For a greater purpose.....

I recently started reading a Chomsky, borrowed from Mufaazaa. One thing that struck me was his statement: 

"In the 1930s we saw hope in slum-dwellers. They had nothing to eat, but they were hopeful of a better future. Today, we don't see any hope. They are destroyed by drugs, alcohol and the likes. Children are addicted to drugs, and involved in anti-social activities. They don't dream anymore."

This got me thinking about the importance of purpose in life. When i call my friends, who have started working, a large number of them come up with statements like: 

" Life is boring man..."

"Its the same routine everyday..."

"Just living on...."

And these are not people who have adopted these statements as their life goal. During academic life, all of them had a sense of purpose, even if it was limited to just passing through the college / school. THEY WERE DRIVEN!

& today, there is no drive. There is just a mad rush and struggle, to live, survive, settle down, bring up a family & get on with life not knowing where one might land.

Which brings me to our education system. I will not go into whether the education system is right or wrong, because i seldom agree with it, and that would deviate from the topic at hand. I do think that with the system we have in place today, competitive ranking is the best way to get children working. No normal child can sustain curiosity in grammar or integration or history over a long time, unless there is a carrot hung over his or her head: the carrot of competing with colleagues & proving oneself better than them. 

If that were not the case, we would hardly have learnt anything worthwhile, except the bombardment of comics & television on our head. We pursued ourselves to study with the only purpose of either passing or doing better than others. Else, we would have been reduced to couch-potatoes or for Rooney : football addicts.

I think this is where we & our society fails. We are not taught to create our own aims. The spoon-feeding, which is the longest in humans (of all creatures on earth) is increased disproportionately due to schools. We are taught to listen & learn, not ask too many questions and just go on the path shown to us.

Our natural sense of curiosity gradually wanes to a point where we stop caring or reacting to things around us. And the result is obvious when we are released from the school system. We have no-one to depend on. Literally! A couple of decades ago, we had a joint-family, relatives and friends to depend on. But they have been eliminated respectively by smaller family units & dwelling sizes, job-hopping & migration to other cities and global work opportunities resulting into disintegration & stressing of childhood friendships. 

All those we know are bound to leave at one point of time or other, and we are eventually left with no one but ourselves. This situation is so drastic that even the nuclear family is at stake. Touring jobs, longer working hours & pre/ post-school activities ensure that the family members never get to sit together & talk, leading to each person having his or her own personal world, and no-one to share it with.

We are genetically coded to be a social species. To be lonely is a stressful situation on most of us. & we are creating & living in a world which is doing just that to us.... making us loners.

So when we have come to this situation where we are alone, what do we do? To top it all, we don't have a sense of purpose anymore. We do not feel much for our profession or work, and we don't want to prove ourselves anymore. Why should we? The very reason that we are in today's position is because of all our achievements!

But then, there is nothing more to live for, is there? This is where the sense of purpose comes in. It has been documented by Chomsky, Wright, Diamond and the likes that masses turn to religious or political fervour in absence of a purpose in life. Imagine millions of people living without a sense of purpose, and suddenly a tragedy occurs. Any wily politician can make up facts proving that the people's ego is being challenged, and now these people have a sense of purpose!

To riot, kill and turn into religious fanatics, all for the need to have something greater to do in life!! 

I am talking extreme cases here, but they all rise from such a simple fact, lonliness. 

To come to the solutions side, I have met & worked with equally driven individuals & groups. They have a sense of purpose, be it family or be it profession. I know a teacher of mine who holds his profession above everything else in his life. Now you may dismiss that as nerdy or over-zealous, but that makes him supremely happy! He is able to work 16-18 hours a day, keep good relations with his family, earn comfortably and most importantly get a sense of satisfaction! Now i wouldn't miss that for the world, would i?

I have another young friend who would do anything for her family. To her, family is most important. The sacrifices done, the adjustments done, tolerance levels met, all make her happy. This is because, at the end of the day, she belongs somewhere & cares for her family. That is her drive! I wouldn't miss that too!

These are just two random examples. We can keep arguing about the pros and cons of each case, but it boils down to two profound things for me: satisfaction of life & happiness. They are both able to achieve that with whatever they are driven with! & as an individual, i do not believe there can be any greater purpose in life (leaving the mahatmas aside).

So i would urge all of us to have some purpose in life, even if its so small a purpose as to be able to watch a movie every week. I have seen people driven by that the whole week! If we are to just despair that we don't belong anywhere anymore, it is more a faculty of our mind, than anything else. Only we can save ourselves today, as opposed to earlier, when many people played a part in shaping our life.

Once we start believing in something, the smallest of efforts can keep us driven for long spans of time. A friend of mine wants to change professions because he thinks his profession is not giving him the drive. If he would have said that to anybody else, he would be reprimanded for the reason that his age & current life status does not give him enough room to manouvre elsewhere. But i think he is right, because if this profession does not provide him satisfaction, and there is nothing else in life that will. If he thinks the other profession can help him serve his idea of life, he should just go ahead & do it! Even if he fails, which is doubtful if he is driven, he will still have been happy the next couple years of his life trying to achieve his idea of bliss! 

Its quite simple, isn't it?