#purposelessness

The difference between meaninglessness and purposelessness is precisely where the concept your Spinoziana studies may begin to wobble.

Meaninglessness concerns interpretation. It is about the absence of sense, coherence, or intelligibility. To say something is meaningless is to say that no concept or value makes it understandable. It is an epistemic void, a gap in understanding.

Purposelessness, on the other hand, concerns teleology. The absence of end, aim, or intention. To say existence is purposeless is to say it does not aim at anything. It’s not trying to get somewhere. This is an ontological statement, not an epistemic one.

We often tend to collapse the two. When we say “it’s all meaningless,” we mix both claims, one, that reality lacks purpose (which is Spinozistic that nature isn’t aiming at an external goal), and that therefore it lacks meaning (which doesn’t follow, because understanding can still find structure, intelligibility, necessity).

Spinoza’s universe has no purpose, but it is full of meaning in the structural sense. Everything can be understood through its cause; every organism or body expresses the divine substance necessarily. Understanding that necessity is meaning is what he calls the third kind of knowledge.

Such nihilistic turn confuses absence of divine will with absence of order. We say “no purpose” and think “no significance.” Spinoza hears “no purpose” and thinks “perfect coherence.”

When we say “because there’s no meaning, nothing matters,” it reveals a trace of resentment, the wish that there should be purpose, and when it isn’t found, we conclude futility. Spinoza would call that a passive affect, an imaginative reaction to the loss of anthropocentric teleology.

I have a BA in English and that means virtually nothing.

Obviously, there are some parts of routine I don’t intend to change – I enjoy the way it’s making me healthier, I enjoy that job is stable, and a host of other things. However, there are areas to add spontaneity, and so I am here to discuss the necessity of spontaneity to fend off that sense of purposelessness.

Now, obviously, you have to have time for it.

It shouldn’t be something like “starting a new show” – while that is something new, and will engage you, odds are you’re able to do that most any time.

It should be something that gets you out of the house, ideally, or if not that, is still a significant change.

It could be as small as getting your groceries from a different location, trying food from somewhere different, or taking a trip to a local entertainment place (here we have zoos, a library, a gaming lounge, gardens and parks, a lake, and probably some other things I’m not thinking of). Odds are, these aren’t in your usual routine, and even if you plan them, they’re still going to feel new because you haven’t done them in a while, or you don’t do them regularly.

Spontaneity can just be something irregular, even if it is scheduled. It’s not something you have on the schedule every week, or even every two weeks. It’s something that interested you at the time, and you made time for it.

I’ve had an interest in visiting the zoo for a while, so I did finally make plans to go to it on a Sunday morning. It was absolutely fantastic, and got some skip back in my step.

So did having sushi dinner with a friend.

If getting out isn’t accessible right now for you, then spontaneity can still come in the form of playing a game that’s new, or that you haven’t played in a while, reading a new book, watching a new show. The main reason I don’t recommend them, is that I find staying in the house to be detrimental for feeling like I’m breaking out of a routine. Every weekend I play video games or watch new things, so that won’t “feel” new, even if it is a new show, or a new video game. The fact that I am also working at home, and doing much of my exercise at home, also makes it increasingly difficult for anything “at home” to feel spontaneous.

It just feels like more of the same.

Your situation may differ, and if that is the case, then please enjoy what you can at home!

I just want to say that in having a routine, make room for spontaneity.