Fulfillment

Feeling good. The sense of knowing myself. Being confident of understanding my surroundings. Not feeling disconnected, alone. Being part of the whole yet able to discern meaning.

More. Even more to the significance of fulfillment. Helping another person feel the same way. Spotting the look of knowing in the eyes of the other. They just got something, know what it means. What did I do to make that happen? Anything? 

Teachers know this feeling. They recognize the spark of cognition. The how it is done seems like magic. Not always known by the teacher. Intended yes, but not always known. There is something of a miracle present, not something controllable. The setting has to be right. The student/recipient has to have a frame of mind amenable for receiving ideas or at least the stimulus of an idea. The rest belongs to the student. He/she is the thinker, the creator of the idea. It is theirs, and they know it. Perhaps the idea is the cognition? Or maybe the knowing of its creation in the self?

These miracles come in many forms. I recall practicing the piano (dreaded daily task!) and one day really hearing the notes, the chords, how to change them into different keys. The moods each key seemed to create, just by sounds. Those sounds themselves vibrations miraculously making a noise that communicated joy.

Knowing this experience became a cognition in and of itself. Putting together notes into a pleasing sound, melody or mood. Something special, good.

Reading a passage in a book and not getting it. Just words on a page. Meaningless and soulless. Re-reading the same passage and suddenly layers of meaning pop off the page. One of the meanings reminds me of another experience in my own life and suddenly the printed page has become a roadmap to ideas that form still other meanings. Cognition of space and meaning that surpasses the pages of the book, the pages of musical notes, the sounds of life.

An idea of a product different from all the others. A process, too. Something encountered everyday but it could be better. How could it be better? The mind runs through possibilities and discovers a subtle change. The mind works out the how. Logic informs the brain if this ‘thing’, this change is enough to change a person’s demand for the product. This is not a known fact. But is it worth the risk, to do it? More thought. Then weighing evidence and opportunity. Worth the effort? Maybe.

The entrepreneur runs through countless scenarios in the mind. And then decides to try it. He forms a small business to make it happen. Struggles follow. Sleepless nights and worried days. The risks weigh heavy. The possible rewards pull the future within arm’s length.

We leave this entrepreneur in this condition. His/her days are filled with making something new from their own minds. The cognition of this is reward, a feeling of completion. Fulfillment? Satisfaction that the self is doing something unique. Success of the enterprise is not the only fulfillment, but certainly a wanted outcome.

At night when dropping into bed, the relaxation and comfort of pending sleep wells up in bounty. A good sleep lies ahead. Fulfillment? Satisfaction? Or just reward for a day of worthwhile endeavor leading somewhere still unknown.

Fulfillment just the same, right? I think that is right. I’ll mull it over more. And that, too, is a fulfilment.

April 5, 2024

 

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