I have been thinking lately.
I have a fantastic professor (fantastic is a ginormous understatement) who talks about these things he calls the 'questions of meaning'. There are five of them and they are as follows:
Where did I come from?
Where do I belong here?
What is my purpose?
Why is there suffering?
What happens after I'm gone?
He proposes that they are those basic universal things that all folks wonder at some point.
I'd believe it. I think these are the biggies. Those big mysterious questions that are really freaking scary.. they have some weight to them. It's not really dinner conversation (I would say that this is very debatable), and it's not something you have to fill out on an insurance application. You won't find these on an any exam for my biology degree. These aren't questions you would ask on a first date, or at job interview.
These are the questions that you think about at night. These are the ones you think about in your head. The ones that usually come up during times of sadness or tragedy - but they are always there.
I've been thinking about these lately. They have settled in my bank of curiosity. There are no definite answers to these particular questions and that intrigues me too. I mean, us humans, we know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff. Yet, I'm willing to guess that not too many people would answer all of these questions the exact same way.
That's beside the point really.
As a whole we may know a lot of things about a lot of things, but I think that lots of people shove these questions to the back of their heads. I think this is because 1)the questions are too big for right now, 2)they really don't feel like knowing the answers are possible, or 3)they are ok with having these sit way in the back.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. It's just not meant for me. I am meant to learn more. Meant to spend some of this precious time I have taking these questions to heart and finding my own truth.
I think my professor is absolutely correct, these questions are the ones that mean something.. I am meant for that.
Until next time,
Carmen