What guides us?

How much of adult life is spent trying to determine where we should be heading? We wonder where our lives will take us, both literally and figuratively. Where should we live? Who should be our partner? What should we do for our career? Sometimes - perhaps frequently - we wish someone or something would help us answer these questions.

I was reminded of this uniquely human dilemma while reading "Flight of the Monarchs" in National Geographic. These amazing butterflies - which, by the way, are under threat - travel thousands of miles to preset destinations without maps or our reasoning skills. So how do they find their way? "Through a succession of studies, researchers learned that monarchs are equipped with two compasses: a primary system that uses the sun and a backup system that uses the Earth’s magnetic field." Incredible!

This leads me to wonder: Do we have similarly innate compasses to help us with life's largest questions? Or are we dependent on our upbringing and life experiences, which can vary so much from person to person? This echoes the age-old debate of nature vs. nurture, another topic I was reminded of while reading Robert Sapolsky's Determined. Sapolsky's work boldly claims "that there is no free will, or at least there is much less free will than generally assumed when it really matters," which the author admits can sound "absolutely nutty." 

To dwell too long on the possibility of moving through life without free will certainly leads to discomfort if not derangement. So, I won't. At least not right now. 

On this frigid Monday in January, I'm grateful to be indoors rather than outside like the monarch. But I have to admit, sometimes it would be nice to take flight, soar above it all, and make steady progress toward a predetermined bearing. On the other hand, what fun would that be?

References

Nijhuis, Michelle. “Flight of the Monarchs.” National Geographic, 2024.  
Sapolsky, Robert. Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. Penguin Press, 2023.