052 - Is Meaning Fundamental to the Universe? Synchronicity, Semiotics, Logotherapy, & Hegel

We all have experienced synchronicity, where causally unconnected events have a unique meaning to us.  Psychologist Carl Jung proposed that there was indeed an acausal connecting principle behind such occurrences. 

In fact, "meaning" may indeed be fundamental to the cosmos.  American philosopher C.S. Peirce believed it was so.  And Hegel did as well, epitomized by his famous dictum, "Substance is subject."  

Even on an existential basis, many have argued that one must create their own meaning and purpose in life in order to thrive.  One such example is the best-selling book "Man's Search for Meaning" by psychiatrist Viktor Frankl about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp and what he learned about survival. He developed a therapeutic approach called Logotherapy based on this.  

This podcast explores this question from the persective of Jung, Peirce, Frankl, and Hegel. 

Transcript

Gregory Novak 0:00

Hello, this is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist episode 51. Welcome back. The purpose of this podcast is to explore philosophy psychology and science. With an emphasis on the great philosopher. George Wilhem Friedrich Cagle. Some central tenants of this podcast are one that there's more going on in the world than blind purposeless, naturalistic materialism. And what is this? It is called Geist in German, translated as mind or spirit in English. Two. That evolution is central to the universe. Three. That there is a higher realm, but it is not separate from us. It is spirit Geist. And it is within us all. And for that, we are all part of an historical process of increasing human consciousness of spirit, which allows freedom and rationality to evolve in this world. And that brings us to the topic of this episode. Today I will be looking specifically at meaning. Yes, meaning. And in particularly the role meaning plays in first Young's notion of synchronicity. Secondly, in Charles Pierce's notion of semiotics, otherwise known as his theory of signs. Thirdly. A more existential look at Victor Frankel's famous book, man's search for meaning and his notion of local therapy. And lastly, how this all relates to Hegel's famous dictum, that substance is subject. Now we've discussed each of these topics in previous episodes in some depth. But my purpose today is to bring them all together for a more holistic understanding of just what's going on here under the umbrella topic of meaning. My bottom line is that meaning is fundamental to the universe and this can be taken in two ways. Literally fundamental as being there at the beginning of it all or more existentially that we find ourselves in existence. And the best strategy for dealing with our existence is to find a meaningful purpose in life. Either where you get their meaning is central to leading a productive life. I believe. Now. Let's begin by defining just what we mean by the term meaning, and it's funny, it sounds like a circular argument, or totology asking the question. What is the meaning of the word? Meaning. It's it's, it's almost, it reminds me of when you, as president, bill Clinton said under oath, it depends on what the meaning of the word is. Is if you remember that one now, according to Webster. The word meaning has three meanings. One, the thing, ID or a message that is conveyed by a word or assign to something that has meant or intended as an purpose and three, something of a significant quality. The first case. Meaning signifies what specifically? A word or sign in tends to signify the word tree. Is a sign that intends to signify the big trawl green thing that grows in your backyard. And the second case. Something intended as an, a purpose. It can be used as far as the actress meant to cause a stir with her outfit on the red carpet. her intention or purpose was to cause a stir. That's what she meant to do. That's the second meaning of the word, meaning. And the third case, it denotes something important or significant such as it was very meaningful that president Zelensky of Ukraine stayed in Kieve and did not flee. It was a sign of strength and resilience to stay in the face of an incoming attack. So those are the three. Different definitions for the word meaning. And where are we going to be? Covering is just how important meaning is to everything and on a very deep level. In fact, as I said, I believe it may lie. At the deepest level that there is. So we begin by discussing psychologist. Carl Young's famous notion of synchronicity. Basically synchronicity is a meaningful relationship between two or more events that do not have a physical causal link. And let me provide two examples here, too. To make this clear. One is personal. The second one involves a Hollywood actor. So let's begin with my personal experience. I've had many, but this, this is a really interesting one. My mother, when she was alive, lived in Manhattan. New York city and used to go out and photograph scenes around the city, which he would then use as the basis for paintings of hers. She loved to paint. And did many paintings, but first she go on and take a, take a photograph and then base the painting on that photograph. Well, she was out one day taking shots and she noticed a very cute couple across the street from her. So she took a picture. Now I was over at her apartment visiting a few months after this. And she was showing me pictures of her recent photos and deciding which would be the basis for her next painting. And then going through the photos with the one with a couple across the street, caught my eye. And looking at that photo, I could see that the couple were standing next to a phone booth. And this was back in the 1980s when they still had phone booze on many streets. What was interesting was if you looked at the photo