The purpose of a wave

I've been saving this for a time when I can sit down and write something substantial. Well, it's been 4 days, and that time hasn't found its way to me yet, and I have the feeling it's not going to any time soon.

What is the purpose? The purpose of anything. That seems to be an important question.

This comes from a couple venues. First, a lecture on metaphors, both in life and in design. Metaphors have allowed humans to communicate abstract ideas by relating them to physical and tangible things. Metaphors have created a laymans way of discussing complications in the world. Metaphors have this purpose.

Second, To The Lighthouse by Virgina Woolf. It seems the purpose of this book is to discuss the purpose of our lives. Our trivial lives.

As a forewarning, I may abstract a lot of what I intend to say or actually mean to save face, and to allow this to relate to a more broad audience. But if you are intended to understand the specifics, you will. And please read in to everything I say, for this has been crafted carefully.

A metaphor: Life is like a wave.

What is the purpose?

It seems that the purpose is for people to come together. Couples, family, friends. And by applying the wave metaphor to this purpose, my life has become just a little bit clearer.

A wave comes and goes. It comes together to form a crest, then sinks back down into the ocean. It is never, and can never, be a constant wave. It must repeat this process, even in the desolate and remote areas of the ocean, it repeats this action, forms a crest, then disappears back into the abyss.

People, like these waves, cannot be together constantly. There is no way for humans to physically be together at all times. Thus the purpose begins. We must come together, but we must also become apart.

To read further into this: To even know what together is, to even experience this feeling, you must also experience apart.

So we are all like a wave. We come together, then fall apart. Until the next crest, when we are together again. Lovers must be apart to know they are in love. Family must be apart to appreciate one another. You must be apart to be missed.

Quickly, furthering the metaphor, I want to attempt to make tangible the abstract notion of gravity. Because like waves, we are all affected by gravity. Honestly, it seems to be the largest driving force in our existence. It seems to be what makes us get up in the morning, what pushes us through the day, what ages us, and eventually takes us to our resting place. It affects certain people in different ways. It affects me specifically in very abstract ways, pulling me towards people, pushing me from others. But overall, gravity is what drives me.

Imagine the power in each wave. And remember that power the next time you are together. Realize the power created when you are together.