It's pretty much just finding out what matters.
What is the Meaning Web?
Well, it's technically a web of meaning, but I haven't used it that way, at least not yet. In one sentence - you think of a problem, ask why you want to solve it, then continually ask, "Why?" until you can't.
If you haven't read the problem web yet, I'd suggest to do it now for context.
In the problem web, the first thing I tell you to do is to think of a problem in your life. Then, I help you figure out what causes it. But a step that it misses, that is extremely important, is understanding why it's important in the first place. A simple example of this is if a rich person wants to get richer. He might say "I'm not rich enough" as a problem. This is what it would look like in the problem web:
- I'm not rich enough. Why?
- My business isn't as successful as I want it to be. Why?
- Potential clients don't pay. Why?
- I am not available for them. Why?
- I am not putting in enough time.
So, he might decide to put in more time. He might decide to spend less time with family or get less sleep. But that feels wrong. If you're used to using the problem web, this will make sense, and if not, it won't, but the problem web feeling wrong is a problem, so let's put it in the web:
- Using the problem web sometimes feels wrong. Why?
- It feels wrong to spend effort figuring out the causes of some of the problems. Why?
- It feels wrong to spend energy on a problem when I don't know how big the problem is and some of the solutions it brings make my life worse. Why?
- I could focus on bigger problems and the other things in life matter to me more than implementing the solution I found to this problem.
This is a bit verbose, but it reveals that a potential solution is to figure out how much the problem matters before you try to solve the problem itself.
I'm going to go over the example again, except this time using the meaning web. It is essentially the same thing as the problem web, except in reverse, where you initially ask, "Why does that matter?". At any point, the "Why?" is interchangeable with "Why does that matter?":
- I'm not rich enough. Why does that matter?
- I want to be richer. Why?
- I want everything the extra money can buy and it feels good to have more money. Why?
- Those things are fun and money gives status, which I like having. Why does that matter?
- Having fun is meaningful and status makes me feel important, which I like. Why does that matter?
- Having fun and feeling important are intrinsically meaningful to me.
At this point, there is no further possible exploration. I call these points the "terminal points of meaning", because they are things that matter because they matter, without a deeper explanation.
This is where the rich person would be able to create the problem web for this problem. He would find that the solution he found would be to sacrifice sleep or time with family for money. He can now ask himself, "Is the fun and the feeling of importance that extra money brings worth less sleep or time with family?". And the answer is, I don't know. Only he can answer that question.
I use this example because to me it seems pretty common that people want to be super rich, even if they already have money, and they might not ask themselves why.
Disclaimer: the problem webs and meaning webs are incomplete, because that is guaranteed. You can probably put nodes in there yourself and be correct, but you will always be missing some.