“Deliberately Diverse” represents the individual thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never completely agree about anything but are gratified by the opportunity to stimulate deliberately diverse discussions in our beloved community. Today’s column represents the thoughts and opinions of Mitch Drummond, NOT the Taylor Press.
Does life have a meaning? Do we have a purpose, and if so how do we find it? I’ve read that there is a Japanese concept called Ikigai, which roughly translates to “a reason for living” based on traditional Japanese medicine. It asks you to examine what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for, and then pursue that goal. But is it really that simple; what if we fail or just lose interest? Have we wasted a life; must we have a purpose a goal to chase to provide a meaningful life? Ten years ago I retired from a lucrative and very stressful job keeping an 800 MW power plant online, and within weeks found that I no longer had a purpose.
Life really had no meaning. So, I began a search for meaning, a new hobby, job or goal, but after a time, they would all ultimately lose their appeal. Without meaning life can become tedious and depressing.
I felt a lack of purpose and direction. Why must there be a purpose to living; what is the point; and if there isn’t, why do we continue?
This is an old question that reaches back to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The Greeks had a word for this idea, eudaimonia which is “not so much an outcome or end state as it is a process of fulfilling or realizing one’s daimon or true nature—that is, of fulfilling one’s virtuous potentials and living as one was inherently intended to live.” There are many answers to this question, sometimes we can answer it by examining our individual reality which could include: religion, culture, environment, education, ancestry, family traditions, and friend groups, our internal realities – intuition, our gut feeling. Understanding our true reality can sometimes bring meaning or purpose to our life, but everyone’s reality is different.
It’s been said that life is all about the journey, the hills and valleys, not the destination. It’s akin to riding a train.
We come to a Y in the track and we can stop and worry with which direction to take or just pick one and enjoy the view from the window and not question if the view from the other track was better. As long as we enjoy the view, what does it matter? And if others feel the need to judge our decision, if they criticize how we live our lives, it’s their point of view and nothing more. We should live the way we choose and follow our own intuition and moral compass.
“Life is meaningless and the fact that it is meaningless doesn’t mean anything”, so we must create our own meaning and purpose in life. So go on an adventure, go back to school, travel the world, serve others, love others, connect to a higher purpose, develop good relationships, make the world a better place and live without regrets.
Just enjoy the trip and be happy.
