'When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!'

~ Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

How should one live seems to be an age-old question. If one lived on an island, it would probably be an easier question. You could choose to live how you wish to but you'd still have constraints—what you eat would depend on what's around, when you wake up and sleep would depend on the sun, what you wore would depend on the seasons, what you occupied your time with would also depend on what you have at hand... When you live around people, the constraints multiply. Over time, this multiplies more and more and more in complexity… until no one probably knows why they are doing what they are doing in the way they are doing anymore. We are constrained without knowing why or to what ultimate purpose. We seem to have very little choice in opting into or out of the purpose or choosing something that is more attuned to our own individually felt sense of purpose. In many ways it's perhaps easier if we are not bothered much by the whys and wherefores and are happy enough to be dragged by the collective current to wherever it may lead. More practical and sane for sure. I suppose having a reflective streak makes it almost impossible for me to be led blindly. But then how does one have such a streak, occupy a necessarily constrained position in the world, and still answer to a purpose that makes sense to me and likely to no one else? How does one balance the practical and the ideal...? It's an ongoing struggle in a way... to protect what is precious to you and yet meet conditions of survival because without survival, you cannot protect or nourish anything. In Hindi there is a saying, ‘jaan hai to jahaan hai’. Which means, ‘Only if you are alive, the world exists’ ;)