Horizontal World: Meaning Without a Ceiling, (Paperback)

<i>The sky is empty.</i><p></p><br>For many people, the old vertical stories no longer hold: God, heaven, <br>divine purpose, eternal judgment. When those beliefs collapse, meaning<br>often seems to collapse with them.<p></p><p></p><br><b>Horizontal World: Meaning Without a Ceiling</b> argues otherwise.<p></p><p></p><br>Drawing from Confucianism, Daoism, Zen, Stoicism, and other immanent<br>traditions, this book explores how human beings can build meaningful lives<br>without relying on transcendence or salvation. Meaning does not descend<br>from above - it grows sideways through relationships, ritual, <br>self-cultivation, responsibility, nature, and daily practice.<p></p><p></p><br>This is not a book about nihilism, nor a shallow celebration of atheism.<br>It is an exploration of another way of being in the world: grounded rather<br>than transcendent, embodied rather than abstract, horizontal rather than<br>vertical.<p></p><p></p><br>At the same time, the book does not romanticize horizontal worlds. It<br>examines their shadows as well - conformity, social pressure, ancestral<br>weight, political hierarchy, and the challenge of creating meaning in<br>modern urban life.<p></p><p></p><br>For readers who have lost faith, never had it, or can no longer pretend to<br>believe, this book offers neither escape nor despair.<p></p><p></p><br>Only this: <p></p><p></p><br>The ceiling is gone. <p>The ground remains.</p><p></p><p></p><br><i>Walk sideways.</i><p></p>

• Horizontal World: Meaning Without a Ceiling, (Paperback)
• Author: Olem Diga
• ISBN: 9798197939647
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-05-21
• Page Count: 186