Nonsense vs. Mythology: Introduction — Why Contrast Activation with Codification?

Meaning is not a single, fixed entity. Across time, culture, and thought, humans have developed different technologies of meaning—structured ways to generate, stabilise, and transmit significance. In earlier series, we explored how nonsense contrasts with science and philosophy, revealing the dynamics of activation, surplus, and threshold rehearsal.

In this series, we turn to mythology, one of the most enduring and influential semiotic technologies:

• Mythology codifies meaning through archetypes, stories, and rituals.

• It stabilises thresholds, channels interpretive surplus, and creates resonance across generations.

• It structures collective understanding, ensuring continuity, guidance, and coherence.

Against this backdrop, nonsense provides a striking foil:

• It preserves surplus rather than channelling it.

• It activates relational meaning locally rather than codifying it across generations.

• It rehearses thresholds without prescribing outcomes.

By contrasting nonsense with mythology, we can explore how these two technologies differently shape the ecology of meaning: one preserving generative potential, the other preserving continuity; one activating locally, the other resonating transgenerationally.

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Series Overview

This series will unfold across seven posts, each examining a key dimension of the contrast:

1. Activation Without Codification – Nonsense generates relational meaning; mythology codifies it.

2. Surplus vs. Normativity – How multiplicity is preserved or channelled.

3. Thresholds and Transformation – Managing the edge of comprehension and interpretation.

4. Pattern, Structure, and Activation – The role of formal constraint in meaning-making.

5. Collective vs. Local Semiotic Ecology – The scale at which each technology operates.

6. Inexhaustibility and Resonance – How meaning is sustained across time and encounters.

7. Conclusion — The Ecology of Meaning Revealed – Synthesising insights about activation, codification, and relational potential.

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Why This Matters

By examining mythology alongside nonsense, we gain a richer, more ecological understanding of meaning. We see that meaning is:

• Relational — emerging through interaction, threshold engagement, and activation.

• Multi-scalar — operating locally, collectively, and across generations.

• Dynamic and generative — sustained by surplus, rehearsed through thresholds, and stabilised through codification.

This series invites readers to see nonsense not as trivial or meaningless, but as the pulse that keeps the semiotic ecosystem alive, balancing the enduring weight of mythology with the immediacy of activation.