The hippocampus is the center in our brain where we keep our maps. Cognitive maps. These maps determine a person’s directional orientation as well as the ability to process short-term memory events and spatial relationships. Each person, regardless of gender, has two hippocampi one on each side of the brain to form the perfect Feng Shui arrangement of gray matter.
We might question this concept when it seems no matter how hard some people try, they can’t find their way out of a paper bag.
What if one’s mental furniture is not quite as Zen as nature intended and suffer amnesia or memory loss? If an individual were suffering from an inability to achieve forward progress, would a GPS system help? What would the world look like if we could hook up a device to the memory and artificially reclaim the dead space in the hippocampus? Would we then miraculously acquire directional stability, similar to when we utilize “Google maps” or “Mapquest” to help us find our destination? This real brain computer could be programmed by a chip in the brain or possibly inserted into the ear as one would a hearing aid.
Could we program a more purposeful life into our systems? Would this internal GPS help us find or discern a path upon which to proceed and move forward in discovering where our personal goals lead us? If one is “lost” and having trouble finding their way, could a GPS aid in specific life directions? Mapping a purposeful life would be that easy. There are times when I tell myself I have no clue what I want to be or do. There is so much to choose and so much I do moderately well.
What would my destination be if I could choose one and only one of the many things I enjoy? I already possess a degree that tells me I am a graphic artist. I have hundreds of thousands of words that prove I am a writer. My garage is filled with samples of my artistic ability and a certificate from the art institute as evidence of a well-utilized natural gift with creative endeavors. What would my life be if a higher power, someone other than my parents made that decision for me when I was three years old?
In China, children are studied at an early age and if a specific talent is evident, they are removed from their parent’s care and raised to be a single focused individual. They see their parents two or three times a year. There is no deviation from the one path, from point a to point b. Their futures are decided and they follow a specific map.
I wonder how I would feel if I lived in a country where I was expected to have one child only to discover that child had a gift for swimming or ballet or chess. The desire for a better life for my family would come into conflict with the ethical question of what is best for this child. Is this a purposeful and meaningful life? This GPS system created by the government has decided the direction to be followed. They decide based on what is best for the government. They seem to be a nation forced to choose the good of the many as opposed to the good of the one. Even if that one child inspires a nation to hope and patriotism in a way that is far more effective than any politician, is it right to choose for her/him?
So as far as the question for finding ones way and being led to the most obvious conclusion, I have to err on the side of getting lost in life. My children and I were running errands and my son said, “I wish we could just get lost.” What he wanted was to have no destination and no “have tos.” He simply wanted to see where the road would take us. So we did just that. We decided we would find our way to a park and take roads I hadn’t been on before. The result was a very fun few hours filled with new scenery, silly conversations, and no tight schedules. It was a blast.
I still am a holdout and one of the few people who do not own a GPS and for now that works because getting lost isn’t as bad as it was in the old days when the next town was 100 miles to the east. I will continue to rely on my faulty hippocampi, those worn out real brain sections that have seen better days. I have heard that it is the journey that matters and if we are bound to follow the well-worn path, we lose something very valuable… the joy of discovery.
