Human beings are born, grow, develop, mature, age, and die. This is an inevitable cycle. There is nothing technically or managerially that we can do for this cycle. We are a tiny particle in a system beyond our control, even beyond our capacity to comprehend, and we only have knowledge about the cycle of this particle mentioned above.
So, if we can say that everyone in the world will agree 100% with the fact that we are born to die, then what are we living for?
This is actually a very difficult question... Various philosophical, religious, or psychological interpretations can be made. Different fields of knowledge can provide different answers. However, with a little awareness and conscious effort, we can individually have an understanding that quenches our inner thirst.
Humans are creatures who can live by setting hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and long-term goals in every stage of their lives. They often live as a being that forgets the reality mentioned at the beginning, meaning that life is a reality for them. The reason for this, in my opinion, comes from the tendency to manage their own lives to the extent of their comprehension capacity. In other words, a child shows a tendency to approach the situation situationally as much as he/she can understand it by setting goals or unknowingly considering eating as a goal, an adolescent may set a goal of playing, a young person may focus on making money, and an elderly person may consider taking care of grandchildren as a goal or an unconscious duty to fulfill. These are processes that are quite natural and should be experienced in our nature that we accept. We are in a state where we inevitably use managerial functions such as planning, strategy, decision, action, analysis, risk, data, and experience to manage these processes, and these are formed as reflexes in our brain. They are somewhat our management functions...
So, how will the management of what we live for be? The management of what we live for and understanding why we live are intertwined dimensions. Even seeing this point to a certain extent creates awareness, allows a person to look at themselves from the outside, and think differently by stepping out of the life cycle. However, the biggest challenge is to do this at the same time, both as ourselves and as an external observer... Most people would say that making good money and enjoying life until old age is their main purpose in life, or having a healthy and peaceful life may be the main purpose of life. These will be used as answers to what we live for when asked...
The late Sakip Sabanci once said, "I had everything in life, but I couldn't put shoes on my child and make him walk," and actually showed a dimension of awareness. Albert Einstein, lying on his cot in the last moments of his life, said, "Humans care too much about the details of life." Similarly, the result of the dialogue in the anecdote of the fisherman old man and the retired CEO comes to the same point...
The critical point here is how much we can differentiate and parallel perception and management with the goals of daily life within the life cycle in spite of this awareness formed in our brains!
From this perspective, some struggling individuals seek an exit through substances or alcohol, some through music, some through yoga and meditation, some through sports, some through religion, and some through sleep. However, they do not realize that being able to do the above is a self-management that comes from within. Acting like a processor that runs different processes at the same time and being able to provide a greater output than the sum of separate processes will contribute to the formation of awareness and consciousness mentioned at the beginning. Feeling this will give us a different relaxation, tranquility, peace, and dimension within the life cycle.
We must not forget that, with the consciousness of having the answer to the question of what we live for, while managing our lives as individuals, we are essentially a whole of what we can do, as long as we are aware.
Dr. Bilinç Dolmacı
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