Page 50 - NAMAH-Oct-2024

Think it Over

Meaning: Meaning?

Sushmita Mukherjee

Abstract
Our earthly existence, our day-to-day living, is filled with and formed of, hugely, the pursuit of
Meaning — of what not, meaning of words, meaning of happenings, etc. Perhaps, this search
has manifested and is still manifesting as various branches of ‘academic disciplines.’ And all this
search for meanings, leading perhaps invariably to the search for the meaning of one’s own being,
now finds Meaning in search of its own meaning: Meaning seeks itself, seeks the meaning of its
continuance as an eternal ‘present continuous’.

in search of meaning: of something, of an
event…. of anything…. and eventually led
we are to search for the meaning of life, of
our very own self (meaning of this earthly
existence, and perhaps towards it only is all
this search intended). And this meaning, that
we look for, takes at time the form and name
of ‘reason’, ‘purpose’: to name only two. It is
seemingly a quest of and for an endless ‘why’.

As kids (though, how grown-up we are, it
is even now, a point to ponder upon!), we
look for the meaning of words, and we are
even given as tasks to look up the meanings.
In ‘our’ days, it used to be the Dictionary:
“Find out from the dictionary.” This used to
Perhaps, one of the most used words is be the suggestion, command and guidance.
Meaning. And perhaps so, now Meaning seeks We were taught too, how to search for the
its own meaning…. meaning of the words. Now, though, the
mode and means have changed, and perhaps
We are, and have been almost perpetually, also in a less interesting way: we ask Google!

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