Chapter 8. Cyclical Reciprocism
Abstract
This paper presents Cyclical Reciprocism, which explains the recurring process through which meaning in human life is formed, collapses, is outsourced, interpreted, restored, and reconstructed. In Cyclical Reciprocism, the meaning of life is the manner in which personal desires are arranged, while the purpose of life is defined by desires that have been directed and organized in such a manner. Individuals compare their systems of meaning with reality and continuously interpret and revise them. When existing meaning and interpretation collapse simultaneously, human beings reach nihilism. In such a state, the outsourcing of meaning becomes possible, whereby an externally existing system of meaning is borrowed in order to maintain the structure of life.
However, this structure of the formation, collapse, outsourcing, and reconstruction of meaning is not limited to the individual. The collapse of a system of meaning, which appears as nihilism at the individual level, may appear as anomie at the level of groups and society. By substituting anomie for nihilism, the same structure can be directly extended from the individual to the levels of groups, organizations, society, and humanity as a whole. Therefore, although an individual's system of meaning and society's systems of norms, values, and meaning are different phenomena, they can be analyzed through the same reciprocative structure.
Through such transformations of scale, Cyclical Reciprocism constitutes not a philosophy that studies only the psychology of particular individuals, but an existential and social-philosophical framework applicable regardless of scale, from the individual to human society as a whole. Both individuals and societies possess a cyclical structure in which they receive meaning, compare it with reality, interpret and transform existing meaning, and circulate newly created meaning back into themselves and society.
Section 1. The Starting Point: Meaning
Meaning is an internal criterion that arranges personal desires and thereby constitutes the purpose of life. Individuals do not merely experience the world as it is; they live according to criteria concerning how their desires should be arranged and organized into a direction for life. Meaning broadly includes the following:
- Which desires should be prioritized.
- How desires that conflict with one another should be adjusted.
- In what direction multiple desires should be arranged.
- Which desires should be accepted as means for the sake of other desires.
- How one's desires should be organized into a single direction for life.
Therefore, meaning is not merely an emotion or mood, but an internal criterion through which personal desires are arranged and the purpose of life is constituted.
Section 2. Meaning and Interpretation Exist on Different Levels
Meaning
The method of arranging personal desires.
For example, society, others, religion, tradition, and communities may present propositions such as the following:
“This desire should be prioritized over that desire.”
“That must be abandoned for the sake of this.”
“Your desires should be organized in this manner.”
This is meaning.
Interpretation
Interpretation does not simply accept that meaning as it is. Rather, it is the process of comparing and judging:
“Does this method of arrangement correspond to the actual world?”
“Does it correspond to the world that I actually experience?”
“Does it achieve coherence with the subjective entity that is myself?”
Therefore, interpretation is an activity that continuously verifies the coherence between meaning and reality.
Section 3. What Is Interpretation?
Interpretation is the process of the destruction and reconstruction of the meaning of life. The meaning of life is not created once and then fixed forever. In the most mentally healthy state, while observing reality, individuals gradually destroy existing methods of arranging desires, gradually establish new methods of arrangement, compare them with reality again, and revise them again, repeatedly.
Therefore, interpretation is not merely understanding, but a continuous process of repeatedly dismantling, revising, and reconstructing the existing meaning of life in accordance with reality.
Section 4. Conditions for the Destruction and Reconstruction of Meaning
The destruction and reconstruction of the meaning of life are extremely important tasks and must therefore be carried out in a state in which sufficient mental strength and interpretive capacity are present. This is because the ability to destroy an existing method of arranging desires and the ability to construct it again are not the same.
If an existing meaning has been destroyed but there is insufficient strength to construct a new meaning,
That state is nihilism.
Section 5. Nihilism
Nihilism is not merely the intellectual judgment that “life has no meaning.” In Cyclical Reciprocism, nihilism is a more serious state. It is a state in which the collapse of the meaning of life and the collapse of interpretation occur simultaneously.
That is, the internal criterion through which personal desires were arranged and the purpose of life was constituted collapses, while the capacity and method of interpretation necessary to reconstruct that internal criterion are also damaged at the same time.
Therefore, nihilism includes not only the absence of meaning in life, but also the loss of the interpretive capacity necessary to create the meaning of life again.
Section 6. The Collapse of the System of Meaning and the Collapse of the Internal World
Because the meaning of life is an internal criterion that arranges personal desires,
However, the collapse of the structural arrangement of personal desires does not automatically generate new meaning. Interpretive capacity is necessary in order to reconstruct new meaning.
