We Seek to Define the World All of us, from the ordeai ofbirth to that ofdeath, seek to define the world that impinges on our senses. While this idea is simple to state, it is difficult to comprehend. We all are born into a world that to us is without meaning. our search for meaning covers every aspect of our existence from the definition of a single word to how we cope with the eventuality of death. It is our culture's role to help our us discover these meanings. We can only imagine what a confusing place the world must be to the newborn infant. After living in a peaceful environment, the child confronts sights, sounds, tastes, and other sensations that, at this stage of life, have no meaning. It must be, as the psychologist William James noted, a bubbling, babbling mass of confusion that confronts the newborn. But from that first moment on, the search for meaning becomes a lifelong endeavor. As we move from event to event and person to person, we seek meaning in everything. The meanings we give to these things, are, as we have stated, culturally based. In America, when most members of the dominant culture see men kissing in public, they find it strange and unnatural. In other cultures, the same act is perceived as natural and commonplace. In some ways, this entire book is about how different cultures define the circumstances and people that confront them.