(0) Intro: The search for meaning begins with the MIND.
                               Meaning begins with the MIND. 

The mind, in its broadest & most basic sense, involves the ability to distinguish differences, e.g., between inside & outside, this & that, attraction & repulsion, warmer & cooler, brighter & darker, different directions, more or less edible…, to evaluate alternatives, make choices, be prepared for what’s coming & respond “in the moment” to what’s happening. In each case, MIND registers differences, with some implicit selective potential, some highly variable degree of reactive response, from “duck!” to “I’ll have what she’s having,” plus all possibilities between. 

While some choices are made consciously & intentionally, many are deeply embedded in various scales of organic structures, from cell-membrane chemistry to Pavlovian conditioning. A skill that starts out consciously practiced may eventually be practiced as if 2nd nature, without pre-consciousness of the specific muscular responses, for example.

Using the mind generally seeks (& often conveys) an advantage. MIND, as we know it, is essentially an ADVANTAGE-SEEKING means or capacity, whatever the phenomenal mechanisms by which it operates. Where it is experienced more or less consciously by organisms like us, the sought advantage may be for the point-of-view of the personal individual using the mind, but may also be for others, a group, to promote an idea or cause, to advance understanding of multiple scales, self to species or beings as a whole.