Meaning: lost, or muddled by metaphysics?

John Vervaeke’s Meaning Crisis and my Meaningness address similar issues in similar frameworks. Yet there seem significant differences!Andrew Conner pinpointed some in his insightful essay “Is the ‘meaning crisis’ a real loss?”Coincidentally, he was visiting Charlie Awbery and me at the time, so we were able to discuss it in person, and recorded a video of our conversation.In addition to that, this post includes a section of links to relevant discussions elsewhere, assembled by Andrew; and a transcript in case you’d rather read than watch.A follow-up post, going live next Saturday, explains bits I botched during the recording and we deleted from this video. It’s about ways metaphysics muddles our thinking, feeling, and acting. And, about how we perceive sacredness in the actual world—such as in a salt shaker.Relevant discussions elsewherePrimary sources* John Vervaeke, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis (AftMC): YouTube playlist · series home · community transcripts* David Chapman, Meaningness * David Chapman, Meta-rationality* Andrew Conner, Is the “meaning crisis” a real loss?Chapman’s concepts, in the order they’re mentioned* Eternalism: meaningness.com/eternalism: the stance that meanings must be perfectly definite* Nihilism: meaningness.com/nihilism: the mirror-image stance, that since meanings aren’t perfectly definite, they don’t exist* The complete stance: meaningness.com/meaningness: recognizing meaning as inseparably nebulous and patterned* Nebulosity and pattern: meaningness.com/nebulosity* No world beyond the actual one: https://meaningness.substack.com/p/this-is-it* Stances trump systems: meaningness.com/stances-trump-systems* Materialism (as stance): meaningness.com/materialism* Textures of the complete stance: meaningness.com/textures-of-completion · wonder · curiosity · humor · play · enjoy-the-dance · creation* Vision, Instruction, and Action (Chapman’s PhD thesis, lightly revised)* Vividness: vividness.live · Approaching Vajrayana* Nobility arc: table of contentsVervaeke’s concepts, in the order they’re mentioned* Relevance realization: Vervaeke, Lillicrap & Richards (2012), “Relevance Realization and the Emerging Framework in Cognitive Science,” J. Logic and Computation 22(1): Oxford Academic · <a target="_blank" href="h