning Making in Living Systems", Dr. Yair Neuman. I ran my thoughts by him in regard to meaning making and justification. He suggests that I read the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin, who stated that "there is no alibi in being (existence)". Dr. Neuman agrees with my thoughts on this subject as they are now, but I will take his advice and process what I can learn from the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin before writing more.

2_ Please understand that the work that I do is not required of any family, but is actually desired by them. I am currently working with more than 60 children, and I also have a waiting list. Most parents truly want to provide their children with every possible opportunity to reach their full potential, and finding ways to achieve that is my ultimate goal.

The policy makers and influencial educators across this country are finally realizing that we are sinking fast. It's now becoming a "must" situation. We are losing our children. 2 in 5 are now living in deep poverty, and our country now ranks 26th in the world in education. The children in poverty are in the most dire need of even an adequate education.

[gainesvillecathy]

http://www.sciencemaster.com/columns/we ... rly_01.php

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