True Calling?

My good old friend shared with me a wonderful quote by Democritus: "I would rather discover one true cause than gain the kingdom of Persia." He had just read, I presume, the page on Cause or effect? And he asked me whether I agreed. Well, that's only a translation. He asked in Turkish: "Katılır mısın?" Will you join us? Him and Democritus? I did. I went on to say that truth, the kind that matters, not the kind about who won the elections or whether it was stolen or whether vaccines are safe, is much more valuable than the greatest kingdom on earth, let alone a billion dollars in a Swiss bank account. 

Yet, I couldn't contain myself. It was too good to pass. I had to add on it. Urge Democritus and my friend that we need not worry too much about discovering a true cause or a true calling. I added: such no-things are so real, so without borders, that they find us. Dare I say, they discover us. Here and now. No need to go on a pilgrimage to seek what we don't have. We have them. Within. 

My friend and I have been conversing over WhatsApp chat window using text. So, no, I wasn't as verbose or as clear in my response. So, he asked, innocently: What does the expression "true calling" mean for you? A well read guy, with a PhD and many years of hard work on cognitive science, let alone electrical engineering, he does ask good questions. Though this time, I thought, I had already answered it. But, clearly, it wasn't as obvious to him as it was to me. I had to clarify. We had to co-clarify -- what a good conversation is about. So, I tried again: True calling is what you do now among all other things that also call you at the present moment. Like going on with a wonderful conversation with good friends over brunch and ignoring the call of the biology that would get my body up walking to the restroom to relieve the bladder and output all the input we crave, coffee, coffee and more coffee. I continued: taking a conscious breath may be the most true, truist?, calling of them all. 

We went on in our chat-versation talking about The Book of Why, Causal Inference models in AI, and all kinds of other fascinating geek/hi-tech talk. But, something was not resolved yet for my friend. He came back to it. He texted: My understanding is that the expression "true calling" has a distinct cultural origin and usage. I might be wrong. I got curious. Have you been thinking in depth about it, or was it a casual use or something else? Was it casual!? I was indignant. Yes, of course, I have been thinking in depth about it? Are you so easily fooled by my casual sounding response?

OK, not my best moment. There was, I know, some other thing preoccupying my body and mind, like the need to pee, but less obvious, more occupying. That's by the way why we suffer most of our anguish. Being split into two. Doing something, but not wanting to do it at the same time because of thinking that there is something else we better be doing...

It took me a while to get over it, get more present around the topic that, in me, caused some level of upheaval. A day or so later, here I sit, and here I write. 

Distinct cultural background, the phrase my friend used, of course, has to do with the Protestant ethic: don't be led astray by temptations, due the right thing God calls you to do. The true calling. But, here I was, using it "casually" even though I am neither Christian, nor church-going. Yet, I do love Jesus, just like I love Buddha and Lao Tse and some others. A wise old brother or sister who I assume wants only the best for me and other fellow brothers and sisters. All humans. But, I did define what I meant by this simple term: "true calling." Didn't I? Didn't he get it? In my response, you'll see and confirm if you re-read it above, is a whopping lack of the letters g-o-d. If you want to know more about how I see that, please read (again?) about it here: In God We Trust. Do we? And what in the world could it mean? 

The infamous word, dog spelled backward, is almost meaningless through misuse, misunderstandings, and as another recent acquaintance in another coffee shop would say, due to lack of introspection. So, I prefer not to use it. We as humanity seem to be split about it anyways. Some write a book titled "The God Delusion." Others say things like "God bless America." I see a lot of confusion. So, instead, I told my friend: do you want to know what true calling is? Look at yourself. What is it that you do? Here and now. That's your true calling. A drug addict shooting up, one more step to OD. A sad state of affairs. But, it is truer for her than her intellectual desire to go to rehab. Danny Kahneman the Nobel laureate in econ titled his book Thinking fast (I need my fix now) and thinking slow (this is killing me, why didn't rehab work for me, would it ever work, no it won't. I am trapped.)

So, do you think about your "true calling" at all? Or do you agree with the recent craze in popular science and a misunderstanding of the Buddha's teaching, and convince yourself that the self doesn't exist and as such there is no true calling? We are all acting out our conditioning and there is no consciousness, no soul, rather than a biological trillion-cell automata?

You know, Sam Harris, the author of one such popular science book full of polemic more recently defended his position, and I paraphrase: "when we understand that there is no self, we are all DNA as a result of biological evolution and cultural programming within our social groups, we will stop being so hard on each other and our selves. We'll be able to forgive." Rather noble intention. He wants us to all forgive and get along. But, there is a simpler way than to assume and assert that there is no self, no consciousness and no soul. We all do wrong when we don't know any better. So, why not forgive, relax, get along, and help each other. Oh, it is already written about it in another page, so let's not go on about it here. Please check it out there: What's Socrates up to? 

True calling, true cause, truth. The truth that matters so much that once we remember it, realize it, we are free. Do you wonder? Are you curious? Or are you too skeptical and doubt that such an absolute truth is even possible? You can read about it in another page. But, don't just read. Go into it for yourself a bit. Don't agree or disagree or just criticize what you think you understand there. Realize your own truth. What you can trust for yourself. And then, I hope, you'll see that, what you can trust for your life, is identical and is one with what I can trust for my life. Deep down. Oh, the paths we all walk will naturally differ. But, at the foundational level, our essence, it's one solid ground.