At its core, human experience is an active process of constructing meaning from chaotic sensory data, a fundamental cognitive drive known as sense-making. This process reduces uncertainty, helps us navigate the world, and shapes our individual reality through interpretation.
The universal human drive for meaning is fulfilled through existential interpretation, a process deeply embedded in cultural systems of symbols and myths that structure our understanding of reality.
Symbolic thinking is the unique human cognitive ability to construct a secondary landscape of meaning from our physical reality. This fundamental process allows us to represent abstract ideas, share complex concepts, and build the cultural frameworks that define human understanding.
Mental models are internal representations that help humans interpret complex sensory input into a coherent reality. These cognitive frameworks simplify existence, allowing us to anticipate outcomes and make sense of our surroundings, shaping our individual understanding of the world.
