Last week I built a sand castle with some of my extended family. After several hours, with little if any planning, we had created the “Dragon Land Resort and Theme Park.” It had a large castle and moat, a huge sculptured dragon lying outside the moat and various outbuildings including a visitor center, hotel, aquarium, botanical garden, and more. Then we waited for the tide to come in and fill the castle moat… and wash away the entire enterprise.

Sand castles at the edge of the ocean have always fascinated me. The brevity of the accomplishment. The ephemerality of it all. This week I have been thinking about building things that last. Building for the future implies building for permanence.

Throughout history, people have tried to grasp for some kind of permanence, some purpose, some meaning. And then translate it into their own lives.

"I suppose that everyone of us hopes secretly for immortality; to leave, I mean, a name behind him which will live forever in this world, whatever he may be doing, himself, in the next." -A.A. Milne (whose character, Winnie-the-Pooh, immortalized Milne for sure!)

"I will not die an unlived life.... I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit." -Dawna Markova (Check this site.)

As technology continues to speed up the pace of change, it is a struggle to imagine, “What can I create that will last?”

I have files on my computer today that I cannot open – the software no longer functions with my current operating system. What I created in 1998 turns out to be a digital sand castle.

I have cassette tapes where I have the voices of my children as they spoke in 1975. Today it is difficult to buy new cassette players (if at all?) and in time the ones on second-hand sites will become expensive antiques. In any case, puppet shows, an interview I recorded of my elderly father, and voices of my children are waiting for the tide to roll up.

In the late 1950s when I was in Jr High School, my family got an 8mm movie camera, and at least several hours of family scenes were recorded. Then in 1968, the 8mm projector I had saved was stolen and for a time the scenes could not be viewed. I finally got the films converted to VHS 20 years later. Some of the quality was lost but I was able to see small glimpses from my childhood. I’d best get the VHS film converted to a DVD or other media if I expect any of my grandchildren to see any of the scenes; VHS players are no longer available in stores and clearly on the way out.

I have taught history in high school and directed my students to make heavy use of primary source documents available in books. Texts, readings, and schematics continued to be important in my world as equipment training manger. Now I am creating an online course. I am excited about the project, but have no illusions about creating a legacy with something that is not in print.

We live in the digital age, an age of ephemerality, an age with seemingly no anchor. A book needs no operating software; it can always be opened; it is difficult to reduce it to an excerpt for it is always a book.

So I was truly shocked to read that Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts chose to get rid of most of its collection of some 20,000 books to make room in the “library” for flat screen TVs, laptop study carrels, Kindles, … and a coffee shop. The headmaster explains, “When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books.”

I love the access that digital provides, and I have no problem with creating access to digitally stored resources. But to throw out the books? But do people really think that the information in those 20,000 volumes is available online.. for free? Not now, that's for sure. I disagree with the comments of those in the Boston Globe article - it's not primarily about nostalgia, or the visceral feel of a book in my hand. It's about temporariness and things that last.

All of which - sand castles and digital products - remind me of the temporary nature of life. And in turn, the meaning and purpose of my life. How about you?

The Bible says: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” -Isaiah 40:8

“The first to be summoned to Paradise on the Day of Resurrection will be those who praise God in prosperity and adversity.” 
Saying of Muhammad ibn Abdullah from Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 730

A Christian slogan reminds the faithful: “Only one day 't will soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

“If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.” –Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Believers often find that acts of faith provide the meaning or purpose for life. These acts last forever because God notes them and He is eternal. These acts give the individuals significance as they take on a cause outside themselves.

Humanists also point to "having a cause outside oneself" as the highest form of wellness and happiness. Consider the description of the self-actualized person as described by Abraham Maslow, one of the great humanist psychologists:

Self-actualizing people are, without one single exception, involved in a cause outside their own skin, in something outside of themselves. They are devoted, working at something, something which is very precious to them - some calling or vocation in the old sense, the priestly sense.

Self-actualized people have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may be for other people.

It is easily possible for self-actualizing people to fall deeply in love with homely partners. ... The more mature they become, the less attracted they are by such characteristics as handsome, good looking, good dancer ... and the more they speak of compatibility, goodness, decency, good companionship, considerateness.

