Is Meaning An Illusion?

Moralizing Meaning With Quantum Physics

Thresholds of Meaning: Story, Pain, and the Limits of Perception

Yuval Noah Harari posited that the foundation of human cooperation is our capacity to believe in shared stories — myths, religions, ideologies, narratives and imagined realities. From legal systems to national identities, these narratives shape societies not because they are empirically true, but because they are collectively believed. But this begs a deeper question: why do some stories ignite movements, alter lives, or justify wars — while others, equally available, fade into irrelevance?

The answer lies not merely in the existence of a story, but in its ability to meet the thresholds of human perception, emotion, and need. A story that does not resonate fails to motivate. Just as a spect of sugar dust does not guarantee sweetness unless it lands on a taste bud receptor and crosses the neuronal threshold to generate sensation, a story does not become meaningful unless it resonates with something vulnerable or unresolved within us. If it fails to touch a point of relevance — of pain, hope, fear, or aspiration — it may exist, but it does not matter. Without this threshold crossing, stories may be true and extant, even profound, yet remain untold, unheard, and will fade into…