Escape the emptiness: the timeless quest for meaning
Update: Many people have been asking me about the expected launch of netproject.org. I’m energized that people are so excited about what we’re building. Unfortunately, we do have some funding and engineering bottlenecks. If you can help with either of those, don’t hesitate to reach out or share this with someone who might know someone who might know someone.
The foundations of netproject.org–field research, what we’re building, what we’re hoping to accomplish for a more meaningful world.
“I’ve recently started thinking about this question much more. I’ve never thought about it too much before and it’s been really uncomfortable. Maybe I need some dream to pursue, but I wonder what that could be?”
- Misaki, 15, Osaka, Japan
Meaning and purpose.
It’s an open secret at this point. These two closely related topics are hugely important for not only mental health, but also for physical health and general life outcomes. Depression, addiction, and suicide, to strokes, heart attacks, and premature death. These are just some of the outcomes that someone without a strong sense of meaning and purpose is more likely to face.1 However, for something so important, only about 20-30% of Americans believe they have a strong sense of meaning and purpose in their lives.2 That was in 2008. Among other things, senseless tragedy, feelings of isolation, and pessimistic attitudes of helplessness and doom bring about increased meaninglessness and purposelessness. And with so many seemingly hopeless global developments, there is reason to believe that “nihilism” (the word philosophers use for a belief that life is meaningless) has only continued to increase. a Recent surveys have tended to assume respondents had a consistent and strong sense of meaning.
Despite the importance that meaning and purpose play in mental health and our overall life outcomes, there is a tendency to avoid or struggle thinking about these things. It isn't too surprising. The topics can be extremely emotional and intimidating to approach. After all, where are we left if we begin to think about the “existential” (the word philosophers use for things related to existence) questions and find no satisfactory answers? Not having a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives can leave us feeling empty inside. Conventional advice often minimizes our yearning. It tells us that we’re overthinking when we worry about these things, that we should aim to escape the emptiness with conformity instead–even if that conformity is contradictory and confusing. It may fill our emptiness briefly, but before long such a shallow filling will crack. The feelings of nihilistic emptiness will creep in and threaten our sense of mental safety and security. It’s a scary, harrowing place to be.
Spring 2019 I was living in Hong Kong, completing my second research project on these subjects. Up to that point, I had noteworthy moments in my own life where I felt grabbed by existential anxieties, but this was not one of them. Instead, I was now driven by a curiosity to learn about how other people would receive the research I was doing. As a starting point, I was curious, “did everyone have these thoughts?” Or was my research, and that of others, an exercise in over-intellectualization? Often, when telling someone about my research, the other person would tell me they believed those around them never worried about such things, which seemed to contradict my understanding of these being universal questions. I decided that I would take an unconventional approach to my philosophy research. Instead of focusing all my efforts on reading and writing, I would go into the public arena and talk to people about what they believed was meaningful. I boiled parts of my research down into a set of general interview questions that would let me learn if people were actually thinking about the questions–and if so how?
I was under the popular belief that the concerns of meaning and fulfillment were chiefly concerns of those in developed economies–a belief I no longer suspect is true.b We'll discuss the universiality of meaning on a future netproject.org update. So, on my stingy travel budget, I set out to travel through Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.c Not all of these places are necessarily "developed economies." Mostly, I stayed in hostels and couchsurfing homes whenever I could–but did have a few nights spent in some rather unexpected places. I interviewed both locals and travelers, from across six continents, with varied nationalities, hometowns, religions, and overall life experiences. To say that the experiences were both impactful–and personally meaningful–feels like an understatement. There are memorable and thrilling travel stories I could share, but that’s for another time. Instead, I want to focus on key insights that have inspired me–and others–to build netproject.org
Insight #1 : Pretty much everyone thinks about the meaning of life. No seriously. They might not use those exact words but everyone thinks about the topics captured by meaning. It might be useful to understand exactly what things we mean by a "meaning of life." A Meaning of Life (MOL) is many things, including those that give someone a sense of purpose, bring a feeling of understanding to our existence in the context of the universe, and inspire resiliency in the face of adversity. They are the central things we use to organize our identity, our values and motivations, (the bulk of) our time and efforts, and the act of living itself.
Insight #2: People struggle thinking through these topics. After all, these concerns are scary–again how do you navigate your life if you determine that it’s all meaningless? It doesn’t help that the topics are effectively taboo in most communities. We shy away from talking publicly about such things, fearing that it can come with labels of being overly serious, depressing, neurotic and even blasphemous. Still we can’t help but think about these things at least at some point in our lives. Our unnecessary taboos can make us feel isolated, alone, and even like dysfunctional people who can’t seem to function like everyone else. And yet, to struggle with these questions can be the most human thing of all.
