No Way

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

– U2, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

__________

“You must realize, Mr. Dunne, the universe is a library. When I was a young man, I searched the stacks of the branch near my house in Palermo, in Buenos Aires. My fondest hope was to find the single volume that would tell me everything I must know in order to survive.”

– Jorge Luis Borges, quoted in Borges and Me: an Encounter by Jay Parini

__________

I’ve always been someone in search of a system of living.

I’ve longed for an explanation of the meaning of it all.

I’ve craved guidance about where and how to take the next step.

Alas, it hasn’t happened yet.

What I have gradually come to realise is that I must be responsible for the creation of my own system.

There is no one Way.

No single answer, but many questions.

There is no enlightenment, only progress.

So I take ideas from here, there, everywhere.

Keep some, drop a few; accumulate a way of living quilted from the ideas of others.

I don’t ned faith in my system – I know it is eternally imperfect.

There is no belief needed other than in the limitless abundance of available knowledge.

I simply have to try, be curious and resist my natural inertia.

If I stay on the look-out, I may confidently strike out in the direction of a purposeful life.

Or, as is the case more times than not, I wander around the wilderness in search of a path.

But what an adventure!

A modest quest, just for me.

Long may I fail to find what I’m looking for.