The meaning of a thing, anything, everything, is what it means to someone, everyone. There is no intrinsic meaning anywhere in/to anything. It is all imposed, projected, imagined. When someone declares, “It’s all meaningless!”, they say it as though the meaninglessness of everything is very meaningful to them. It all cannot be meaningless if its lack of meaning is that meaningful. Even if its lack of meaning is its only meaning, that still makes everything meaningful.
Take note of the meaningful things in your life. They say something significant about you. The meaningful things are mirrors reflecting you to you. Emptiness, stillness, silence (One thing, not three) are probably the most meaningful thing to me. That and looking out the window, which has nothing to do with actually looking out an actual window. It is an expression that means, for me, the same thing as a meditation cushion means to a Zen master. I can “look out the window” anywhere, everywhere, just by dropping into the emptiness, stillness, silence and being there for as long as it takes to “get at” whatever it is that meets me in the silence.
I know when I need to drop into the silence/look out the window, and it is essential that I heed the need and check in with the silence to see what is there waiting on me to check in. I think we all are like that, or could be if we attended the silence and developed the sense of needing to look out the window at any point throughout the day, every day.
I’m saying meaning can be anywhere, though it is not necessarily everywhere, but it needs us to be alert to its presence so that we know meaning when we see it, when we sense it, and pay attention to what’s what and what’s happening and do what needs to be done about it. Throughout the day, every day.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 