If meaning suddenly and completely collapses, or if the individual lacks sufficient mental strength, a state may arise in which the existing method of arranging desires can be destroyed but a new method of arrangement cannot be constructed. At this point, the individual loses even the method of interpretation and falls into nihilism.
Section 7. The Emergence of Alternatives
The collapse of the meaning of life does not mean that human beings remain forever within a void. Human beings search for something new.
In the face of the collapse of the meaning of life, human beings seize upon a new method of arranging desires and the corresponding direction of life as an alternative. This is the emergence of an alternative.
A new alternative does not necessarily have to be created by the individual from nothing. It may already exist within society and history.
It may be:
- religion,
- an ideology,
- a community,
- a relationship,
- an occupation,
- a hobby,
- culture,
- or an existing philosophy.
That is, human beings may take and use already existing methods of arranging desires and the purposes of life formed by them.
Section 8. The Outsourcing of Meaning
Here, the core concept of the outsourcing of meaning emerges.
Human beings do not necessarily have to create, entirely by themselves and from beginning to end, a method for arranging their own desires. They may borrow and use methods of arranging desires from already existing systems of meaning.
This is not, in itself, an object of criticism. Especially in a state of nihilism, it may instead become an important means of survival.
“If I currently lack the strength to create, by myself, a method for arranging my desires, I will live by borrowing an already existing method of arrangement.”
This is the outsourcing of meaning.
Section 9. The Outsourcing of Meaning and Subjectivity
In Cyclical Reciprocism, receiving meaning from outside and lacking subjectivity are not regarded as the same thing.
What is important is how that meaning—that is, the externally received method of arranging desires—is interpreted.
Therefore, a method of arranging desires may be received from outside. However, the individual may continuously judge and transform it in relation to their own reality and desires.
That is:
Section 10. The Outsourcing of Interpretation
However, the outsourcing of interpretation is distinct from the outsourcing of meaning.
The outsourcing of interpretation means entrusting to an external source the very process of examining whether the adopted method of arranging desires and the resulting purpose of life correspond to oneself and are coherent with reality.
In other words, borrowing a method of arranging desires and borrowing even the judgment of whether that method of arrangement corresponds to oneself and reality are issues belonging to entirely different dimensions.
Section 11. The Outsourcing of Interpretation in a State of Nihilism
This is because nihilism is:
Therefore, when an individual has lost the capacity to arrange desires and interpret meaning independently, it may be justified to borrow not only the meaning of life from outside, but also, temporarily, the process of judging whether that meaning corresponds to oneself and reality.
Section 12. The Restoration of the Function of Subjective Interpretation
The next stage is one in which the individual must once again interpret the world independently, rearrange their desires, and reconstruct the meaning and purpose of life.
Section 13. The Concept of Mental Death
More precisely, this refers to the condition in which a restored subject continues to entrust to external sources the right to judge how their desires should be arranged.
Section 14. The Distinction Between the Outsourcing of Meaning and the Outsourcing of Interpretation
| Category | Outsourcing of Meaning | Outsourcing of Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A method of arranging personal desires | The process of judging whether that method of arrangement corresponds to reality and oneself |
| State of nihilism | Permitted | Permitted |
| After recovery | May continue | Becomes problematic if continued |
| Relationship to subjectivity | Does not in itself constitute a loss of subjectivity | Constitutes a loss of subjectivity if continued after recovery |
| Ultimate problem | None | Mental death |
Section 15. The Definition of Subjectivity
The core question is:
“Can I independently interpret and judge whether the meaning of life that I have accepted—that is, the method by which personal desires are arranged—corresponds to reality and myself?”
Therefore, the ownership of interpretive authority is more important than the origin of meaning.
That is:
Section 16. The Asymmetrical Risks of Self-Creation and Outsourcing
Cyclical Reciprocism does not oppose creating the meaning of life independently. If one can create it independently, one may do so.
However, it also does not recognize a hierarchy in which one claims:
“Because I created it myself, I am more subjective and more noble.”
This is because self-creation itself may also be dangerous.
While suddenly creating a new method of arranging desires within nihilism, it may be possible to wrongly organize:
- drugs,
- violence,
- unrestrained sexual indulgence,
- decadent pleasure,
- self-destruction,
as methods for constituting the purpose of life.
