The Eternal Quest For Meaning

Ever loved a song? So much that you play it on repeat; you tell all your friends about it; you gather all the history of the band and all their albums; you sing it all day around the house ?

Most of us would say yes.

Now, ever been through some situation in life and gone back to the same song? Did you suddenly feel enlightened as to what the writer meant by certain verses or a certain stray sentence you didn't really care about at first?

Now some of us would say yes to that too.

The song didn't change. Neither did the lyrics. Maybe the perspective did. Maybe what meaning you derive from the song isn't even close to what the writer meant. But you feel satisfied. You feel connected. You feel as though finally some stranger on this planet full of humans understands you. Isn't it always about that? The connection, the understanding.

You have your tangled story, your tiny mess, your utopia. The artist has his. The beauty of this situation is that the song or any form of art, isn't supposed to answer your questions or solve your enigma; it's just meant to help you understand. It's meant to make you feel again, to help you breathe again, to help you seek yourself so that you have the strength to step beyond yourself and clear your mess.

So think about this : We walk the same roads everyday, half the strangers that you have fleeting eye contact with are the same people everyday. You are all connected, by that one moment of eye contact, by that one bus that you may unknowingly share everyday, by that one book you both love, by the most random fact, you are all connected. And isn't that beautifully reassuring?

In this world where people die for someone to make sense of all that they are, even the most distant stranger could could be the answer to that plea. 

So what if you are shattered, what if you are lost, what if you feel like no one cares? There's always this someone on this planet who spent their entire day or week or month or year making this piece of art that was meant for nothing but you.

And if you're having the best day of your life, winning that award you always dreamt of or finally having that trip you planned for ages; there's always art that celebrates with you, for you and all that you are.