"WHY"

What let me into writing this piece was a thought that had been gruelling me for the past some weeks. And here is how it goes...

Why can’t life be objective? Why do we complicate our lives... and why is it that “WHY” is purely a subjective problem? What I intend to convey is that questions like ‘what, where, which, when and even how’ can be answered with a little bit of knowledge and understanding. But the word “WHY” is so complex in itself that it takes one to become a philosopher and turn bald in the process of finding it’s solution. A why, always presents a mystery which doesn’t come with a well defined explanation.

One such mystery which I wanted to understand was “WHY WORK” and I was desperate to find the truth behind it. This compelled me into churning my brain to get some ideas and realize them into words. Going by the length of the question one may feel it’s not a tough nut to crack, but believe me once you commence contemplating on the subject you might even end up committing suicide, which is never the correct decision. Here are my views which will definitely give anyone seriously interested a fine platform to begin his introspection on the subject.


The topic was literally leading me towards a nervous breakdown and whenever I encounter such situations where I am placed in an unstable equilibrium state, I imagine myself to be sitting on a beach beside a sand castle, gazing at the sun rise from underneath the ocean, with a quote playing as background music in my head: “To answer many questions you need to look beyond the horizon”. What it does is purely miraculous as I feel lighter and get the hint that the finest truths of life are like hidden treasures which can only be found when your total effort exceeds even your cent percent. With this, commenced a new moment; with thoughts flooding my brain and they are discussed hereafter.

Taking the scenario of the present day lifestyle, a question as humungous as this is subtly answered in words like “one has to work to earn and he has to earn in order to live and raise his family”. Indeed if you look deeply into it this is exactly “why” everyone works today.

People work to earn money, which they feel is the source to feed their family and themselves. Today Money is considered to be the sole power that can buy someone happiness along with other necessities of life. The perception of money being the sole reason for someone to work might not be true since for some it is success, fame or power. But believe me these are just synonyms of money and its manifestations in one’s mind. And so it goes on... man chases money all his life well knowing the fact that he is running out of time. Every precious moment that should have been dedicated into being lived was wasted earning some pieces of paper.

But what compels him to do so? Let us have a sneak peek into the training that goes into the making of this philosophy. It is the psychological nurturing that goes into one’s personality development right from his childhood. Parents, family, peers and the surrounding atmosphere are phenomenal in moulding the clay. Attributes like competition, thirst for power and fame go into the making and as time goes by, these become the foundations of one’s personality. Hence is created a machine which only knows about money, power and fame. This machine may even end up achieving all these in life, but still there is emptiness in his soul which agitates him and makes him feel incomplete all his life and hence he goes after more and more, being caught in a vicious circle, but never being able to fill that cavity.

What I feel is that spirit of competition is excellent but when it comes with an air of superiority it loses its worth. Thus in order to complete one’s life, one must break these strands of moribund life and reincarnate from within in order to lead a life true to oneself. Doing so isn’t the easiest of steps when you have lived a life of self created norms and conditions, which repel you from doing anything different. But self-believe is the sole power that can help someone break these barriers and metamorphose. With this much thought going into it I eventually did realise “why must one work”.

Every person must primarily work in order to complete his life and secondarily to earn or feed and be fed. One must work in order to be blissful, joyous and live a life true to oneself. A great philosopher once exclaimed “Make work your hobby and hobby your work and observe the world change in front of your own eyes”. Lastly I feel one must work to develop the society for the better and one’s work must contribute even if at nano scale to the growth of not just mankind but the earth as a whole that we abode.


I end with a thought “Biggest conundrums with a little more thought put into them, and an eternal solution is in its making”.