Meaning of life....
Why do I go about my life the way I do?
What do I want from life?
From time to time, each of us stops to think about this. I am not sure there is a definitive answer to these questions, but each person comes to an answer that s/he is comfortable with.
Last week, after our last class of Management Communications, the professor put up a quote from Oliver Holmes
"Not to share in the activity and passion of your time, is to count as not having lived."
Yesterday, after our last class of Statistics and before the longest ovation I have ever seen a professor get, the professor put up an excerpt from a passage by Robert Hastings
'Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are travelling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn, and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the Station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, daming the minutes for loitering - waiting, waiting, waiting for the Station.
"When we reach the Station, that will be it!" we cry. "When I'm eighteen." "When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz!" "When I put the last kid through college." "When I have paid off the mortgage!" "When I get a promotion!" "When I reach retirement, I shall live happily ever after!"
Sooner or later we must realize there is no Station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The Station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The Station will come soon enough.'
Both these questions took me back to the principle I have used to lead life. I stumbled upon this sometime in October 2000, watching the stars on a roof top in a remote village in Rajasthan where I did a volunteer stint. Since I love finance, and the friend who was with me was an Econ major from U Penn, the principle will make more sense for those who know their NPV's.
"Value your today, but be conscious of the present value of tomorrow."
I also have another long winded version that I call the Truck philosophy. I think both are essentially making the same point. If you liked mathematical induction, you will relate to this version better.
"If a truck hits me tomorrow morning and I die, I must die happy about the way I have lived my life.
If the truck does not hit me tomorrow, I must have the resources and the context to have a good time till the next morning.
Ad infinitum."
I have found that this method of thinking works for me.
So, what is the meaning of life that works for you?
Put it as a comment below and let me know.
posted by Tagad_Tale @ 3:48 PM
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