The Path of Discovery

Since the beginning of times, human kind has been trying to answer three basic questions –

1. Why are we here on Earth?

2. How is everything around us functioning? In short, does God or some Supreme force exist?

3. What happens after we die?

Every branch of study which has evolved over time, be it physics, biology, chemistry, Mathematics etc; is an attempt to find answers to these 3 basic questions. This path of discovery has led to interesting findings but the answers are yet too far. There is still so much to this universe and everything around us which we have no clue about.

While we will continue our search for these answers, the most frustrating point is about our existence. We don’t know why we are here!!!

Every human being is after certain goals in life, not knowing why! There is this inherent belief that once you achieve those goals, life will be a cup of happiness with a sense of contentment. But does it ever happen? Never! You achieve 1 goal and then you long for something else and then something more. It is like a viscous cycle. If this is the case, are we fools to not understand this cycle till now?

I think we are not. Because there is no established guideline as to why we are here on earth, every human in a subconscious way is attempting to give purpose to their lives with certain small or big life goals. It helps us keep moving in this journey of life. It builds a roller coaster ride of emotions which we experience and gives meaning to life. After all, isn’t this what life is about? A series of experiences that we have while we are here on this planet. Nothing less or more to it!

But then I wonder, if there is this realization already, why are people frustrated all the time? All of us feel a sense of emptiness, a sense of something missing at some point in our life. Yes, it might be due to the situations we are in at that point which aggravates this feeling. We blame it on our outer situations. But is it really the case ? Because everyone goes through this feeling at different stages in life, one way or another. Why does life put each of us into such circumstances where these feelings become dominant. This feeling is what makes you wonder and come back to the same question – what am I doing here? Some part of your soul is constantly nagging you!

I think some of it is because we forget to look at life as a set of experiences. We get so engrossed in achieving these goals that we don’t celebrate life enough. There might be more reasons to it, who knows! When you look back, you will notice that there is always a pattern to your life. As we age, we come across different people, different problems, different experiences but at the center of it, its the same lessons, same emotions, getting repeated over and over again. And at every high or low in our lives, the soul starts feeling restless.

Maybe this journey of our soul through human life is meant to accomplish something else through all of our experiences. Maybe it is to find our way back home, back to the source we came from in the first place. Who knows? But then, do we really maintain a record of sorts around the lessons that life has taught us? We don’t! Shouldn’t we start doing that instead of just navigating through life with a blind eye. Isn’t this what we call a path of self discovery? To understand your flaws, your strengths, identifying your true self or for that matter – your soul!

The 2 ways which I believe everyone should be doing till the time our scientists are able to find definitive answers to our basic questions is –

1. Keep a tab of life lessons – Be a good student and try to figure out what life is contantly trying to teach you through life experiences!

2. Live your life with no regrets – Irrespective of what your mind vs heart says, pick the one where you will have no or maybe minimal regrets

These will not eliminate those feelings nor will this give answers to the questions of humankind, but it definitely does help to discover our own self…which I guess is not a bad deal as such for now!