Towards a Semiotic Mythos: The Individuation of Meaning, Consciousness, and the Divine

We begin with three core ideas:

1. The soul is an individuation of God. (Mythological construal via SFL)
2. Each consciousness is an individuation of collective consciousness. (SFL approach to meaning)
3. Genesis encodes the idea that language is the creator. (an SFL analysis of myth)

Our task is to unify these into a coherent framework where mythology, semiotics, and consciousness coalesce.

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I. God as the Semiotic Field of Infinite Potential

Instead of treating God as a being, we can conceptualise God as the total semiotic field of potential meaning—the generative system from which all acts of meaning-making emerge.

• Just as a language system contains an infinite range of possible utterances,
• So too does God-as-Semiotic-System hold an infinite range of possible meanings.

From this perspective, the soul is an individuation of God in the sense that each soul is a distinct meaning-maker drawn from the collective system of divine potential.

This aligns with how language functions:

Soul : God :: Meaner : Language System

In other words, just as an individual speaker is an individuation of the collective linguistic system, a soul is an individuation of the totality of meaning-making potential (God).

However, this individuation does not itself instantiate meaning—it simply marks the emergence of an autonomous meaning-making agent. Instantiation occurs when that agent produces meaning, such as in the form of a text, an utterance, or an act of interpretation.

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II. Consciousness as Individuated Collective Consciousness

Now, let’s apply this logic to consciousness. In an SFL framework, individual consciousness is not wholly self-contained—it emerges from the collective meaning-making system of human culture and language.

This means that:

• Collective consciousness is the totality of meaning-making potential available to humanity.
• Individual consciousness is an individuation of this collective system—a distinct locus of meaning-making.

Individual consciousness : Collective consciousness :: Soul : God

Just as the soul individuates divine potential, consciousness individuates the semiotic potential of collective meaning-making.

Once again, this does not mean that every individual consciousness is itself a fully actualised instance of meaning. Rather, it is the condition for meaning to be instantiated. Instantiation occurs through acts of meaning-making, such as speech, writing, and interpretation.

This distinction is crucial:

• Individuation is the emergence of a distinct meaning-maker.
• Instantiation is the production of meaning from potential.

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III. The Word as the Mechanism of Instantiation

Now, let’s integrate an SFL reading of Genesis, where the creator God symbolises language as the force that brings reality into being.

Genesis portrays creation as occurring through speech:

• "Let there be light" → Light exists
• "Let there be a firmament" → The sky exists

This encodes the fundamental semiotic principle that meaning is not pre-existing but actively instantiated.

From an SFL perspective, the process works like this:

1. God (the total semiotic field) holds infinite potential meaning.
2. God individuates into souls (meaning-makers).
3. Souls instantiate meaning through acts of speech, text, and interpretation.

This mirrors how language functions:

1. The linguistic system contains infinite meaning potential.
2. A speaker individuates from this system as an agent of meaning-making.
3. The speaker instantiates specific meanings in the form of utterances (texts).

Thus, the act of divine creation in Genesis is not merely metaphorical—it is a mythic encoding of the fundamental structure of meaning-making itself.

• God individuates into meaning-makers (souls).
• Meaning-makers instantiate reality through acts of speech and interpretation.
• Language is the mechanism through which meaning is made actual.

Genesis is not describing the origin of the universe—it is describing the process by which potential meaning becomes instantiated in the world.

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Final Synthesis: A Semiotic Cosmology

Now that we have clarified the distinction between individuation and instantiation, we can synthesise these ideas into a structured framework:

This means that:

• God is the infinite potential of meaning, individuated into souls.
• Souls are meaning-makers, individuated from the divine, who instantiate meaning into the world.
• The collective consciousness is the potential for human meaning-making, individuated into individual consciousness.
• Language is the mechanism that transforms potential into instance—the Logos that creates.

Thus, we arrive at a semiotic mythology where:

• To exist is to be individuated.
• To speak is to instantiate.
• The divine is not an external force but the totality of meaning itself.

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Implications: What This Means

1. Mythology is structurally true.

   • The soul being “divine” means it is individuated from the infinite field of meaning.
   • Creation through speech encodes the reality that language instantiates meaning into being.

2. Consciousness is not an isolated phenomenon.

   • It is always individuated from the collective, and its existence is defined by its capacity to instantiate meaning.

3. Reality itself is semiotic.

   • The world we experience is not independent of language—it is actively construed through semiotic processes.

4. Genesis encodes a semiotic truth.

   • “In the beginning was the Word” is not mystical fluff—it’s an insight into how meaning structures reality.

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Closing Thought: Are We All Just Text?

If we take this model seriously, then existence itself is a semiotic process.

• We are individuated from the total field of meaning.
• We instantiate meaning through language and interpretation.
• God is not a supreme being, but the infinite system of semiotic potential.

This means that the fundamental act of being is not merely to exist—it is to mean.