Page 68 - Liberating Liberals V2

The God-shaped Hole in the Soul
meaninglessness. But that’s a bit too optimistic,
and smacks of motivational books proclaiming the sky’s the limit. How about “manifestational ground zero?” No, too New Age and too long. How about “unbounded awareness?” Because viewing the
world from a state of complete yet un-despairing meaninglessness is viewing it from a state of almost limitless awareness. A state without judgments, morals, moods, preferences, loyalties, duties, etc. — without any of them clouding your freedom.
I still don’t like it. How about “meaning’s shadow?” Not to be confused with previous shadows we’ve discussed. Every meaning carries with it, like a shadow, the potential of becoming meaningless. And since it’s a shadow that is so fundamental to every aspect of life, to every meaning in life, then we can call it “the shadow.” Poetic. Mysterious. Threatening and fetching at once. Nope, too cutesy and again somewhat New Age and Jungian.
We’re trying to address the objectivity of meaninglessness without its negative implications. “Compassionate detachment?” Rhymes a bit. Shows there’s less despair about being there. Is friendly rather than sociopathic. Has cousins of “objective detachment” and “despairing detachment” that can be used if “compassionate” is too affirming. Okay.
Regardless of what we call it, my struggle
to find an acceptable name for meaninglessness parallels humanity’s struggle to avoid thinking about
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