id: wgl title: Why and Getting Lost previous: dm next: dmwi date: 2021-04-02 ---

## Why

This week I had a fantastic conversation that started a cascade introspection that I feel I need to write about. The question was on the existence of God, more generally on the existence of something outside ourselves, and even more generally the all encompassing question of why?

All my thoughts seem to circle this question either closely or at a bit of a distance. It is the” big question” and is phrased in all sorts of ways. What is the meaning of it all? Does God exist? What started everything? All lines of inquiry are attempts to answer this question at various scales. We can answer small why’s but it is the question you can keep asking as it gets bigger and bigger until it is unanswerable.

It is important to be able to recognize unanswerable questions and allow them to be. That does not mean that it is useless to pursue answers. The honest pursuit of this question guides us toward the best in ourselves. On the other hand, it is often when we presume we have an answer that things go wrong.

Life beyond survival is each person’s personal quest to try and answer why; a constant exploration. While the answer can never be complete, (the universe is too complicated for that) the search gives life meaning and we can understand it better.

I have been focussing a lot on philosophy these days. All forms of inquiry used to be under the umbrella of philosophy before being spun off into sub categories. So in this case I don’t differentiate them when I refer to philosophy in this sense. I have been reading older texts like Seneca’s letters, Epictetus, Laozi and am working my way towards more contemporary philosophers.

One of the books that is making me think a lot is a much more recent work, not necessarily formal philosophy, called A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit. I am almost halfway through. It is a collection of stories about being lost. Not just physically, but also in all sorts of other ways. Lost in history: by tracing back her family history and where the stories have fallen away, people have passed away etc. Lost in life: by struggling to find what to do and where to go with the plan for her life, and others.

The purpose of the book to me seems to be that there are different ways to go about being lost and being comfortable in that state. You can be lost unintentionally. This is when you think you know where you are, move ahead, and then discover that you really have no idea where you might be. This type of being lost is what most of us normally think about when we hear the word lost. It is the type that is generally scary. You find yourself in an unknown space with no preparation, no knowledge, no idea of if you are going to be able to find your way back.

However you can set out to get lost. You can analyze the space you are moving into and prepare. You can have the confidence going in that you can handle what is going to happen even if you don’t know what that might be. This is the lost that comes with exploration. Refusing to get lost in this way is the refusal to do anything new, the refusal to move out of your comfort zone and, the refusal to grow or change.

It is nearly impossible to live life without getting lost. The question I have had to ask myself while I am reading this book is; do I want to prepare myself and get lost on purpose, wait until getting lost is forced upon me, or try to live without growing or changing doing my best to never get lost.

Phrased like that it does not seem like much of a choice. I have never looked at being lost in that way before and I am starting to see how that view has been limiting me. It brings me back to an idea that I heard from Dilbert’s author Scott Adams when he was a guest on a podcast. He focuses almost purely on process and very little on goals. This is because no matter how hard you try you can never be sure how it will turn out. Having rigidly defined goals means that you are expecting life to unfold in a linear manner, no getting lost, no unexpected changes. The road of life is not that smooth. By focusing on process you ensure two things. Firstly, that you are as prepared as you can get. Processes build skill, competence, and more familiarity with whatever subject they surround. They necessarily build the tools that allow you to feel comfortable getting lost. Secondly, processes keep you moving without defining where you need to go. They leave you open to exploration and changing course as opportunities arise.

Scott seems to completely embrace this idea of getting lost on purpose and building in yourself the capability to navigate this state.

In this life there are nearly an infinite number of dimensions to explore. We have the standard 3 spatial dimensions and time of course but often I have disregarded everything else. Those are the dimensions that are objective. The ones that we all agree on but subjectively not all that exists. Ideas, emotions, states of consciousness, spirituality, and anything else where experiences can be explored even though they are different for everyone. I can get lost in them all. It is through this getting lost that I can search for the answer to “why”. I am going to do my best to be prepared and to get lost with intention so that I can search actively and not just have to make the best of wherever I find myself, and whatever tools I have that may or may not help me.

Thanks for reading.

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