The purpose of life

This is one question, I believe everyone has asked themselves atleast once in their lives. Believe me, I've asked this question many many more times than that :D . From childhood, we're brought up to believe that we can make a difference, that we can change this world. In our parents' eyes, there is probably no one more deserving for anything, or more intelligent, than us. We even spend most of our childhood and adolescent life to further such goals of achieving more. Yet, this one question tends to stop u dead in your tracks, knock you down while you search for some hope or answer to cling on to. That's because the question tends to go hand in hand with other questions like "am I doing the right thing, or choosing the right path". I think even a lifetime of pondering is unlikely to give you a satisfactory, or more accurately, a mind pleasing answer.

If we go into some thought and facts for answering this question, things don't look as good. History tells us that "making a difference" is something that changes with every civilisation. Our current society tends to measure this by power and wealth. Don't get me wrong, these are the more prominent factors in defining success over the ages. But, some other factors tend to trump these over time. For example, Spartans, or even the samurai, gave more preference to bravery on the battlefield than money or power. Then if you go into mathematics, well, mathematics and statistics are never known to let you down easily. They tend to hit u in the face with knockout punches. Quantum physics and statistics paint a picture of nature playing a game. Where nature tries out every possible alternative, or so to say, an answer to a question. Since there are so many of us, it can be taken as a continuous curve, which in most cases, is close to my favourite Gaussian curve(see earlier post). Then, we must wonder, if we are only an infinitesimal speck in a curve, then what's the point of undertaking any activity?

Well, then, after the bad news, the good news. This statistical curve( or hyperplane in many dimensions - for u purists :D) tends to change itself over time. Society tends to dictate what most people will choose and this is a kind of average or mean of the curve. So, the choices some people make will change this curve. One must also wonder, why do people choose different options?? some answers can be found in the study of Game Theory, a marvellously simple theory that answers many complex questions with simple logic. Even a layman can understand its intricacies with ease. Then, I also must quote something I heard in Steven Speilberg's mini series called 'Taken' (ya i'm a sci-fi fan and sort of fixated on aliens), that "a choice is the death of all other possibilities".

So, in the end, what is the purpose of life? It means different things for different people. To me, it means the fulfillment of your one truest desire, be it money, family, career or anything else. A life lived while suppressing your desires is probably not quite worth it. You get only one after all. Some (and, well religion) might call this the wrong way, but does not even religion ask for total devotion to it as the best way to live life? So you might say, what about your parents who slogged their entire lives without enjoying themselves to earn so that we may not have to undergo the hardships they did? well, in doing so they made improving their childrens' lives their topmost priority, and someday go and ask them so, they'll tell you that they find even more happiness in your achievements, than they would have found in something else.
Some even say, that those who look for the purpose of life are doomed to never find it, while it'll drop into your lap if you're not looking. Seems weird? try looking up at the night sky once, look at a star and u'll notice lots of other stars near it, look towards them, and they'll disappear(It's not a trick, it's called peripheral vision, rods are better at finding low intensity objects - google it). To conclude, I'll quote one statement from 'Taken' again, "In our lives, we ask questions that we know we may never find the answers to, but finding answers is not that important, what is important is that we never stop asking questions"