Will's Sojourn to find the meaning of life
Journey along with Will. Discover what events in his life have brought him to this quest..
 
Will's writing, stories, and essays on the Meaning of life
 
The Letter writing campaign
I have embarked on a letter writing campaign to many people of the world asking them what they think the meaning of life is. Read the letter, and read the list of people I have sent it to. See their responses, if I get any. As of August 2, 2005 there have been no responses.
 
The Question in a bottle
I will be sending out notes in a bottle. You can keep track of how that is going here. Have I received any replies?
 
People
What do people say the meaning of life is? Learn more here
 
Books
What famous, and not so famous books are there about the meaning of life?
   
Movies
The meaning of life has been covered in movies. Learn more about them.
   
What Comes Next
Inquiries into what happens to us after we die.
   
More
the meaning of life has been explored in many different ways by many different people from music to poetry. Learn more about it here.
   
Quotes
Read quotes about the meaning of life
   
The Blog
Here you can get Will's daily thoughts on his quest.
   
The Bulletin Board
Join the Google group. Here you can read what other people have to say about the meaning of life. You can also post your own thoughts.
   
The Golden Rule:
There is one very important rule that must be followed in this quest. Find out what it is.
   
My Personal website where I have a lot of searching essays about my life and the meaning of it: 2007 - 2008 - 2009
   

 

17 Year Cicadas, Mexico, and the Nature of Time
In the same little Mexican town I bought one of these hats seventeen years after the other one.

. This is something I gave a lot of thought to. At the time I was considering a career in entymology (The study of insects) so it fascinated me to no end. This same spring I came out of my shell and started to do some traveling around the globe. This particular spring I took a trip to Mexico. It was my first excursion out of the states and it made a big impression on me. It was a wonderful experience. The smells, the sounds, the sights, the food, the people. These are all things that are permanently ingrained on me. It was a joyous first excursion out of the country.

It's a funny thing though that I linked the 17 year cicadas with my trip to Mexico. The two subject were inextricably linked together. I remember sitting in a beautiful park in the mexican town at sunset and hearing the insects bring up a beautiful buzzing sound. It was wonderful and I always wondered it the sound was from cicadas or some other type of insect. Many years later my minds eye can still vividly recall that evening.

Now it is seventeen years later (now 2004) and this spring the media again started making loud chirps about the 17 year cicada brood. WIth the first newscast all the old memories of cicadas and Mexico flooded back to me. Had it really been seventeen years? - Already? What happened in between?

I couldn't resist the pull, and like a cicada emerging from its long sleep I booked myself a flight to the same town in Mexico and spent a few days there. It was still the same. The park, the sounds, the smells. It was all still the same.

Time is a funny thing.There is a philosophical theory that says "What if the world were created five minutes ago complete with all the memories?" Would you know the difference? If this is true then my cicada excursion is a wonderful creation.

I never did become an entymologist - funny the winding path that we do end up taking in our lives.

So far on each trip to Mexico I have bought a small mexican hat. Now i have two. I will take a picture of them and post it here. I am hoping to get at least two more hats. But if I solve the riddle of the meaning of life maybe I won't need any more hats.