We move through transference, in-and-through our relations with others. Meaning emerges in the spaces between us—between Self and Other—through words, signs, gestures, void, and experiences. We give direction to meaning through aim. Aim brings our meanings to consciousness and determines choices of ways of acting. To act means to encounter.
We exist through encounters. This entails construction; sometimes deconstruction and reconstruction. No encounter is without risk. Encounters are formed also in absence and are not rigidly codified. Encounters exist where infinity of differences unfolds.
Making meaning is difficult, especially in contemporary times. We move fast—too fast. We scroll, endlessly. To avoid the void, we turn to machines to generate meaning for us. In return, we receive jouissance.
Making meaning is the task of understanding and interpreting the world through encounters—and then transforming it through an act-of-becoming, a group-in-fusion. This is the capacity to share, to give and to receive experiences; to engage and join freely and fully in shared, common activities. This also entails dismantling the barriers of social stratification that isolate individuals and make them impervious to the interests and experiences of others. This cannot be done without culture.
Culture is the capacity for ever-expanding one’s ability to observe, create, recreate, and engage with meaning.