Life’s big questions

Karen is the founder and editor of Meld Magazine.

A WEEK in bed flat on my back wasn’t the way I anticipated I would go about launching Meld’s brand new website. I was nursing a tailbone injury, and my physical limitations could best be described as being, quite literally, a pain in the butt.

But it did give me time to pause for a moment, take stock, and allow my mind to wonder, cautiously, about some of life’s bigger questions.

I say cautiously, because asking questions like Why are we here? What are we doing with our lives? Where are we going? How do we live from the heart? Why do we bother to study/work so hard? What’s important to us? is like opening Pandora’s box.

The bigness of these questions, the restlessness that it stirs in us, the lack of easy answers, are usually enough to cause us to sweep it all under the carpet and let ourselves get caught up in the busyness of the everyday.

You know, passing those exams so I can get a good job in a good firm that makes me good money. And I mean, how could you not get your hands on that new iPad/iPhone 4/bag/dress/shoe/whatever else tickles your fancy.

It can be a frightening and destabilising process asking these questions alone. And so Meld has embarked on a little project in community engagement.

Our HQ is based at Arrow on Swanston, a student accommodation in Carlton, and each Wednesday evening, we will be joining a bunch of brave souls to ask some of life’s big questions. Among them, international students, travellers passing by, young entrepreneurs, working adults, a pastor – all who understand that nothing is sacred, and those who seek shall find.

Follow Meld on Twitter as we discuss these questions every Wednesday from 8pm. We will also be bringing you excerpts from the Big Questions Series through a weekly column. We hope this space will also serve as a platform for you to ask questions, and engage in some lively debate.

Karen Poh is the founder and editor of Meld Magazine.