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The Step Up - Vol. 13: The Search for Meaning
Vol. 13: The Search for MeaningThis newsletter is a longer one, but for it to be shorter would do the lesson's truth a disservice. I've been re-reading Fahrenheit 451 (it was one of the few summer reading books in high school I actually enjoyed), and a new moral stuck out to me this time. If you're unfamiliar, Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 is based in a dystopian world where all books are banned and firemen start fires instead of stopping them - they burn books, not save them. It's protagonist is Montag, a fireman who blindly goes about his job until he meets this peculiar girl who gets him doubting what he's been taught and why he does what he does. A core focus of the book is censorship and the perils of banning knowledge (they literally burn books), and there's more - from critical thinking to the power of human connection - but I want to focus on one I don't see talked about: the search for meaning. (Spoiler alert!) The book highlights Montag's extremely shallow interactions with his wife, as she's constantly consumed by their wall-sized TVs in the parlor and the family of fictional characters that have no plot depth or significance. She literally doesn't remember the character's names, how they're related, or what they do. When she's not watching the "parlor families," she constantly has an electric thimble in her ear (a headphone). About halfway through, Montag hides a copy of the Bible and secretly meets with an old professor, Faber. Montag's trying to persuade Faber to help him plant books in firemen's homes to get them caught possessing books. You can tell Montag's desperately searching for something internal, as he says: "We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing." In their back and forth, Faber exclaims: "It's not books you need, it's some of the things that once were in books. The same things could be in the 'parlor families' today. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not. No, no, it's not books that you're looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget." It's not about the books. It's about meaning. In Fahrenheit 451, books were a receptable of meaning (as they are in real life). To remove books was to remove meaning. Shallow conversations. Constant headphones in. People glued to their screens. Content with a lack of depth or personality. "The same things could be in the 'parlor families' today. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not." Sound familiar? Facebook. Instagram. TikTok. SHEIN. Temu. Amazon. Content. Content. Content. This person. That person. Those people. "How's it going?" "Nice weather we're having." "Any weekend plans?" Modernity is not built on meaning. Even Ray Bradbury in 1953 could predict that. As humans, we search for meaning in our lives. From passions, pursuits, or people. We yearn for things that matter. For ourselves to matter. To find our "why." Find your "why." Whether that's discovering new things, creating world-changing products, helping others, or just being a kind person. Whatever it is that's positive and good. Find the thing that lights your fire. Reject modernity. Pursue meaning. In the words of Faber: The things you're looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book. Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore."
Pursue meaning. Head for shore. See you next Thursday, Steppers. We will succeed, Grayson Song of the Week:
One of my favorite songs, and it fits well with this week's topic. A near-8-minute Americana epic. While the love story Ethel portrays is fictional, it's no less impactful. A forlorn lover seeking to rekindle a lost relationship of the "'the only one I was never scared to tell I hurt." Ethel is one this generation's best vocalists, and I highly recommend all of her albums (especially Preacher's Daughter). |
Grayson Stepanek
Subscribe to my newsletter - the Step Up! You'll get an inside look into my thoughts, mental models, and ways of going about life - with the goal of helping you do the same. Take the first step and join me on this journey. Newsletter every Thursday at 4:30pm CST.
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