The Meaning of Meaning

Through my study of Confucian beliefs and The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, I have come to believe that philosophy is, rather than a source of ultimate truth, it is a technique or set of ideas used to comfort and direct us independently of the realm of truth. That is not to say that philosophy is some sort of grand lie, but instead to say that philosophy is an art more so than it is a science. Confucius and Lao Tzu were spectacular thinkers and philosophers, and their works are rightfully honored, but I believe that philosophy as a whole is offering condolence more so than concrete answers to life’s eternal questions.
         The Tao Te Ching is exemplary of the fact that philosophy is as subjective as any art form. The Tao Te Ching is one of the two primary religious texts of China. It is written in poem form. How could something written in poems not be as subjective as poetry itself? Perhaps The Tao is contradictory. In verse 13 it states “Success is as dangerous as failure. … Whether you go up the ladder or down it, your position is shaky. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance.” In verse 29 it states “There is a time for being ahead, a time for being behind; … a time for being safe, a time for being in danger.” If it is correct to be in danger and out of balance, should we instead not keep our feet firm? If there is a time for all things, why should we seek to not change position? This isn’t necessarily a contradiction. The Tao could be saying that we should strive for an unchanging state, but we cannot succeed and must accept the changes when they come. But still, it states standing will “always” keep your balance, even though The Tao says there is a time for turmoil. Whichever way you take it, the point is that there are multiple ways to interpret. Art is subjective and so is The Dao.
         From grade school to graduate school students spend no modest amount of time learning the act of interpretation to an extent worthy of any absurdist play. The problem with all of this critical analysis is that it is based more than reasonably on pure over-analysis. What is meaning? Meaning is the point or purpose that an individual gets out of a work or occurrence. But in school it is taught that meaning is dictatable. Although teachers often admit that topics are subjective, at the very least (which is rather significant in the long run) they typically insist that some meaning does exist in things as miniscule as character names or intellectual ramblings. Why are we not allowed to decide for ourselves what has meaning and what does not?
         An important question to ask is whether authors, artists, and philosophers are really imparting a meaning or if everyone is only coming up with their own meanings. Surely I would not suggest any intentional conspiracy-esque reinterpretation of art. Instead, people are entirely unknowingly coming up with the meanings for their favorite works of art. Take the songs of The Beatles for example. The Beatles are usually considered to be the greatest modern songwriters of all-time. But what their songs mean varies by leaps and bounds. For a simple, blatant example take the song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, which actually got banned from some radio stations because it was said to be a song about using the drug LSD. The song’s writer, John Lennon, however, said the song had nothing at all to do with drug use and that it was based on a drawing his little boy made. Like The Beatles, Bob Dylan is considered to be one of history’s greatest lyricists and his songs lack any objective interpretations what-so-ever. Case in point, take a look at the song “Tombstone Blues.” Bob Dylan sings

The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly / Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry" / And dropping a bar bell he points to the sky / Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.”
         
I’m certain it’s peoples’ wandering minds that cause poetic passages of gibberish to be seen as meaningful because I myself do it. When I first heard this lyric I did not think it meant anything, but then I came up with a meaning for it. It could be a sarcastic commentary on military or political bravado. The President is “chasing a fly” because he is doing things for show which actually have no point (in the way that to chase a fly would take effort but it doesn’t really matter if the fly gets caught or not). He condemns anyone who shows any sign of weakness with typical over-the-top naïve military cruelty, similar to how during The Cold War, presidential candidates from either party had to prove how steadfastly anti-communist they were before getting elected. His barbell is a symbol of his outward showing of strength. Most of all, the President is so full of self-pride that he believes he can change what the sun is simply by saying so, and that the sun itself is “chicken” because it’s not as much a hardcore communist fighter as he. He’s questioning the sun’s strength. Through that it would seem Bob Dylan is making a powerful mockery of powerful politicians by saying their egos are so large they wouldn’t even respect the life-giving enormity of the sun.
         When deeply entwined songs such as this seem to finally fall together and “make sense,” it makes me feel good, and I have a hard time believing that the meaning I’ve arrived upon isn’t the actual intended meaning. But it’s essential to realize that there are other equally plausible interpretations and the author rarely explains what his actual meaning was, if he even had one to begin with.  I can get deep meaning out of anything, so I certainly do not accept the finding of meaning as proof of the meaning being there intentionally. Take any three random objects; say a dog a lamp and a sun dial. Then put them on the beach with a random person; say the postmaster. Add a random phrase such as “sitting without fright.” Maybe the postmaster has given up on society because he can never get a feeling of peace due to the never ending inflow of mail, and so he has taken his only friend (his dog) to the beach with a sun dial so he can give up on society. He’s not afraid because he knows he is doing what’s right because society is going to hell. He brought a lamp without electricity to give his new home on the beach a nice decor because he wants to be able to live calmly and peacefully.
         This website --- http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=108692 --- does nothing short of prove my hypothesis. People place the point of Tombstone Blues as ranging from commentary on the plight of the poor during the great depression to the song being a pure surrealist attempt at having no exact meaning at all. What’s the true answer? There is no actual answer. Therefore the song has no actual meaning.
         Artists are expressing themselves through their music, but perhaps they’re only expressing themselves to themselves. It scarcely could be argued that the majority of artists are conveying any concrete ideas to the listeners. What other way can we account for such varied interpretations of art? Art is obscure. Even when the artist may think he or she is being clear, often there are many prominent ways to interpret what is being said or done. Literature, philosophy and picture art are the same as songwriting. What a creator puts into the art is not what people get out of it.