purpose...

it's 3pm on sunday in prague.  it's a fairly low key day.  i'm currently writing (or procrastinating on writing) slides for a talk i'll give at a math conference this week here, and it's extremely overcast.

i've loved the past week.  i find it incredibly refreshing to be in europe and away from most of my work and responsibility.  being in this part of the world brings back memories of fall 2002 (when i studied in budapest for a semester), which is probably the most intense/best/most influential half year of my life ever.  it is good to be here. :)

the magic word of the weekend though seems to be: PURPOSE.

it's come up in two contexts back to back, which i find interesting.

(1) jan and i have laughed all summer how hyper-organized i tend to be, and how i like to have things prepared in advance for work, for research, for presentations. 

i can tell you where i will be and more or less what i will 90% chance be doing every day for the next 6 months.  on the other hand, often 4 hours from now isn't even on his radar yet, and expecting him to have thought about what's going on a week from now is out of the question.  we both operate quite well as we do.

jan recently had me forward a few things to him that were in my personal email account instead of my work one.  the signiature on my emails is the following series of 5 quotes:

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~George Bernard Shaw
Too many people overvalue what they are not & undervalue what they are. ~Malcom Forbes
I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom. ~Thomas Carlyle
Be who you are & say what you feel because those who mind don't matter & those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence. ~Anonymous

Jan quickly responded to my email by copying the signiature and commenting:
People in Europe live their lives. People in the USA try to get something out of it, while accomplishing objectives they have chosen for themselves.

This explains somewhat the difference between mine and Jan's mentalities/personalities (I have the goal of keeping a lot of different groups I work with happy; I have a list of things I plan/hope to accomplish in the next few weeks, the next few months, the next few years etc.); Jan seems not to be too concerned with the long term, and takes things as they come one day at a time.

However, ever since his email comment, I've been wondering, is it really a US vs. Europe question? I know many americans who have more of Jan's outlook than mine, so is there a different distinguishing feature besides nationality? 

What do you all think???

(2) Purpose in another light:

This morning, Jo (one of my REU students) and I went to international church of prague.  next sunday i will miss church because i will be in a different part of europe, but in general, if i can make it to a worshop service, i like to be there.  something about taking part in corporate worship, and fellowshipping with other Christians makes my life feel more centered for the week, and it helps remind me to keep my focus where it should be.

anyhow, the sermon today was also about purpose.  the guest preacher put up two contrasting quotes to start. 

one from bob dylan :
"Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge"

and one from the book of hosea:
"...my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." (hosea 4:6)

normally you'd expect the other way around maybe -- there are parts of the world (that i'm extremely familiar with) where knowledge is practically a god, and there are groups of religious people who seem to push away from knowledge and keep things simple because knowing too much might mess with their currently compact view of the world.

the ultimate summary of the sermon was: with knowledge of God's creative power and His salvation plan, life suddenly takes on a very different purpose than without knowing these things.

whether you, my blog reader, are religious or not, surely you agree that when people take religion seriously, it affects their world view, so this should seem totally plausible too, whether it is a part of your personal perspective or not.

Wrapping things up:
In the last 24 hours it's been suggested that purpose comes from national mentality, and that it comes from religion.  It just makes me think:

What is your purpose?  Where does it come from?  What do you think are the most influential factors in finding purpose for people in general?

1,2,3, react! :)