On the Subject of Purpose.

It's been a while since I published something, caught up with work and everything.

I have a couple of ideas on the table, like an article about haircuts and another about the tragedy of people, image and perception - one that could possibly be scrapped due to the whine element in it.

Anyway, it's been a great week overall. My favourite football club, Atletico Madrid won La Liga after seven years; I've managed to free myself from the shackles of being trapped in your own head, at least for the time being; and most importantly, I seem to have a general idea about the direction in which my life is headed, for the first time in almost two years.

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Something I've noticed is that during periods of great productivity, or memorable achievements, I've been remarkably clear about my long-term visions, regardless of whether they actually worked out or even stayed visions of mine for long. It's almost obvious though, that a purpose on a grand scale goes a long way in motivating people into work. I see this in my own life, people I know and people I hear of.

Quite predictably, it is also seen in history - the most momentous of civilisations, communities or human groupings of any sort, are often enraptured by a collective dream, an ideal that, by general consensus is bigger than the individual, something worth striving for, and in many cases, dying for. Of the countless examples, the Third Reich, for one, was a 12-year adventure for a dream that promised to last a thousand years. The German mind during the Nazi period was possessed either through fear or proselytisation of the zeitgeist of the time to believe that this was a dream that was larger than each of them.

A similar example from the same region, but a different era in time - a millennium before the demonic ideology of Nazism - is evoked by a name far more revered in history - Otto I.

I was recently reading Medieval Europe, a book by HWC Davis upon the kingdoms and systems of Europe, following the fall of the Roman Empire. He goes on to say how the dream that Otto I conjured was that of a German Empire, something that was visionary for his age, something that the general populace did not perhaps grasp at the time - but nevertheless, the significance and the sheer power of this idea of a Holy Roman Empire that served a German cause, was a source of power and the reason for the endurance of the Empire for so long, even despite the incapable successors of his namesake that sank their rear ends into the throne.

Often, as I have done in the past myself , we tie our purpose to a person, or a goal that we believe is grand but even if it may be so, is short-term. This is a grievous fault, for the latter is easily decided, either for better or for worse and leaves you with a sense of 'what-do-I-do-now' and the former, far more grievous, is human and thus, imperfect. You fall out of love, their flaws make you reconsider your motivation, or the fire of vengeance is doused by that pesky devil, Time.

I shall not disclose this shard of a notion of direction that I have just yet, but once I am certain that it is what I want and my goal has crystallised, at least for the shortish-long term, I will, most definitely.

There are several people who have made it without a final purpose or an inviolable ideal to strive towards, but it is undeniable that the idea of swearing allegiance to a cause greater than the individual, is for all intents and purposes, one that seduces the part of us that seeks meaning, and is for the most part, practical.

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