For Paulus - The Mystery of Life

This is for you, Paulus.

You have asked me a question that many have asked .  "What is life?"
Philosophers, great thinkers, scientists, theologists and even the humble man on the street ponder on that.  There are no complete answers; no consensus, no ready book available with the title "How to live."

Life is a journey of self-discovery.  And how you live out your life, will mark the milestones in your life.
I suppose the easiest way to explain this to you is to quote Shakespeare, from Much Ado About Nothing.

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' brow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." — Jaques (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166)

I know that is a whole mouthful.
But in that monologue, the character reflects upon the 7 stages of Man...from birth, a 'whiny schoolboy,' the teenager in love, the idealistic soldier (youth), the justice (or a man making his mark in the world),  an age of wisdom and finally, when man dwindles into second childhood. That basically sums up the whole cycle of life we all go through.

But in this one, perhaps we will look at it from a framework drawn by a well-known psychologist and researcher, Erik Erikson who said that all of us go through 8 stages in our social, emotional and intellectual development.
1. Building Trust and Hope ( 1st 2 years of life)
2. Gaining Autonomy & Individual Will ( 3-4 years)
3. Learning Initiative and Purpose
4. Developing Self-competence (school age))
5. Searching for Self-Identity (teen - youth)
6. Finding Love (young adult)
7. Generative Care
8.Integrity and Wisdom.

You can find more if you do your search engines.

But where are you now?
Probably betwen 4 - 7.
As a youth, you struggled with many things in your search your 'yourself'.  That is when you find yourself as a separate entity from your parents...trying to find the right fit of friends ...trying to understand your values.
For some, this stage is one filled with angst.
You hate being constrained, you think that you are right,and that sometimes, the whole world is against you.  No one seems to understand you.  It is a time when you feel like breaking all conventions just to test.

At that point of life, you struggled with a lot of issues.
There was always that question, "Why me?" or "Who am I?"
And that is why, young people need to look out for others.  You look for like-minded friends, and yearn for special compansionships.  Your body, mind and soul look out for those who can fill this void...this emptiness. However, you may not be ready to be tied down yet...the world is such a exciting place...to explore, to try new things.

If you have partly found yourself, you slowly develop a sense of direction as to where you want to go.
However, this is also the time when you are thrown into 'the real world' full of its harsh realities and hardships.  You are idealistic, and full of drive, but find your attempts thwarted at every direction.

I hope I am making sense to you.
I think you are filled with a little bit of nostalgia at the moment; thinking about how good it would be like to be able to go back to school, and just worry about exams...and not about life.
You have yet to make your mark in the world, and that takes a lot out of your own sense of self-confidence and self-worth.
And that is why, you become very uncertain of what your next move should be.  You want to do so much, but each time you find yourself running smack into obstacles; one after another.

Maybe, I will let you ponder about that for today.
I will get back ...and share my experiences about how to cope with that.

Take care.