Foreword to "The Meaning Machine"

This is important to me.

Q: Why ?
A: Because of the meaning I give it: it's important to me.

Q: So what ?
A: And I hope that this is important to you too.

Q: Why is it important to you that it be important to me ?
A: Because if it's also important to you, it may be important to others too.

Q: And why is that important ?
A: Because then if it's important to others, chances are that it's important to MANY others.

Q: So what ?
A: If it's important to many others, it MEANS something to many people.

Q: OK.
A: And I'd rather focus on the meaningful than the meaningless.

Q: Meaning... ?
A: Meaning that what's important to many human beings is to find meaning. A lot of depression seems to stem from a lack of any real meaning to one's life. Our smallness, our human-ness, our humanity seems insignificant in the grand scheme of the magnitude of time and space covered by the entire universe. Our lives seem meaningless.

Q: OK, so life seems meaningless to many. So what ?
A: Conversely, many people who have created a meaning, a purpose to their life seem vibrant, re-energized, joyous. Their mastery of a meaning to their existence seems to create a mold in which all life's events seem to make sense, in alignment with the meanings we assign to everything.

Q: So we all need to find meaning in our lives ?
A: It's not that. We already assign meaning to everything that happens. Yes, man is a meaning machine. Our forte is to assign meaning to seemingly meaningless data. Our minds are masterful at detecting patterns in seemingly unrelated events.

Every second of our life, each one of us interprets what our senses signal us, and try to assign it meaning. That itch on my arm is nothing to worry about. That car approaching may mean I need to brake. That smile on my loved one's face means she is happy.

Q: So we all assign meaning to our lives all the time already. What's your point ?
A: The meanings we assign determine our reactions. If a mother believes that a man who just walked in the door harmed her son, she will react emotionally according to her belief. Now here's the important part: it does not matter what the truth is at that point. Once she has placed a meaning on the man ("The harmer of my son") her reactions are pretty much limited to how she reacts to anyone who harms a family member.

It IS possible that she would get angry, or that she would try to forgive him, depending on her background and previous experience.  But these responses are all determined by the meaning she assigned. Reactions are determined largely by the meanings, interpretations our minds assign.