A Part Apart

"We still haven't figured this out yet," you claim.  You act surprised. I'm not sure why.  You may be impatient for another's theories to satisfy your incompetencies or eager to transition to the next, perhaps more significant, goal. However, there is no goal, no fun, no purpose to a life that is lived without examination and missing the challenges that entertain open-ended figuring.  Humans innately possess a desire for knowledge.  Siddhartha identifies such in his journeying, but it is also made overt by young, formulating minds. For example, toddlers explore in preschool how other humans interact to body language, words, and play.  Adults likewise experience frustration and miscommunication in human interaction, which demonstrates that there is still uncertainty about human interaction; man is eternally trying to figure out its world. Still, 250,000 years following the our species's first figuring, humans may not realize that knowledge is ephemeral; it is...

This past summer, I met a sweet schoolteacher who relayed her success in gardening with her students. She proceeded to share images with me of third graders digging in topsoil and plucking at tomatoes.   A community garden seemed to be a wonderful and interactive tool; however, it was not until my reading Candide that I was able to wholly appreciate the teacher’s stories. At Candide ’s conclusion, the protagonist and his friends/mentors finally established a positive lifestyle centered around the cultivation of a garden.   The idea to do so was derived from a neighbor’s pure happiness. “’I have but twenty acres,’ replied the Turk. ‘I cultivate them with my children; our work keeps at bay the three great evils: boredom, vice, and necessity.’” The purpose of this dialogue was to promote work ethic and, through such, free will.   Although Pangloss concluded that “man was not born for rest,” it is a division of labor and pursuit of individual interest in work that sust...