01 - The Meaning Of Things

I love things that have meaning, but I usually can’t grasp what that meaning is.

I’ve always struggled to understand the point of a story, whether in a book, a film or a video. I always need to reread or rewatch several times before I begin to find any sense in it. That really dents my confidence, because I worry that if I can’t understand things that are relatively simple, I won’t be able to create something of equal quality or, worse, something better.

I quickly remind myself that this isn’t true. We all have the ability to create things, simple or complex, and to give them meaning. Consciously or not, there is always a purpose behind our actions. We are all driven by something, even if it’s hard to figure out exactly why we do what we do.

I often wonder whether meaning exists before the work is created, emerges during its creation, or only appears afterwards. We all remember thinking back in school that the author of a certain book hadn’t given a moment’s thought to the meaning we were taught in class and that it was totally ridiculous, since we can assign meaning to anything.

I realise now that this applies to many things in our time. Everywhere around us we see things that seem profoundly meaningful, yet we struggle to create things that really make sense. Yes, we can attribute meaning to anything. Begin with the end in mind and let your imagination fill in the rest. You just have to stop limiting yourself when searching for meaning. The real challenge is to discover a meaning that truly matters. Only then will people admire your work, because after they think they understand, they’ll realise that your meaning is unlike any other.