Journeyman

No, don't worry, I'm not blogging about that cheesy ripoff of Quantum Leap. As promised, I've given the list some consideration and now it's time for the results:

This country is very goal oriented, very keepyoureyeontheprize. At job interviews, applicants are often asked "Where do you see yourself in five years?" College students are often asked "What are you going to do with the degree once you've earned it?" Heck, we even ask four-year-olds what they want to be when they grow up. Even the predominant faith(s) tell us the reason to lead a good life is to get in to heaven.

Isn't the good life itself enough of a reward for leading one? Does it have to be about the destination? Can't the journey itself be the reward, the purpose? I wonder if that's the thinking behind reincarnation - when someone has lived a worthwhile life she is rewarded by getting to live another one in a more suitable vessel.

So it seems like a lot has been accomplished by the goaloriented. Undoubtedly history books, record books, and museums are packed with souls who've had some grand vision and then followed it to completion. Every journey has a destination. But must the destination be the reason for the journey?

Here's a crude allegory: Ben and Jerry share an apartment next to a park. Through the park is a path that connects the apartment to an ice cream store. Ben wants to go to the ice cream store. Jerry wants to walk on the path. Both of them reach the ice cream store.

All right. At this point it may seem as though I'm building a case for notdoingstuff. I can see that. But it's the opposite. I've gotten a new insight on myself as a person, and it will help me to achieve. I'm not a goal person. I'm a journey person. Whenever I've taken on something as a means to an end, I've failed. The numerous times that I went to college to become this or that ended with me dropping out. Then when I went to college because I wanted to be in college, I earned a degree.

In high school, I wanted to act so I was in some school plays. I wanted to play in band so I played in every band the school had. I enjoyed both of these activities and they both led to further opportunities for me. But when I took music lessons because I wanted to be in better bands and went to an acting school because I wanted to act on TV, I hated it and halfassed it for a bit before quiting.

For me, I think the means has to be the end. I think I will be more productive this way. I enjoy doing things instead of working toward things. I think experiences lead to experiences, opportunities lead to opportunities. If I do stuff, stuff will come.

Bah, all of this was more coherent in my head. It's getting late. I think I'm going to do the actual item-by-item breakdown of the list and how my new take on life will affect the list tomorrow. Bellow I've posted the revised list so it'll be somewhere. But I'll write about it more tomorrow. Maybe I'll be able to explain all of this better then.

I'm grateful for new but not yet fully developed insights (20).