In our drive to become efficient and achieve more we make lists. We keep these separate: we have a list for our grocery shopping; a list for our long, short and medium term goals; a list for our daily tasks. Some keep lists of the movies they have seen and the books they have read. All neatly filed and systematically updated. Our deepest longing has no place on our lists.
Look at the following:
- Bread
- Milk
- Cheese
- Beer
- A sense of purpose in life
Which is the odd one out?
Taking the chance on being a bit facetious, I have to say beer as I don’t drink it. LOL.
However, a sense of purpose in life is SO difficult to attain that I’m not sure it is achievable.
@Pat: I don’t drink beer either; in my case the idem would have red ‘wine’ and as we all know ‘in vino veritas’. I knew that finding purpose in life fits somewhere there.
the 1975 novel, A canticle for Leibowitz, is set several hundred years after our civilization has annihilated itself in a nuclear Armageddon.
The survivors have been reduced to the stone age and have slowly begun to rebuild.
Monks now keep and try to decipher the scrapes left. The most precious of all is a bit of writing, the only such to survive. Truly, they believe, the key to the past and its secrets are here.
Towards the end the author shares it with us. It is a list:
Bread
Milk
Cheese
Beer
@jlcollinsnh: Amazing! I haven’t read this book but this is one more illustration that there is nothing new under the sun. Or that great minds think alike 😆 !
Beer is the odd one. You can have milk, bread and cheese while thinking of a purpose in life. However, drinking beer will warp it. 🙂
@Jai: I have two words for you: spoil sport 🙂 . How about beer helps people find their purpose in life; heck, for some people beer IS the purpose in life.
I am so a list maker! They are very good for productivity. I do think we have to make sure that we keep the big picture in mind of our goals, dreams, passions and make sure that they are presented by our lists as well. Thanks for the admonition.
@Roshawn: I used to be as well – and my lists only got longer, and I got more flustered and depressed. Now I do mind-maps including both the longer term and the day-to-day stuff.
Still do shopping lists and the fact is: I am not likely to find my sense of purpose in life in a large super-market.No admonition ment – just an opportunity to reflect 😀 !
Says the woman who debates Marxism in the line waiting to pay for groceries 🙄
If you drink enough beers you can feel like you have a sense of purpose in life, so let’s throw out sense of purpose in life.
@ShortRoadTo: Perfect example of wrong premise(s) leading to the right conclusion 😀 .
I’m going to say Cheese for 500 Alex! (In my Jeopardy contestant voice). Just kidding.. the answer is purpose in life. It’s way too general!
@YFS: General but important 😀 . Looking for it in the wrong place may be misguided!
I too am a list maker, but not a list finisher. Kind of poetic in its own way.
@Shaun: 😀 ! Snap!
I think finding meaning in life is a constant journey and something that never is finished or can get checked of a list. Life is full of new experiences which can alter our meaning and purpose. Allow your world to be open and flexible and you will find it.
@Miss T: Wise and measured words as ever. Thanks!
I’m definitely a type-A, list-making personality. But you’re right – sometimes I do leave off the most important things, like having fun, enjoying life, appreciating the world around me. Maybe I should make a list for that…