Ontology and Meaning

Whether our purpose is mere psychophysical survival or, in the evolved stage, transcendental realization of the eternal immanence of the Absolute Truth, applying our daily activities to any larger purpose requires conceptions of meaning and value. Meaning is the fruit of the tree of ontology, or the science of origins. Ontology gives meaning to simple facts by supplying context, and adds value to our existence and actions by providing purpose. It is very difficult to live a life without meaning. We require ontology to give our existence depth and a meaningful objective. Thus whether they realize it or not, every human being has or subscribes to an ontology, usually in the form of a collection of stories that explains why things are they way they are.

Like any theory, an ontology is a metaphor to help us grasp an inconceivable reality. However, an ontology is a higher-level metaphor than a theory, because it not only spawns many daughter theories but also gives them significant intuitive predictive power. An ontology may be composed of mathematical formulae, axioms or aphorisms, but these are of limited use to people in general. Thus an ontology, or ontological system, in broad use often looks like a collection of stories that describe, often very indirectly, how the world works or how life works.

A feature of every ontology is a collection of stable data. A stable datum is an intellectual reference point that we use to keep our balance in a changing world. The more unconditional a stable datum is, the better it is. “I feel happy” is not a very good stable datum because it is highly conditional and unstable; “objects with mass tend to mutually attract toward their center of gravity” is a very stable datum because it applies to almost all material objects of which we are normally aware. Stable data are important features of any ontology; however, they are also its weakness, since any evidence that invalidates the stable data also invalidate the entire ontology.

Another interesting feature of a mature ontology is that anyone who subscribes to it can add stories that harmonize with its fundamental axioms, structure and purpose. A sufficiently detailed and mature ontology is a very powerful conceptual tool. Whole civilizations have been and are based on such collections or systems of ontological data. In fact, ontology may be seen as the principal civilizing process in human society. Ontology is the software that runs on the hardware of a culture, helping us determine the meaning and value of our existence and actions. As our ontology goes, so do we.

The danger, of course, is that changing times, extraordinary or novel situations, or simply the influence of time and social evolution may outdate or invalidate an ontology, throwing everyone who subscribes to it into an inescapable chaos of confusion, misunderstanding and inappropriate actions. Or a previously adequate ontology may become corrupted due to doctrinal editorializing or semantic modification, gradually becoming more and more inefficient as a conceptual tool. Whole civilizations can and have been debilitated or destroyed by such ontological difficulties.

When our ontology becomes inadequate, our experience, action and life lose meaning. Meaninglessness or confusion is such a paralyzing condition that many techniques of psychological warfare are intended precisely to induce this condition in the enemy. In the absence of meaning, it is impossible for people to determine what the actual truth is and take effective action. When such ontological failure afflicts an entire society, that society is in serious trouble. Witness the unprecedented defeat of the USSR in the recent Cold War with the USA, a perfect example of ontological disorder leading to growing inefficiency and the sudden collapse of the second most powerful nation in the world.

Presently the ontology of the dominant Western materialistic culture rapidly is losing the ability to respond to the accelerating changes in meaning introduced by technology and other forces discussed below. This condition, termed herein the ‘Ontological Time Bomb’ and elsewhere ‘the Singularity,’ has put the entire world in grave danger, a danger that we can evade only by global ontological rectification.

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