carefully and through the glass of the phone booth right through it. You could see the window of a building behind the phone booth. And you could see in that window, there was an advertisement, a poster displayed in that window. So looking through the glass of the phone booth, you could clearly see an ad of some sort displayed in the window of the building behind the booth. Now. You can also clearly see a young man working on a computer featured in that ad those small, you could clearly see the young man's face in the photo. So my mom snaps. Photo of a couple, there's a phone booth also in the photo and you can clearly see an ad displayed in the window behind the phone booth. Sean Young man. Now who is that young man working on the computer? You might've guessed it. It was me. Now I was not a professional model. A photography crew had once come into the place that I worked, it was an accounting firm and they took photos of various people in various office settings. I'm not sure why they were there. But it was a favor of some kind. For someone high up in the organization. I had to sign a release after my photo was taken. The photo. Evidently was then sold into stock art and Citibank. A large bank in New York. I think they're international now picked it up and used it for their banking services. Ed. I was still working at the county from one to my surprise. I saw him myself featured in the sand. It was displayed in many city bank locations. Throughout the city. So hurry. It was pictured in the sand, which could be seen through a phone booth in a photo. My mother taken a couple of months before of a couple of walking down the street. My mother had no knowledge. I was in that photo. And it was me that recognized it when she showed me the photo. And even more interesting, the glass of the phone booth even served as an unintended frame for the ad featuring me in the photo. Pretty crazy stuff. That is a meaningful coincidence. Now, what are the chances of that happening? You sent a person on the street and. Randomly take photos and she'll get one of her. Child. maybe one in 10 million who knows. Now, let me relate another example. And this is, this is a good one. And this has to do with the movie actor, Anthony Hopkins. In 1973 Hopkins was given the role in a movie based on a book entitled the girl from patrol. It's a book written by George Pfeiffer. Hopkins did not actually read the book when he was signed to do it. So he wanted to get a copy and read it and was not available in his local bookstore where he lived in England. So he took the train into London to go to one of the bigger bookstores where he hoped to find it. This was in 1973 way before Amazon. So after going to many large bookstores in London to surprise, he could not find a copy of the book. So he gave up, he decided to take the train back home. Now while sitting on a bench, waiting for the train to arrive, he noticed an abandoned books sitting on a nearby bench. No one else was around. He walked over and picked it up. You guessed it. It was the book. He was looking for the girlfriend patrol FKA. Now that alone would be a major example of synchronicity, but we're just getting started here. And reading the book for his preparation for the role Hopkins noted that there were notes scribbled in the margins on many pages and his handwritten notes helped them better understand the role he would be playing almost like the author himself. It scribbled the notes in the book. Now once the film actually began production the author of the book, George Pfeiffer visited the movie set. He and Hopkins had a discussion about the book and Hopkins role in the film. During their talk Hopkins relayed the story of how we found the book in the train station, how remarkable it was with the notes scribbled inside. Pfeiffer look bewildered when he heard this and he asked Hopkins if he had a copy of that book with him on the set and Hopkins said it. Yes, I do. And 5%. Can I please see it? Uh, Hopkins went and got the book and showed it to Pfeiffer. And then a look of shock appeared on Pfeiffer's face. When he realized, he said, you're not going to believe this, but this is actually my own copy of, of this book. And I had lended to a friend and he told me he lost it. And those are indeed my own notes. The author of the book. That ladies and gentlemen is synchronicity. I'm sure many of you have had your own interesting experiences with the fence such as this. Now. A big question arises here. If the events are randomly generated and yet we see meaning in them, did the universe somehow conspired to create the connection? Did some invisible hand direct my mother to the exact location where my Citibank ad would appear framed within a phone booth. Did some invisible hand miraculously plays the author's last book on a bench next to Anthony Hopkins defined. Or is it us the subjects who are making the meaningful connection between these random events? This is the big question concerning synchronicity. Young coined the phrase synchronicity and developed. His understanding of it over, over decades. And he only started to put it down in writing very late in his life. And he published a monograph covering his understanding of synchronicity just one year before his death. It's entitled synchronicity. And a causal connecting principle. Now, let me provide a brief summary of how, how this works according to young. Young postulated several levels of the mind. Some of you may be familiar with this. We've talked about it before. First there's our personal conscious mind. That's the mind that we are consciously aware of when we are awake. Now, below this conscious level. There's a personal subconscious or unconscious mind. And our personal unconscious mind includes our memories. It's what produces our individual dreams that we have at night and also can be the cause of our