Pieces to the Puzzle

It’s time to put up something new; more than a week has passed since this space has received any of my attention. It’s not as though my pen (or its cyber-equivalent) has been silent. I have been busy with much and although some of my musings have been transformed to the written word, they were for projects separate from this blog. Oddly enough, however, these and other moments of inspiration are profoundly connected to many of the discoveries I’ve made here over the last three-plus years. The many aspects of my life that have so neatly dove-tailed makes me wonder anew…

What’s it all mean?

The answer is, of course, everything and nothing… everywhere and nowhere… always and never. That ethereal “something” is ever elusive but at moments will appear for just a split-second - and then always just out of reach. And I know that the eternal truth, the absolute essence of what is, what was and what will be can never be captured. But striving after it never grows old and these glimpses of the totality of the human experience are enough to propel me with renewed enthusiasm to seek what is possible, to unravel what we have already witnessed and to welcome what lies ahead.

Everyone is unique, although no one’s discrete experience, single characteristic or specific position is. It is the infinite combinations of these shared entities that make each one of us an individual. Although statistical information as it applies to groups of individuals can give us an overview of who we are, none of that is relevant when it comes to who I am… each of us has an identity that is wholly and uniquely our own. The human experience is infinite because it has been composed of so many individuals, past and present, whose perception has been formed by the components, no matter how universally experienced, that individually make up each one of us.

For a communication scholar, the possibilities are endless. Does one focus on demographic data, on statistical analysis and surveys that give us a macro sense of what our society is? Or do I concentrate my attention on the individual, trying to understand how just one person views the world, and why? Are we identified by our similarities or our differences? How do I view myself? This is a question that many struggle with at some point or another. This is, in part, a quest to discover just who I am.

And it is also an exercise in becoming who I am. As each day passes, new experiences enter my world that will alter, usually quietly, that which makes me who I am. The more in tune I am with that process, the more I notice and the more I notice, the greater the amazement becomes. Perhaps it is that wonder that I am chasing - the excitement of what lies just beyond the next turn. It is a never-ending process of discovery, of invention and of re-invention and the more that falls into place, the bigger the puzzle gets.

And then it’s a hunt to find more pieces.