Long before one's concept of remembrance begins, a more crucial and inevitable relationship develops in one's life— the relationship between the self and the society. This relationship imbibes in the individual some core values and notions which are so deeply entangled with the constituents of one's psyche that a person can go on with their lives wholly, without once questioning these notions. One such notion perpetuated in today's post-truth, capitalistic society is that of purpose. To any individual, purpose seems to be an obvious part of the long list of things one has to “achieve”. 

The idea of purpose itself is deeply ingrained in a societal institution, which demands the individual to be “productive”, as a person's self worth is measured in quantifiable terms. When one stops to reflect, a darker truth reveals itself: the void. Here, selfhood decays under the weight of being treated as mere utility which contrary to popular belief, isn't something that is quantifiable. Every individual deals with this conditioning in a unique and personal way.  Ranging from metaphorical loss of self to, in some cases, literal loss of self (suicide/self harm) and sometimes, acceptance or apathy. People derive deeply extravagant, immensely intricate structures, passed on sometimes, for generations; structures, created specifically for the ‘purpose’ of making meaning. The burden of conscious human experience, thanks to the prefrontal cortex, then, is this burden of the constant pursuit of purpose in a society that attributes it to meaningless quantifiers amidst which the individual exists, constantly, painfully, in a flux.