One of the most frequent questions we often ask ourselves and others is, “what really is this life all about?”
At different points of our lives, life can be as gentle as the first snowfall of the winter or as devastating as a torrential downpour. It can also be as sturdy and reliable as a mountain or fickle like the shifting sands of a dune. The metaphors are plenty but none seek to explain the crux of the matter—they merely tell us what we already know. Of course the answers are just as many as the questioners may be; not only that but also the answers that come from our own understanding keep donning a new form—at times we look at it as black and white and at others, it takes on millions of colours.
What some may consider as a frustrating process, actually is rather interesting for a few who instead of wanting to zero in impatiently on the answer to the riddle, may take their time and enjoy the adventure of finding the exit in this most perplexing maze, for they know that each time they stumble upon a new opening, albeit the wrong one, it is only by trial and error and systematic elimination, that they will lead themselves out; in other words, by finding out what life isn’t, they discover the answer that has up till that defining moment been eluding them.
Even though not all of us are natural-born Sherlocks, each of us still has to, at some point or the other, get involved in solving the big mystery. Since it isn’t something we can weasel out of, our attitude is what counts. If we trudge laboriously, the way will assume the nature of a bog. Instead, perhaps if we consider it as a game which lacks any sense of competition but one in which every participant is a winner in the end, we may in fact, stumble upon the missing pieces and finish the puzzle sooner than we thought.
Perhaps that’s what life is about – simply finding out what it’s about.
