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AKA an ethicist, Amazon and the search for meaning

Photo: armağan başaran

“If you could change one thing about the way that we think about living a meaningful life, what would that be?”

The question drifted by, like the rest of the podcast I’d half-listened to on the way to work. It was simply background noise. An auditory buffer between me and the other crammed-in passengers.

I didn’t expect the answer from Ira Bedzow, an ethicist and professor, to wake me from my pre-caffeinated state. Or, for his words to stick with me like this.

“Let's not wait and think about how meaning can come to us. Let's search it out. Let's find meaning in a way that's exploratory and creative.”

His

advice

was less

esoteric.

More

adventurous.

Alive.

And so, for this 3am Huddle, I leave Bedzow’s answer here for you in its entirety.

“Meaning and finding meaning is an active rather than a passive endeavour. Like, let's not wait and think about how meaning can come to us. Let's search it out.

“Let's find it in a way that's exploratory and creative. There's one thing that I really like to tell people, partly because it's funny, but mostly because it's true. I like to tell people to think about new ways of being or new ideas or new actions as clothes that you're trying on, just to see how they fit.

“Like, oftentimes when we're thinking about, ‘what can I change?’, the very notion of the idea of change makes us feel like we have to commit to it before we even try it. Like buying clothes from Amazon with no return policy. But if you can try things on and see how they fit, then you can see if you're comfortable in it, if you like it.

“And then you'll be able to see better options because you'll have more choices available to you. That's how you can squeeze meaning out.”

Until the next 3am Huddle,

Lizza x

PS Here’s the link to the full podcast episode, TED Talks Daily: An ethicist's guide to living a good life.