My full name is Bijan Riazi-Farzad. Many years ago, my pupils began to call me Dr Beej and, being quite fond of it, I decided to adopt it. Thanks kids (although you are not kids any more).

In case you are wondering, the name Bijan is of Persian origin and the surname, Riazi-Farzad, was chosen by my paternal grandfather after he escaped the Bolsheviks in Azerbaijan and took refuge in Iran.

I dislike putting labels on myself or others, so my response to “Who are you?” varies with the situation. While I often refer to myself as a polymath, I generally categorize my primary professional roles as a “teacher,” “researcher,” and “psychologist.”

Many years ago, someone once asked me, Bijan, what would you say is the purpose of life?

But wait! Before I tell you what my answer was, let me tell you something about purpose. Some people will tell you that purpose is a purely human construct and that, in the grand scheme of things, there is no such thing as purpose. I do not subscribe to this point of view, and you can explore my reasons for this point of view here. If pressed, I would describe my worldview as pantheist [perspectives on pantheism].

It is known by many names, such as the why, purpose, worldview, philosophy, and religion. Whatever we call it, it is the source of our inspiration, our motivation for continuing to exist, and ultimately, it is what gives meaning to our lives. So, when someone asks a question like, “What would you say is the purpose of life?”, what they are really looking for is the answer to, “What gives meaning to your life?” or as one of my friends once asked, “What makes you tick?”

Today, I have three answers to the question, “Bijan, what would you say is the purpose of life?”, but back then, I said, “My purpose in life is to be the best link that I can be in the chain of evolution.”

In practice, this means learning as much as I can and passing it on to the next generation is the most efficient way that I can.

To answer the question, what is the purpose of life, we need to first understand the nature of Consciousness

Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean.

Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean.