People have always wondered about man’s place in the universe. We always strain to figure out how we fit into the grand scheme of things. We listen to the music of the spheres and try to figure out which note is ours.

We do many things in order to figure out our purpose in life. We work, we philosophize, we pray, we paint, we sing, we dance, we write, and we engage in a variety of other activities, trying to figure out which activity is our ultimate destiny. We portray our life in different ways. Some people say that it is a brief stint before oblivion. Some say that it is a never ending cycle of birth and death. Others say that it is a journey until we reach the ultimate. Other people reason that it is but an activity of our cells. Few people theorize that nothing is real and this can neither be proven nor be disproved. For all we know, we could all be dreaming. You might even be alone in this universe and be dreaming about other people who write this article.

Trying to contemplate the human meaning can give one quite a headache, if not cause a person to go completely mad. However, some people find meaning in the smallest of tasks. Some people find contentment in mopping a floor. Others find inner peace in combing their hair. It is also very possible to find meaning in Japanese Koi fish.

What does the human search for meaning and Japanese Koi fish have in common? The answer to that question can only be “more than you can imagine”.

Keeping Japanese Koi fish means you care for a life. You need to put together the right elements and you need to balance those elements in order to produce great results. Now, think about this question: Do you think that those fish are questioning their existence?

The meaning in Japanese Koi fish keeping can be summed up in that one question. You see, you get to watch those tiny lives in the water, swimming in their universe, turning around and around in their little cosmos. Do you not think that they find their lives futile? And yet why do you think they go on? Why don’t they just go belly up? Why, if they have no real purpose, do they keep on breathing?

Before you answer this, take another look at the Japanese Koi. There, you see them swimming around in a myriad of colors, flashing, glistening, and shining under the light of the sun. What comes to your mind? In the fact that they do not question their existence, you can find the answer to your own.

Japanese Koi fish exists, period. There are no buts and no ifs to their existence. You cannot really say that they exist to entertain you, you cannot say they exist to become your artwork and you certainly cannot reason that they exist to fill those ridiculously small ponds.

As such, you realize that you also exist, not for any other purpose but to exist. By trying to question your life, you will only go crazy, as no one can really know the answer to that. We are far too powerless to question our existence and far too powerful to say that we have no purpose. But then again, we still manage to go from day to day, living our lives for no other reason than because we can.

Next: The Many Breeds of Koi