Cora?s getting ready to crawl. I don?t think she knows that, but all of the pieces are coming together. She definitely wriggles a lot more than she used to, and she can form a “bridge” by supporting herself on her hands and knees. She also rolls around a lot when she?s on the floor. She doesn?t roll in the directed sense of rolling from here to there, but in the less-purposeful sense of just rolling and rolling and rolling because she can.
My point is not that she?s about to crawl, but that she doesn?t realize she?s about to crawl. She?s just stretching for toys that are out of reach. She doesn?t appreciate the fact that trying to get to those toys is making her muscles stronger and improving her coordination.
Of course, she?s just a baby now, and what motivates her to all of this work isn?t very sophisticated. Her desire is simply to reach the purple elephant. But long after she?s lost interest in the purple elephant, crawling will still prove useful. Long after she’s lost interest in crawling, her strength and coordination will still prove useful.
Metaphorically speaking, how many purple elephants have I gone after in my life? How many of my current ambitions are tomorrow’s purple elephants? What am I going to learn in the process of chasing them? Is there a qualitative relationship between the things that motivate me and the person I become?