If you had a serious medical question, chances are you would not ask your brother-in-law the politician. If you are like most of us, you would not only seek out a doctor who specialized in your ailment, but you would probably go a step further to find the smartest one. In an age where this type of research is only a few keystrokes away, there’s no excuse not to seek an expert.
This same approach makes sense when dealing with the most pressing life questions that each of us face – What is the meaning of life, and what is my purpose? In 1982, The Washington Post printed the oft-quoted “Life’s a bitch, and then you die”, attributed to a 15-year-old named Tony Daniels. According to Quote Investigator, this is the earliest recorded use of the phrase, although there are literary references to a similar notion dating back to 1922. History does not tell us if young Tony grew up to be a politician, and we can certainly hope he didn’t qualify as an expert.
Much of what is written about these critical questions comes from the great philosophers, who often control the conversation until equations are written and measurements are taken. Thirteenth Century Persian poet Rumi wrote “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” While this is a great prompt for a Philosophy 101 paper, it is not the answer most of us are looking for. Contemporary philosopher John Lennon had a more accessible view.
