Chemistry Class, Part II: Life Purpose and Batman

Yesterday I put together a mashup of different blog entries and called it “Chemistry Class.” One day later I found another blog entry that illuminates the previous mash-up. I took a solemn blood oath with my friend Laura – –  read her blog, folks, it’s awesome – – that I will no longer go back and tweak a blog entry once I hit the “publish” prompt. So we’re gonna roll this way instead.

“Table Theory” is an awesome blog by a guy named Vichet. It’s well worth a read, particularly the portion actually about the table theory. In it he gives one of the best explanations of the need for a life purpose that I touched on yesterday. Read the whole thing, but here’s the relevant passage:

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Image from picstopin.com

Image from smbc-comics/com

Batman has a simple life-goal: being Batman (a crime fighter, jackass). It takes up a lot of his time, time that he could otherwise spend getting to know the ladies and having a family or whatever it is he would do if he weren’t Batman. In case you’re completely oblivious, Batman shows zero signs of giving up his life goal of being Batman.

Where does that leave his possible romantic interests? Think of Catwoman. She and Batman have everything else mentioned – proximity, mutual independence, chemistry (and how). But if you know one thing about Batman and Catwoman, it’s that she’s a criminal and he’s a crime fighter. Their goals are irreconcilable. Unless one of them literally changes the life pursuit that defines them – which effectively is like deciding that you will no longer be you – they will not ever be able to work out that difference.

“But wait, Vichet – what if I have no life goals?”

I would venture a guess that women aren’t your biggest problem. Also, I would conjecture that any interesting woman wouldn’t date you anyway. Work on that.