Therefore:
Conversely:
Section 17. The Function of Meaning Outsourcing as a Foothold
Human society already contains countless methods of arranging desires that have been experienced and accumulated by numerous human beings, as well as the purposes of life created by those methods.
Therefore, rather than creating an entirely new meaning of life from nothing, temporarily borrowing and using a method of arrangement from an already existing system of meaning may sometimes provide a more stable starting point.
According to the proposed analogy:
“Rather than directly creating and consuming something that has not been verified at all, it may be safer to use something that has undergone a certain degree of clinical testing.”
Meaning may possess a similar structure.
What is important is not to demand eternal obedience to it, but to use it as a foothold while interpreting and transforming it subjectively.
Section 18. The Structure of Cyclical Recovery and Reconstruction
Section 19. The Relationship Between the Recovered Individual and Society
A recovered individual does not need to copy the outsourced meaning of life exactly as it is.
The individual may interpret, verify, revise, and transform that meaning and construct a new meaning of life.
The meaning of life newly created in this manner then returns to society.
Therefore, the individual is both a recipient of the meaning of life and a re-creator of the meaning of life.
Section 20. The Reconstruction and Recirculation of Social Meaning
For this reason, social change in Cyclical Reciprocism does not simply consist of destroying what already exists and creating something new.
Rather, it occurs through the following process:
Therefore, the development of society is not a complete rupture, but a cyclical reconstruction of the meaning of life.
There is no need to discard everything that already exists.
There is also no need to worship everything that already exists.
creates social dynamism.
Section 21. The Conditions for the Establishment of Mental Death
In this philosophy, mental death is not the mere act of using a meaning of life originating from outside.
Nor is it the mere act of belonging to a religion, ideology, or community.
Mental death is:
Therefore, even if one believes in the same religion,
holds the same ideology,
or belongs to the same community,
if one continues to ask:
“Does this meaning of life correspond to the actual world?”
“Does it correspond to the reality that I experience?”
“Is arranging my desires in this manner coherent with myself?”
then one remains a living subject.
Conversely, even if one outwardly possesses an extremely original system of meaning, if one completely hands over to others the interpretive authority concerning how desires should be arranged, that is mental death.
Section 22. The Cyclical Conception of the Human Being
In Cyclical Reciprocism, human beings are neither complete creators of the meaning of life from the beginning nor beings who eternally accept the meanings of life of others.
Human beings circulate.
And human beings may fall into nihilism again during the course of life.
Then, once again, they undergo the process of:
Therefore, the term “cyclical” does not merely mean that society and individuals influence one another. It also means that the human mind itself may repeatedly undergo the collapse and outsourcing of the meaning of life, recovery and interpretation, and reconstruction and creation.
Section 23. The Comprehensive Structure of Cyclical Reciprocism
“The meaning of life is a method of arranging personal desires, and the purpose of life consists of personal desires that have been directed and organized in that manner.”
“The collapse of the meaning of life makes it impossible to arrange personal desires according to existing methods, and if interpretive capacity also collapses, human beings fall into nihilism.”
“In a state of nihilism, both the outsourcing of the meaning of life and the outsourcing of interpretation may be justified for survival and recovery.”
“When the function of subjective interpretation is restored, the individual must once again be able to arrange their desires independently and interpret and transform the meaning of life received from outside.”
“If, even after recovery, an individual continues to outsource the interpretive authority concerning how their desires should be arranged, this constitutes mental death.”
“However, the outsourcing of the meaning of life itself is not mental death. The meaning of life may be borrowed from others and society. What matters is whether one can interpret and transform it subjectively.”
Therefore, the final formula is:
The entire system can be most concisely compressed into the following sentence:
“Meaning may be borrowed, but the right to interpret it must not be borrowed forever.”
And a more fundamental sentence is:
“Subjectivity does not lie in creating meaning from nothing, but in interpreting and transforming given meaning independently.”
Section 24. The Conceptual Distinction Between Absurdity and Nihilism
1. Definition of Absurdity
Absurdity does not arise because the world fails to answer human beings. It refers to a state in which the world actively presents its own answer to human beings, and when human beings reject that answer, the world violently imposes it, causing their existing meaning and interpretation to collapse.
2. Definition of Nihilism
Nihilism refers to a state in which the existing meaning and interpretation within the human being collapse without the individual being able to accept the meaning and interpretation violently imposed by the world.