"Meaning is a leash" (Excerpt from my book *Conforming Emotion*). This sentence blows up the last refuge of modern man.
And it does not come out of nowhere, it is the endpoint of a theoretical demonstration developed across several books.
For 50 years, we have been sold the "Quest for Meaning" such as Purpose or Ikigai as the tool of our liberation. We are told: "If you find meaning in what you do, you will be free and happy."
I demonstrate the opposite:
It is because you produce meaning that you remain inside the cage.
If we go back over the trilogy with this reading key, here is the trap:
Compensatory Narration (How the leash is made):
Reality is unbearable or empty. So that you do not flee, you produce meaning. You tell yourself a story: "It is a formative trial", "I am a pillar", "It is for the good of the team".
That meaning is the rope you braid yourself to tie yourself to the post.
Without that meaning, you would leave. With that meaning, you stay.
Conforming Emotion (The collar):
The collar tightening around the neck is social acceptability. You cannot say no, you cannot scream, and you cannot bite. You must "stay professional", "stay constructive". You adjust your neck to the size of the collar so you are not strangled by the group.
Max-out (Running in circles):
Once you are tied down by meaning, the leash, and conformity, the collar, you run. You run at full speed. You wear yourself out. And because the leash gives you some range, autonomy, you have the illusion of being free. You tell yourself: "I am running because I want to!"
No. You run because the perimeter of your leash allows it, but you cannot go anywhere else.
It is a fictitious freedom.
These texts are all open access. The link is on my profile in the reading guide, under the "selection" section.
I am not saying: "The system is evil, free yourself by going off to raise goats."
I am saying: "Your inner freedom is a manufactured illusion. Your feelings are scripts. Your reasons for living are maintenance functions for the tool of production."
It is Matrix without the magical red pill.
I demonstrate that the matrix is not digital. It is internal, narrative, and emotional.
The only place where the sole real freedom may exist is here: cut the leash.
That means: stop giving meaning to what is destroying us.
Accept meaninglessness. Accept emptiness. Accept that, in some contexts, work is just a constraint, not an identity.
It is a cold, arid, frightening freedom. The freedom of emptiness.
But it is the only freedom that is real. Everything else is just cell decoration.
After my interview on "Boring Jobs" in *Le Figaro*, I am preparing a post exploring this tendency.
And if you want to cut the leash, check my publications here: https://zenodo.org/records/17271367
For 50 years, we have been sold the "Quest for Meaning" such as Purpose or Ikigai as the tool of our liberation. We are told: "If you find meaning in what you do, you will be free and happy."
I demonstrate the opposite:
It is because you produce meaning that you remain inside the cage.
If we go back over the trilogy with this reading key, here is the trap:
Compensatory Narration (How the leash is made):
Reality is unbearable or empty. So that you do not flee, you produce meaning. You tell yourself a story: "It is a formative trial", "I am a pillar", "It is for the good of the team".
That meaning is the rope you braid yourself to tie yourself to the post.
Without that meaning, you would leave. With that meaning, you stay.
Conforming Emotion (The collar):
The collar tightening around the neck is social acceptability. You cannot say no, you cannot scream, and you cannot bite. You must "stay professional", "stay constructive". You adjust your neck to the size of the collar so you are not strangled by the group.
Max-out (Running in circles):
Once you are tied down by meaning, the leash, and conformity, the collar, you run. You run at full speed. You wear yourself out. And because the leash gives you some range, autonomy, you have the illusion of being free. You tell yourself: "I am running because I want to!"
No. You run because the perimeter of your leash allows it, but you cannot go anywhere else.
It is a fictitious freedom.
These texts are all open access. The link is on my profile in the reading guide, under the "selection" section.
I am not saying: "The system is evil, free yourself by going off to raise goats."
I am saying: "Your inner freedom is a manufactured illusion. Your feelings are scripts. Your reasons for living are maintenance functions for the tool of production."
It is Matrix without the magical red pill.
I demonstrate that the matrix is not digital. It is internal, narrative, and emotional.
The only place where the sole real freedom may exist is here: cut the leash.
That means: stop giving meaning to what is destroying us.
Accept meaninglessness. Accept emptiness. Accept that, in some contexts, work is just a constraint, not an identity.
It is a cold, arid, frightening freedom. The freedom of emptiness.
But it is the only freedom that is real. Everything else is just cell decoration.
After my interview on "Boring Jobs" in *Le Figaro*, I am preparing a post exploring this tendency.
And if you want to cut the leash, check my publications here: https://zenodo.org/records/17271367
