I have been grappling with lots of questions ever since I arrived in the US a month back. The most significant question that I have been asking is about my journey so far. Though the hustle and bustle of the New York City are enough to keep me distracted but often during my commute to or from work, there is a voice that keeps asking me these questions:
1) What am I willing to sacrifice to do the work which is meaningful?
2) How do I define meaningful work for myself?
3) Does my work create any impact in this world? Or is it just a self-pleasing illusionary idea?
These are difficult questions, and I don’t know if I would be able to answer these question ever for myself. However, for now, I will take comfort in the following word by Rilke, and perhaps I will gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” – Rainer Maria Rilke