Self-actualizing people enjoy life in general and in practically all its aspects, while most other people enjoy only stray moments of triumph, of achievement or of climax or peak experience.

[Quotes from Maslow taken from: http://koti.mbnet.fi/anyara/maslow1.htm]

During World War II, Victor Frankl was one of millions who suffered the Nazi concentration camp experience. After the war, he wrote of his observations in a book called Man’s Search for Meaning.  People who had a reason to survive, such as to get reunited with a loved one, were more likely to survive than those who gave in to despair and hopelessness, he observed.

It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. ....

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."
 -Man's Search for Meaning, pp. 122, 127



Frankl then went on to observe principles that became the basis for a type of healing process he called logotherapy.

Logotherapy...considers man as a being whose main concern consists in fulfilling a meaning and in actualizing values, rather than in the mere gratification and satisfaction of drives and instincts. ....

What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. pp. 164, 171



Frankl provided three ways of finding a purpose in life. "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) by suffering." Man's Search for Meaning, p.176


I don’t think you find a purpose, that specific purpose as he says, if you are not alert and thinking about it. You can think about what takes up your time, for example. Is it of value?  Does it satisfy you?  What is missing as you rest and play, work, eat, and interact with others. Any clues there?

Aristotle said, “Where your talents and the needs of the world cross lies your calling.”  Any clues there?

What do you really love? What is your passion? Any clues there?  “Your first obligation is to carry out the mission you are meant for, not what your father, mother, mate, or friends say you should do. Your mission will manifest in you when you decide to listen to your heart's desire.” - Naomi Stephan

Take notes on the clues. Journal.  Convert purpose into goals, written goals.  “People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.” - Brian Tracy

Your calling may be unlike that of anyone else… Jesus and Thoreau and probably many others speak of the crooked and narrow path, one less traveled.  But joining hands with others with similar purpose should not be overlooked as a powerful way to accomplish a deed or bring life to a value.

Coincidentally, it is Labor Day as I write this. So much of life is taken up with “work.” Work is not just about “earning a living.” It is -or can be- integral to living out a purpose. Some look for the purpose in their job. Many other people leave a job in order to find their purpose. Perhaps they travel, or take courses, create things, or join a charitable cause. Others create their own work that fits their purpose – they are among the self-employed, entrepreneurs.

In any case, knowing your purpose helps you to set your goals, and both of these help you to evaluate your activities, including your work. In other words, is this project contributing to my purpose or goals or is it busywork? In the field of internet marketing, such thinking distinguishes the professional beginners from the multitude of aimless surfers. Purpose converts indecision into focus.

Take building a sand castle! Part of my purpose, or a waste of precious time? If my purpose is to build memories with my grandchildren of healthy outdoor activities and creative thinking, then the activity was no waste of time. If my purpose is to value and appreciate the creative energies of others, then building a sand castle was no waste of time.

Someone else may look at the “needs of the world” (as Aristotle mentioned) and find a different purpose, and evaluate the time on the beach differently. But assuredly, a purpose energizes work, whatever it may be.

Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above them. -Washington Irving

No one rises to low expectations. -Les Brown

Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don't do that by sitting around wondering about yourself. -Katharine Hepburn

Most people die at the last minute; others twenty years beforehand, some even earlier. They are the wretched of the earth. -Louis Céline, Voyage au bout du monde, 1932

Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. -Mark Twain

Make you work and life more meaningful - seek out your purpose!

If you are an entrepreneur you know how important it is to begin with market research every time you consider a new enterprise. There is little point in selling something in which few people are really interested. Success or failure can be determined right here at step 1. It is the step which provides focus for everything else you do.

That is similar to Aristotle’s advice above- consider your talents, yes, but be sure to consider the needs of the world.

So many entrepreneurs find themselves jumping from one interesting possibility to another, from one project to another. Often this is due to lack of purpose, lack of a specific target with an identified need, or both. Other entrepreneurs jump from one thing to another because they lack the discipline to follow through on their purpose and/or identified need. The result is the same: at best a business plateau; at worst, outright failure.

It is no secret that entrepreneurial success requires two things: a plan based on clearly identified needs combined with your identified talents, and consistent action on that plan.

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