Life's Purpose

I have just been listening to the plaintive cry of Bono in the U2's song, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for” which got me thinking.

I use to often think "What is the purpose of my life?" “What am I here for, I know there is something I must do, there is some thing that I am 'meant' to do, but what?”

In fact, I've heard many men and women, at some point, that don't know what they're really here for. They're not necessarily religious or spiritually inclined, but they feel a longing for that "certain something" that defines and integrates their lives.

First, I think everyone feels a pull towards some defining purpose to his or her life, no matter how much it may have become shut out of sight. You can say that all forms of life, all natural phenomena, have some purpose. There's always movement or evolution towards some kind of outcome, whether it's a tree that produces fruit or clouds that form to produce rain. But we humans become so enthralled by our daily activities, engagements and goals, that our awareness of our own unique life purpose is easily dimmed.

And there are consequences to not knowing or finding your purpose. Some people who've become successful in their work or relationships, yet feel hollow, empty or unfulfilled. Sometimes they wonder if they've been on the "wrong" path all along, chosen the wrong career or the wrong life partner. Perhaps their chosen path could be more meaningful or purposeful to them, if they let it.

I think most people retain at least a glimmer of awareness of their life's purpose within themselves. It often feels like a leaning that continues to pull at you. Sometimes it is right in front of your eyes but you don't allow yourself to see it.

Those who experience these feelings but don't pursue or fulfil them remain incomplete and dissatisfied; this is what I did myself for years. However, it's important not to confuse seeking happiness with finding your purpose. Happiness is what you experience in the daily flow of life, the highs and lows that are situational. They will fluctuate. But purpose is deeper. When you're living in accordance with your life's purpose, you view all of the above as part of what you encounter along the road. They don't distract you from that larger vision, which is like a magnet steadily pulling you towards it.

So, what is my purpose? What am I leaning to? What is pulling at me?  Well, when I was young, and I am talking when I was about five or six years of age, I had a constant vision.  It was very clear and very vivid; there was a girl on a truck, stood in the back surrounded by gifts.  The truck was heading down this long dirt track, it was so hot and the atmosphere was heavy.  After a while, the truck entered what appeared to be a small village and all of a sudden, smiling, happy children, holding their arms out and shouting with joy, surrounded the truck.  It was Africa, the truck had gone there to distribute gifts at Christmas, and that was me on the back of the truck, giving these amazing children things they had only dreamed about.

This vision has stayed with me through everything I have done up to now, and I believe that this is what made me decide to end my career and go to University to Study a varied degree including Sustainable Development.  I feel my purpose is to make a difference, no matter how large or how small, in the lives of people.

So, whats your purpose? :)

Entropy and Sustainability - An Understanding

The notion of Entropy is understood as the transformation of heat into mechanical energy.Entropy usually refers to disorder in the world.  Everyday we are dealing with entropy and we do not even realise it.Our daily life can only be sustained if we keep putting things in order and restoring the disorder which requires work, we should all be familiar with the equation W=F/D, physics 101.  If we could not sustain any order the entropy would take over creating a lot of disorder in our lives. 

If we manage to maintain all the order, then where does the disorder go?
Other people control it.  The outside world - society - deals with it on a daily basis.  The less disorder that is produced, the less energy there is required for things to be put back into place, today there is a lot of disorder and it is taking a lot of energy to control it.  This creates a lot of disorder and pollution, the disorder applies to all scales that are visible to the naked eye.  As Deutscher says, "pollution can simply be put as small particles or molecules that are somewhere they should not be" (2008, p.p 223).

This is a system that has always been happening and cannot be overcome.  Too much entropy in a closed system will equal an entropy crisis. Earth is largely a closed system, meaning that it exchanges very little matter with its external environment in space, but the same is not true of the systems within the Earth such as Earths natural spheres which are open systems, meaning they can all interact and change with the external environment.
As an example, through our ever increasing emissions, we are making disorder in the atmosphere and it is getting to the point where it is beyond our control - entropy takes over.
Entropy is maximised when particles are released into the atmosphere and then spread out, meaning particles released in Australia will spread across the Globe.

In a closed environment, temperature will always tend to be uniform.  Heat flows from hot to cold regions, this is known as energy transfer.  Heat transfer is the motion of molecules.
Our world is active and whenever an energy distribution is out of equilibrium a thermodynamic force exists that the world acts to dissipate or minimise.  The active nature of the second Law of thermodynamics is easy to grasp and demonstrate.  If a cup of hot liquid, for example, is placed in a colder room, a thermodynamic force exists and a flow of heat is spontaneously produced from the cup to the room until the potential is minimised or dissipated  (the entropy is maximised) at which point the temperatures are the same and the flow stops, the cup/room system is in thermal equilibrium.

It is shown that the entropy increase due to irreversible transformations ( or unrecoverable energy) simultaneously determines the level of fresh energy supplies of our society and the damage that it causes to the environment.  

Minimising the rate of entropy is increasing with advanced technologies and society taking an active role in reducing their own amount of entropy, is the key to a sustainable future.

For further reading:

Deutscher, Guy, 2008.  Dealing with entropy on a daily basis.  In The Entropy Crisis, Singapore, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/6684  

A fabulous documentary that sums up this topic would also be a great resource 

http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people 

The Invitation by Oriah

Well, it has certainly been a while since I last blogged.  I had every intention of blogging once a week but for some reason, didn't. I came across this poem several weeks ago and after reading it for the 100th time, I all of a sudden had the urge to share it.  I think it needs no introduction as I am sure you will make of it what you will.Enjoy.



The Invitation

By Oriah

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you
Ache for and if you dare
to dream of meeting your hearts longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk
Looking like a fool for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched
The centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bare the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day.
And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon
“yes”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company in the empty moments.