Completeness

No consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an effective procedure is capable of demonstrating its own consistency.

Gödel’s incompleteness theorem

A 1: Being happy requires time.

A 2: Being happy requires fulfilling work.

A 3: Pursuing fulfilling work for a comfortable life requires time.

A 4: Time is limited.

Theorem: Living a happy life is possible in our given time.

Some topics keep occupying the mind. And for the moment, again, it’s balance; or, as here, phrased as: completeness. Can something be complete? Work? A picture? Life? And what makes it complete? Is it the experiences we make? The amount of satisfaction we achieve? The accomplished perfection? And can we ever tell when it is complete, or can we just decide that it is? Or is it just a feeling of fulfillment that cannot be proven?

I’ve felt completeness once, however, in unfortunate circumstances. Maybe we need to accept, or even embrace, the incompleteness. The imperfection of the picture, the irregularity in life. Maybe this is the distinctive feature, the remarkable quality, that makes our existence worthwhile. That makes the picture special. That motivates us to keep going, to keep on pushing and to go out to find the rare human experiences that enrich daily routines. Incompleteness, as the 10th Dan that cannot be achieved, as the optimal algorithm that cannot be written, as the last theorem that cannot be proven.

Maybe, someday, I will know; and maybe someday you will know. For now, I’ll keep on trying to find the proof.