neuroses. Now, even deeper than our personal unconscious young claim, there's a collective unconscious within us. And these are the archetype, symbols and impressions that all humanity shares. We did a whole episode on the collective unconscious back in March of this year, episode 49. So please check it out if you haven't listened yet. Now what young proposed that there is a level even deeper than the collective unconscious. And this is a level that unites the collective unconscious with the external world with nature. It is one psychophysical reality, one psychophysical level. And this level can not be reached empirically or even psychologically, but it does appear. It does make itself known. Through these meaningful coincidences through synchronicity. Interestingly young worked with quantum physicist, Wolfgang Pauli in developing this notion. Paulie contributed many areas to the development of quantum physics in the 20th century. And he was actually being treated by young as a client. He was getting therapy from young. When he, when they began discussing the idea of synchronicity. Why this is relevant. Is that there? Are certainly, possible mind, physical connections in quantum physics. Uh, this is controversial. And there are many controversial aspects of quantum physics. I did an entire episode and quantum physics number 28. So also check that one out. If you're interested. While it does not understood exactly what role mind plays, if any, in quantum physics. Or is it just perhaps measurement the collapses, the quantum wave? There's no question that quantum physics has brought the observed and the observer into closer contact than ever before from a scientific standpoint. And I know people say what. All you need is a measurement to collapse the quantum wave. Well, that measurement must be looked at by somebody eventually here. It's not a measurement. So. It comes back to the mind in my view, but I know it's. Controversial. So we'll deal with that later, but. Now. Here's a quote from the journal of analytic psychology regarding young and Polly's notion of synchronicity, which is pretty interesting. Quote. They conjecture to picture in which the mental and the material arises. Two complimentary aspects of one underlying psycho, physically neutral reality to which they cannot be reduced. And to which direct and periodical empirical access is impossible and quote. So synchronicity has to do with meaning in the third part of the Webster. A definition. Something significant something important. And it is us the observers that find the meaning in the synchronistic events and perhaps at some deep level, the universe provides us with an opportunity to reflect on that meaning. And that's certainly possible is the mind and the physical universe evolve together. And this was because underneath it all is Hagle proclaimed in his young beliefs. Substance in subject are ultimately one. We discussed this in episode 24. Now. Let's move on to Charles Pearson semiotics. We have discussed American, pragmatic philosopher, Charles pier, several times in different episodes, quite a fascinating person. And. His philosophy is really incredible. Uh, we did two whole episodes, episode 43 and 46 on Pierce's work. Now, what I want to get into now is his important concept of semiotics. We touched on this briefly in those episodes, but I'm going to get into some more detail now. Semiotics is essentially Pierce's theory of signs. And it played an important role in his entire philosophy. Pierce like Hagle was not an animist. He believes all things are essentially connected. And how they are connected is through a triadic concept of first assign. Then secondly, the object of that sign, and then thirdly, and interpretant of the relationship between the sign and the object. Assigned can be a word. But science can be things as well, like smoke is assigned for fire Or perhaps a change in skin color as a sign of disease. What is important to understand is that all three parts come together in one whole, according to peers, there can be no sign. Without an interpreter. There can be no object without a sign and there could be no object. Therefore, without an interpreter, they all come together. And interestingly Pierce went so far to say that a developed interpretation. Have a sign in and its object. By the interpretant that can become a new sign. So once the interpretation is made, that can actually become a new sign. And then the process continues potentially ad infinitum. This is sorta like the Galileans ablation then in turn becomes a new notion in itself that then needs another negotiation and then another sublimation again and so on and so forth. Ad infinitum. Now. It's very interesting. The Pierce believed this process was fundamental to the universe itself. He believed in the evolution of the universe. As we discussed in episode 43. And he believed the early primitive universe would have had these primitive, rudimentary aspects of sign, object, and interpreted. in it. Even before human beings. Came on the scene. Now for more in this, I recommend. Sinocism the Keystone of Pierce's metaphysics. This is a, uh, article that appears in the online digital companion to see S Pierce. When he goes into a lot of this, uh, in, in more detail. So. Meaning interpretation might be baked into the cosmos from the get-go. Now let's move on to logo therapy. I want to discuss a rather remarkable book man's search for meaning by Viktor Frankl. It was published in 1946 in a Chronicles Frankel's experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a psychiatrist. And in this book he outlines his therapeutic method called logotherapy. And basically it is that one must have meaning and purpose in life to thrive. He found that those prisoners in the concentration camp, they could hold on to some purpose beyond themselves were more likely to survive. Now, this