Friday, June 23, 2006

My quest for life

Perhaps, this is a question whose answer i am seeking since a long time now.I think i have partly unraveled this great mystery for myself but i really dont know how far have i reached....Afterall, its a quest which may take years...

After our birth,we all lead the same life...We all have a family and an environment which helps us grow,then we make a career,marry,have children,see them grow up,we then grow old and finally we die........What is the purpose of all of this? What is the purpose of this life?

You cant possibly find the answer in one go and hence i call it a quest...a quest for life.And each of us lives with a different purpose and gets a different result from this quest. But, still the same, there are certain common reasons for why we all live.

Coming from a technical background, i see this world as a huge system of which we human beings are components(or rather subsystems). A human body may survive without a hand or a leg,but the presence of that limb makes the body more complete. Similarly, each one of us makes this world more complete which is very inherent from the fact that on our demise,we would leave a huge void in the hearts of our near and dear ones. So,perhaps the first purpose of our life is to make this world a more complete place.

But we also serve a much more important purpose tham this. As each subsystem performs a different function. so does each individual in this huge world. But something that unifies them is that all subsystems work together to achieve the goal of a system. But what can be the constant goal of this ever-changing dynamic world? The question itself gives the answer. CHANGE. A change for the better. A change which could make this world more meaningful,thus making your life more meaningful. That is the purpose we are here to serve. We are here to change the world into a better and a more beautiful place. It need not imply that we will change the entire world on our own,but we can put in our best effort to bring about small subtle changes in everyone's attitude and that can be achieved only with a concious change in our own attitudes.

But,the irony of life is that us,who should be thinking about how to change the world,fear change our ownselves. We are afraid of that which we have not seen and have a tendency to stick to our past,thus bringing about a resistance to the inevitable-the only constant in this world;CHANGE. But if the purpose of our life is to change the world,we ought to realize that it begins with a positive change in our own selves. And the best way to do it is to love change. Love changes and do not detest them. They may initially scare you but they will give meaning to your life.

And thus begins our quest for life by changing ourselves for the better.