Smack Me If I Ever Say I've Got It Figured Out

I can't imagine ever feeling like I've got life figured out.

I think if I ever do feel that way, I'll have real cause for concern. You see, "life" is pretty complicated. Even if the biology was all I was talking about, it would still be too much to "figure out" in one human lifetime, and to my way of thinking, the biology is just the beginning; not the least of it, but not all of it, either.

Life consists of many things: biology, physiology, psychology, environment, experience, and relationship are just a few. And each of us is marvelously complex in every single element that constitutes life. Any one element would make a subject worthy of a lifetime's study, and none of them would reveal all their mysteries in a single lifetime. If I decide I understand life, what it really means is that I've decided to stop exploring life's labyrinthine complexities.

But although I can't expect to figure life out in one measly lifetime, I can figure out parts of it. It isn't that life is inherently beyond our understanding; it's just that there's so much to understand that I'll run out of time before I've got it all. I can figure out enough to live a fulfilled and satisfying life. Some things—maybe even very simple things—will remain baffling for much of my life, perhaps even for my entire life, while other things—perhaps even the most complex and mysterious things of all—will reveal themselves in surprising ways.

But such revelations as may come can only come to one who is receptive, and should I decide I've got life figured out, I will have made myself unreceptive to the unfolding of life's wonders. He who thinks he knows something cannot learn it.

So I try to embrace the awareness that there are things about life and living that I don't yet know. I don't want to just accept it; I want to revel in it, for those vast tracts of ignorance are territories yet unexplored, and my life is not over while there is more for me to learn.

(Okay, speaking practically, my life is over when I stop breathing. But you know what I mean! And I would rather die while still unraveling the mysteries that constitute my life than live any time believing there was nothing more to know. God save me from complacency!)

So if I ever say I've got life figured out, smack me on the head...then point me at this blog.