The Talmud argues that men must attend synagogue on the Sabbath (at least that often) so that they are aware of the passage of time. Otherwise men are likely to assume that things will go on forever as they are today. It is an observation that we are all naturally short-sighted and certainly not unique to Judiasm. For this reason, we artificially divide up time by creating stopping points. Hallmark Holidays are appealing to the vast majority of people because they feel good. Why do they feel good? Because like other patterns we create in our culture, they create meaningfulness in our lives. Claude Shannon, while at Bell Labs, co-created Communications Theory. It states that meaning is created as the difference between signal and noise. Applied to our lives, if we just act continuously in the moment without reflection or pause, we would lead a noisy life in Shannon's terminology. By interrupting our lives with moments of reflection, each of which can be judged artificial, we create a pattern (a signal) which offers the opportunity to believe there is meaning in our living. As humans who are adept at language, we have a strong psychological drive, a need for meaningfulness in our lives. Strange as it may seem Hallmark Holidays are satisfying and popular for that reason. It is the same reason we go to church, or synagogue, or the mosque, or the Hindu Temple, or practice yoga, or work out regularly, etc etc. The need for repetitive behavior is built into human nature. Hallmark recognizes that need and gets paid well for satisfying it.
No doubt! This is a great addition to the post, David. Thank you for your thoughts. Humans, in our quest for meaning, create stories. We are a story-telling species. Within those stories, as you say “we artificially divide up time” to create human-made, by definition, artificial occasions. For those who swim at the surface level of the ocean, THOSE stories, or “stopping points,” act as life preservers sometimes amidst all the chaos and turmoil of the waves, surf, and weather at the ocean’s surface. Humans have forgotten to dive deeper where the water is calm and there is no need for artificial preservers. This is one way of getting to my point—those artificial means (eg Hallmark holidays, church, synagogue, mosque, et al) are attractive and popular and earn money for those who have found ways to profit from them, because they provide humans with a relatively easy way to uncover meaning, or give away meaning to another that I didn’t have to work at to create—I just bought the card! When I went to church, I didn’t have to work at meaning; meaning was fed to me by the stories told through scripture and priestly homilies. Strip all that away, and a deeper meaning is found because we have to work for it. And when it comes to the most meaningful connection of all, those we make with another soul, another being, human or non-human, we don’t need the artifices of the artificial. Tell me you love me and give me a hug; keep the card that had the words “I love you” written by someone else and then signed by you. I love that you responded like this David—thank you for being a valuable part of this particular community of seekers/finders. I hope you comment more often, please.
The Talmud argues that men must attend synagogue on the Sabbath (at least that often) so that they are aware of the passage of time. Otherwise men are likely to assume that things will go on forever as they are today. It is an observation that we are all naturally short-sighted and certainly not unique to Judiasm. For this reason, we artificially divide up time by creating stopping points. Hallmark Holidays are appealing to the vast majority of people because they feel good. Why do they feel good? Because like other patterns we create in our culture, they create meaningfulness in our lives. Claude Shannon, while at Bell Labs, co-created Communications Theory. It states that meaning is created as the difference between signal and noise. Applied to our lives, if we just act continuously in the moment without reflection or pause, we would lead a noisy life in Shannon's terminology. By interrupting our lives with moments of reflection, each of which can be judged artificial, we create a pattern (a signal) which offers the opportunity to believe there is meaning in our living. As humans who are adept at language, we have a strong psychological drive, a need for meaningfulness in our lives. Strange as it may seem Hallmark Holidays are satisfying and popular for that reason. It is the same reason we go to church, or synagogue, or the mosque, or the Hindu Temple, or practice yoga, or work out regularly, etc etc. The need for repetitive behavior is built into human nature. Hallmark recognizes that need and gets paid well for satisfying it.
No doubt! This is a great addition to the post, David. Thank you for your thoughts. Humans, in our quest for meaning, create stories. We are a story-telling species. Within those stories, as you say “we artificially divide up time” to create human-made, by definition, artificial occasions. For those who swim at the surface level of the ocean, THOSE stories, or “stopping points,” act as life preservers sometimes amidst all the chaos and turmoil of the waves, surf, and weather at the ocean’s surface. Humans have forgotten to dive deeper where the water is calm and there is no need for artificial preservers. This is one way of getting to my point—those artificial means (eg Hallmark holidays, church, synagogue, mosque, et al) are attractive and popular and earn money for those who have found ways to profit from them, because they provide humans with a relatively easy way to uncover meaning, or give away meaning to another that I didn’t have to work at to create—I just bought the card! When I went to church, I didn’t have to work at meaning; meaning was fed to me by the stories told through scripture and priestly homilies. Strip all that away, and a deeper meaning is found because we have to work for it. And when it comes to the most meaningful connection of all, those we make with another soul, another being, human or non-human, we don’t need the artifices of the artificial. Tell me you love me and give me a hug; keep the card that had the words “I love you” written by someone else and then signed by you. I love that you responded like this David—thank you for being a valuable part of this particular community of seekers/finders. I hope you comment more often, please.