is a very popular book. A survey conducted by the United States library of Congress listed as one of the 10 most influential books ever written in the United States. Now it's interesting that Frankel was clearly an existentialist. He believed that people have to find their own meaning in life, their own meaning and situations, their own meaning almost in every moment of their life. Let me quote him from the book. Ultimately man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life and it can only answer to life by answering for his own life to life. He can only respond by being responsible and quote. Here's another interesting quote from Dan Sylvestri regarding Frankel's work. Quote. True. Meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche. Being human, always points in is directed to something or someone other than oneself. Be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter the more one forgets himself by giving himself to a cause to serve. Or another person to love the more human he is in, the more he actualizes himself self-actualization as possible. Only as a side effect of self transcendence and quote. Now I believe the reason Frankel's book is so popular is that. So easily relatable. Sandra May have had the same message, but Franco's real life experiences and the concentration camp, get the message across very forcefully. Uh, Stephen Covey, you may have heard of him. He's a success coach. He's author of the wildly successful seven habits of highly effective people. He signs Frankl's man's search for meaning is the inspiration behind his own work. Now let's move lastly, onto Hagle. Can't forget Hagle. We did an entire episode on Hagle subject his substance in episode 32. But let me quote him again here, because this is one of the most famous of all his quotes Quote in my view. Which must be justified by the exposition of the system itself. Everything hangs on apprehending and expressing the truth, not merely a substance, but also equally as subject and quote. So. The truth. Is. Equally substance and subject. And. In short substances, equal to subject. And Hegel, as he says in this quote, he, this is what Henkel system's all about. which must be justified by the exposition of the system itself. He claims, which he does through this and through this science of logic and encyclopedia. Uh, philosophical sciences. Uh, Hagle continues a few paragraphs later. In the phenomenology quote. thus what seems to happen outside it to be an activity directed against it is really its own doing its substance shows itself to be essentially subject and quote. Now. As we've discussed with Hagle nature is the other rational logic and a spirit. That's ablates the two parts into one whole. And the goal of evolution, the goal of spirit is to have us recognize more and more of the unity of our rational logic and nature. Both mind and nature have evolved together a ying and yang. If you will. And by seeing meaningful coincidences in nature, we can come to understand our own minds better. And if we go down real deep as young hypothesizes, we come to one unity, one psychophysical reality. Quantum physics is certainly pointing in this direction. Union poly understood this Hagle and Pierce understood it as well. And it's not just meaningful. Coincidence is just observing nature can produce this, the seasons, the growth life and death of plants and animals, the air fire, wind earth. These are all symbols that the mind can grasp and onto, and, and. And learn from. By seeing events unfold in nature. We see events unfold in ourselves and understand it. That is the purpose of nature. I believe. Uh, to help us evolve. Uh, meaningful coincidences are almost like explanation points in, in, in nature. They underline the things that have meaning in our lives. As I mentioned you and worked on developing the concept of synchronicity for many years. And at the end of his life, he thought it was just as fundamental concept is cause and effect. And lastly. Let me close just with one of the most memorable lines of the new Testament. That's John one, one, and you all know it in the beginning was the word. Now what John, or whoever wrote this as saying that the word, the sign was at the beginning. And as we've talked about, the sign needs an object and interpreted prepares. So. In a very abstract since the beginning of this gospel concurs with young Pierce and Hagle. So to summarize. We've seen that synchronicity the meaningful juxtaposition of two or more events with no causal relation can signify deep connection. In the psychophysical realm. That lies beneath the collective unconscious and lives beneath scientific inquiry. From Scientific's standpoint, quantum physics is pointing the way, but much more understanding is needed to see exactly how this works. We've seen that the, this bottom psychophysical layers, perhaps triadic that involves a sign, an object, and an interpreter all rolled into one process. And that all goes back to Hagle, sames notion. That substance is subject. Well, That's it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. To this, into all the, all the various episodes. Please follow the podcast. Facebook page at cunning of guys where I'll be listing all the references cited here. And I also post relevant comments. In between episodes on that page. Be sure to check it out. I also do a lot of correspondences to different philosophies, different philosophers, different ways of thinking. to expand on the, on the current episode there. You can also follow me on Twitter also at cutting of Geist. And please be sure to like rate and review this podcast wherever you listen. And please tell your like-minded friends about it as well. Spread the word, feel free to share these episodes in social media as well. So this is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist. See you next time.