Five Levels of meaning... We need a vocabulary to begin to talk about meaning, in life or in literature.  We need to establish some basic perceptual coordinates that aren't too limiting, that allow us to perceive different shades, different levels of meaning when we hear or read, and that we can build on.  Here is one scheme that  works.  You can learn it, learn from it, and transcend it.  It's a good place to start.  [Skip this long explanation and take me to the summary] We can generate various discreet levels of perception.  We can do this by first imagining a simple scene with only one  person in it.  Then we increase the power of that person and replay the scene.  We will do this five times.  Each time we will generate one basic level of perception.  As we will name each level and then  generate the next, will will soon have a sequence of levels of meaning that outlines all human perception, like a ladder with five rungs or a planet with five continents.  Then we can begin finding ways to explore each rung or continent. The names we give  the levels may not be ones with which you are familiar--even though the terms will mean something to you in other contexts.  Footnotes will explain why we've picked these particular terms.  OK, here is the basic scene that we are going to vary:            It is dusk.  A man enters a field from the far side. That's it.  We'll  start by giving the man less power of observation than you have.  He's just a little slow, that's all. Follow the yellow arrows...