Sine Qua Non

“Without Which Not”

Traditionaly a legal term, but also used in medical terminology, philosophy, and just plain English.  Though, its not English.  It is Latin.

Sine qua non, a noun, or a condition . . .   often translated as “without which cause not”.

The essential element.   Without this thing. . .   it just isn’t.

Cheese in the macaroni.

Chocolate chip in the Tollhouse cookie.

The pig in the bacon.

Yes, I just stated all food.  Very important foods . . . .  if you will:  they would be the sine quibus non (plural) of my diet.  Ah, I wish this was true.  What is true is that those three things are on my favorite food list, I just don’t need them, they are not vital, and I do not eat them with regularity.

In all seriousness, I did not want to talk about food.  I wanted to talk about life . . .   purpose.

There is an episode of Battlestar Galactica (this century, not last) entitled the same: Sine Qua Non.  Their definition, quoting a line from the show:

“those things we deem essential that without which we cannot bear living.  Without which life in general loses its specific value . . . .  becomes abstract.”

Most of the time I feel I am living sine “sine qua non”.  Life has become abstract.  A more accurate statement I would be pressed to find. I have lost my sine qua non.  I have lost my essential element that makes life feel worth living.  What was my sine qua non?  Perhaps what it might be for most of us: Purpose.

One’s purpose is not the same as another’s.  Our drives are not the same.   Whether it is love, family, charity, country, money, sport, or even self, we all have a driving force.  Some more noble than others.

Perhaps my former purpose was not so noble.  Perhaps its specific loss should not be mourned, or sought.  Perhaps endeavors such as efficiency, perfection, control were driving forces building a life that would have left me empty, alone, unsatisfied.  I truly never was satisfied.  I felt satisfaction and complacency were the same.  And complacency was death.

Perhaps now my journey has flipped.  Emptiness is now . . .   at the beginning.  Sparing me from a life of empty at the end.  A second chance to find a better purpose.  A more noble, fullfilling one.  To live a fuller more promising life.

in the mean time:  emptiness.  purposelessness . . . .  sine sine qua non.

Do you know your sine quibus non?  ask yourself . . .