Insight #3: The little bit of thinking about these questions–what was meaningful, what were the values and goals worth striving for–ended up extremely consequential but routinely unsatisfying. As a result, our limited explorations of these topics had outsized consequences about decisions both big and small. Everything from our friends, romantic partners and family, and work, to what we ate, and what we did in our free time: so much of it was the result of the conscious and subconscious beliefs of meaning we had. What we decided to study, the person we wanted to marry, and where we decided to live–all our wants were informed based on values and goals that we thought were meaningful.
But again thinking about these things is hard. In an effort to escape the emptiness, people often took on the most popular meaning approaches around them. Almost all groups of people were dissatisfied with how they were approaching MOL questions. It was a common observation for people to express that life was meaningless and the things they were spending time on ultimately felt pointless. Even people who did their best to distract themselves from these questions, lamented they would find themselves struggling for meaning once more.
“I think life does have meaning. I’ve been talking with more people every day as I started working. It’s really made me start thinking about this more. It’s such a difficult question but I see myself interacting with people every day. Maybe the meaning of life is to learn about the values of human life? But what are these values and which ones should I choose?”
-Akane, 15, Osaka, Japan
What is netproject.org trying to do and why?
“At the broadest level, netproject.org’s mission is to help people explore and create healthier approaches to life’s biggest existential questions. One of the first interventions we’re building is a digital tool that will guide you through existential questions in ways that are fun, enjoyable, and personally meaningful to you.”
It all sounds pretty bleak right? It doesn’t have to be the case. Throughout my interviews, there was a surprising theme that began to emerge. People were thanking me. The interview intentions weren’t to help people find meaning or to even help them think about these topics. Unexpectedly, that seemed to be happening. People appreciated that I was helping them think through these topics with a safe, well-thought-out structure. There were some who invited me to their homes, asking me to talk to their friends and family. Others even wanted to travel with me to help me with translations.
I certainly hope my interviews were life changing, but more realistically my brief encounters were nowhere near what people needed. Life presents us with consistent existential challenges that make us question our values, assumptions, goals, and overall sense of meaning. One conversation isn’t enough to give someone the tools they need to approach these topics throughout their lives. Not only that, but the existential suffering being felt by people is painfully widespread. And the effects of this suffering don't stay isolated: if someone has an unhealthy approach to meaning then they may even harm another person’s well-being.d This subject and different MOL approaches will be covered in a future netproject.org post. The opposite is also true. If we can give people better tools and healthier approaches to think about meaning, then we can make progress in creating a world that we all find fulfilling.
At the broadest level, netproject.org’s mission is to help people explore and create healthier approaches to life’s biggest existential questions. We want to give people the wisdom, interconnectedness, and awe that are empowering to one’s sense of meaning. More concretely, we believe that if we give people tools to approach these anxiety inducing questions then the questions are no longer so scary when they inevitably emerge in someone’s life. Furthermore, we can both teach people and learn from one another about just how we can live more meaningful lives. Digital platforms are the most accessible ways of reaching people. We spend more time now than ever interacting with the web but often feel distracted and worse for it–why not use that power for good? One of our first interventions that we’re building at netproject.org is a digital tool that will guide you through existential questions in ways that are fun, enjoyable, and personally meaningful to you.e We’re looking for engineers to join our team; if our mission speaks to you, reach out to get involved. Too often these questions and topics evoke a sense of fear and burden but that doesn’t have to be the case. fWe place a strong emphasis on having a well-researched approach; if you’re a researcher who wants to get involved, reach out. Our first intervention is just the start and we have plenty more planned, make sure you subscribe below to join us on our journey. Want to contribute to our mission of creating a more meaningful world? Feel free to reach out.
a Recent surveys have tended to assume respondents had a consistent and strong sense of meaning.
b We'll discuss the universality of meaning on a future netproject.org update.
c Not all of these places are necessarily "developed economies."
dThis subject and different MOL approaches will be covered in a future netproject.org post.
e We’re looking for engineers to join our team; if our mission speaks to you, reach out to get involved.
f We place a strong emphasis on having a well-researched approach; if you’re a researcher who wants to get involved, reach out.
1 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601899/full
2 https://iaap-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01035.x
Dictionary
Nihilism: the word philosophers use for a belief that life is meaningless
Existential: the word philosophers use for things related to existence
Meaning of Life (MOL): can include a sense of purpose, bring a feeling of understanding to our existence in the context of the universe, and inspire resiliency in the face of adversity. Often the central things that organize our identity, our values and motivations, (the bulk of) our time and efforts, and the act of living itself.
