You Live To Learn And You Learn To Live

In a very brief exchange with a friend who I've come to professionally and creatively admire for her lifestyle decisions, I was taken back to a thought that I’ve been meaning to expand on. Purpose. Not in the sense that I’ve typically approached these topical words, but in the sense of searching for purpose. I think anyone with a blog, opposable thumbs, between the ages of 13-65, breathes oxygen, walks upright, eats food or is made up of two thirds water should either have been, or be currently searching for purpose.

You can’t find purpose without change. Can’t. If you already new your purpose you wouldn’t need to change. If you didn’t need to change, you’d be perfect. If you’re perfect, you’re Jesus. You see where I’m going here (← Let the record show, that is very poor logic). We’ve all come up short. But the mission is to strive for purpose. To strive for greatness. To do more. To figure out why we’re here. I can’t put my finger on my purpose just quite yet, but occasionally I get flashes. Like someone is leading me in the right direction, but I’m blindfolded so I’m just accepting the nudges. The only times I’ve been able to say for sure I was doing the right thing it hurt. It’s that much easier to maintain than to change. Not because it’s necessarily hard to do what you’re supposed to do (it sort of is). You get no praise for doing what you’re supposed to do. Sure, you may catch flak if you do the wrong thing, but doing the wrong thing is easy. According to cliché, nothing good comes easy. Oh, and clichés may be cliché, but they’re based in truth. Seemingly akin to stereotypes, which slippery slope into prejudices, which continue on sliding towards racism and bigotry. But once again, that’s another story for another day.

Seeking purpose should be a lifelong mission. I have a personal belief that the best works of art came from those seeking purpose. In musical terms, limited to hip hop for allusion’s sake, it’d be the penning of Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic, Aquemini, Trap Muzik, Below the Heavens, and College Dropout. And those are a few stellar examples of artists that have continued to seek a higher level of understanding proven by their stellar follow ups. The Blueprint. Stillmatic. Stankonia/Speakerboxx. Late Registration. Just to name a few.


[End cohesive thought]

That’s just to name a few. In the aggregate, the problem is complacency. Besides a handful of “artists” that continue seeking purpose and striving for purpose, the overwhelming majority get confortable and settle. Since I am constantly ingesting music as a form of catharsis, I’m often drawn to that which I can relate. I enjoy my fair share of ignorant and/or silly music as well, but nowadays, more often than not, I’m looking to relate with what I'm listening to. Hence, my recent discovery that I can appreciate Maxwell's music in its full sense.

I’m at a point in my life where purpose is wide and varied. Most of the artists I’m into are making/made their best music when they were in a similar stage. So I’ve decided this is a good stage. Healthy confusion, if you will. Art is often influenced by pain.

Confusion breeds pain. Pain breeds art. Art breeds creativity.

It’s a pretty vicious cycle, but it’s true.

“There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain…Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new.” -Rick Warren-

[End cohesive thought]

This post was drafted about 8 times and never came together. Instead of trying to tie it all up neatly today, I’ll just leave you to do the juxtaposition. Think of it like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.



Its almost fitting though, right? If I had any of the answers I wouldn’t be searching. Should I discover my own mission here on earth, I'll be sure to relay it. If you find mine, I hope you'd do the same.

In minorly related news, I'll be co-hosting an online radio show with Devin tonight at 10 PM on Blog Talk Radio. Tonight's topic is "Are You Fulfilled". You can check it out on the Devin After Dark channel. If you miss it, you can always catch the archived version here. It's my first go at this radio thing, so if you get a chance to listen let me know what you think via comment (↓) or Twitter.