Fluidity

I make audiobooks and release them as podcasts.  The 20th-century systematic mode of social organization provided pre-packaged meaning, value, purpose, and ethics. It broke down. We entered an internet-enabled atomized mode of social organization, splintered into a kaleidoscope of meanings, without context. Audiobooks narrated in the Fluidity podcast will look toward constructing a fluid mode. Welcome to episode 1 of the next book, a work of non-fiction by David Chapman, a Buddhist and a former artificial intelligence researcher. "Meaningness" takes problems of meaning-making, typically considered spiritual, and turns them into practical problems, which are more tractable. This ten-minute introductory episode will give you a taste of this approach. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/an-appetizer-purpose You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Music is by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Two stances that don't work: "Everything has a definite meaning" and "Nothing means anything." The original text is here: https://meaningness.com/preview-eternalism-and-nihilism You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Meaningness is the quality of being meaningful or meaningless. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/what-is-meaningness You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Mistaken attitudes toward meaning create unnecessary psychological/spiritual/existential suffering. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/misunderstanding-meaningness-makes-many-miserable Original music by Kevin MacLeod. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

People think they approach meaning in terms of religions or philosophies, but in practice, "stances" matter more. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/stances-trump-systems Stances—responses to meaning—are unstable thought-patterns. Often we adopt several contradictory ones in rapid succession. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/stances-are-unstable You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Meaningness is cloud-like: nebulous. It is real, but impossible to completely pin down. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/nebulosity Brains automatically find meaning and pattern; we need them to act. Unfortunately, brains also find meaning and pattern where there are none. Original text is here: https://meaningness.com/pattern You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Fixation and denial are the two simplest ways of refusing to deal with the nebulosity of meaningness. https://meaningness.com/fixation-and-denial Wrong ideas about meaning come in mirror-image pairs, which fixate and deny opposite aspects of reality. https://meaningness.com/confused-stances-come-in-pairs Polarized pairs of confused stances cannot be resolved by compromise. There is no middle way between them. https://meaningness.com/no-middle-way You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Note: This is episode 8, but it first aired with the audio file for episode 9. I have now corrected it, so you may wish to listen again. Confusions about meaning can be resolved using a method for looking at ways nebulosity affects the subject matter. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/resolution The method for resolving confusion about meaning through accepting nebulosity is not a general dialectic, or logic for resolving all false oppositions. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/not-a-general-dialectic You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Properly understanding meaning eliminates needless suffering. An application: ethics. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/confusion-completion-misery-and-joy You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

A practice of replacing confused, dysfunctional patterns of thinking and feeling about meaning with accurate ones. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/meaningness-practice You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The key aspects of a stance toward meaning, and how to use them effectively. Original text here: https://meaningness.com/stance-anatomy You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Relationships one may have with "stances" (basic attitudes toward meaningness) include adopting, committing, accomplishing, wavering, and appropriating. This ends the second section of Meaningness, an introduction to stances. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/relationships-with-stances You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Dualism, nihilism, and monism are the three main approaches to fundamental questions of meaning. This book proposes a better, fourth alternative. This begins the third section of Meaningness, "Doing Meaning Better". Original text at: https://meaningness.com/big-three-stance-combinations You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This mid-week bonus episode features a 20-minute excerpt from my interview with David Chapman, in which we discuss his plans for finishing Meaningness. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold   Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

At 48 minutes, this episode is longer than most. A complete summary overview of all the dimensions of meaningness, with all the common stances one can take to them. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/all-dimensions-schematic-overview You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

For the past few months, I've been assembling cast members, to edit their performances together into a full-cast recording of this week's chapter. What is the meaning of an extra-marital affair—or any relationship? A philosophical short story illustrates the puzzle of the nebulosity of meaningness. Thanks to Bruce Webber of the Phase Shift podcast for his performance of the viewpoint character, Christine Kitchens as the philosophy professor, Shianne Nocerini of the Daily Detroit podcast as Suzie, Sarah Elkins as Janet, Jeremiah Staes of the Daily Detroit podcast as Chris, and Sofia Syntaxx of the ANGR podcast as Kim. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/nebulosity-of-meaningness You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Some things are meaningful, and others aren't. This is obvious; yet most confusions about meaning begin by denying it. Claims that everything is meaningful, or that nothing is, are motivated by fears: fear of the opposite. We have a choice of explanations: ones that are simple, clear, harmful, and wrong; or ones that are complex, vague, helpful, and approximately right. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/meaningfulness-and-meaninglessness https://meaningness.com/extreme-examples-eternalism-and-nihilism https://meaningness.com/meaningness-first-explanation You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Eternalism is the wrong idea that everything has a definite meaning, fixed by an external ordering principle. I get duped by eternalism in a casino: Gambling, religion, and addiction-- a personal story. Great confusions about meaningness stem from the mistaken assumption that there must be some sort of eternal ordering principle. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism https://meaningness.com/finding-god-in-a-casino https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Parts 1 and 2 of this book's section "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism promises everything you could want from meaning: safety, support, certainty, reassurance, and control. Solid ground! 1. The promise of certainty: What we want most from meaning is guarantees. Religions, political ideologies, and other eternalist systems promise certainty; but they cannot deliver. 2. The illusion of understanding: It's deluded to think we mostly understand issues of meaning (ethics, purpose, value, politics). Ideologies deliberately create and sustain that illusion. Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-appeal https://meaningness.com/certainty https://meaningness.com/understanding You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This is the second of our bonus episodes, outside of the audiobook. I interview David Chapman on the secular and the sacred. I ask him questions about his background in Buddhism and Wicca, and my experiences with the TV shows "Cosmos" and "Veggie Tales", EPCOT Center, Burning Man, and the Universism movement active from 2003 to 2007 (as distinct from Unitarian Universalism). The question for you, our listeners, is this: Does English have a single word, neologism, or portmanteau, which might convey the sense of the Buddhist word "kadag"? It means a type of sacredness which is blended with the banal, and can sometimes be found in unexpected places. As sacredness is traditionally conceived, there is a category of things which are set apart to always to be considered completely sacred. Kadag differs from that. You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold Original music by Kevin MacLeod. This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.