When You Meet An Astronomer

Perhaps it was because we had been watching a lot of Cosmos recently; perhaps it was the magic of New York; either way, the Universe decided to introduce Jasmin and me to an astronomer in a coffee shop the other day. His name is Piet and he is from Holland. He actually worked closely with the man himself, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, in setting up the new Planetarium at the Natural History Museum here in New York. As we spoke over our cappuccinos, the conversation wandered from music to art to life, drifting like an asteroid through space with no particular or predestined destination.

As the subject of our mutual professions and our mutual journeys to New York came up, we discovered incredible similarities. There was something quite beautiful about the science of art and the art of science coming together among strangers in a coffee shop. One thing we shared in common was the fact that both professions required mastery in something that didn't necessarily mean massive financial return. Piet had paid his dues as a researcher in a lab just like we had paid our dues in a 99-seat theater – the intention (to do what we loved) and the return (not getting paid much) were the same. As we continued to wax on this idea, Piet said, "Well, as an astronomer, I do tend to break things down into a mathematical formula."

"Of course you do," we laughed.

"I'll show you. Do you have a pen and paper?" I did. "This is what I tell my students. If you always do what you love, you have the highest percentage chance of being happy," and he began to draw his chart. "If you do what you love, whether or not you get paid for it doesn't necessarily determine your happiness. But if you don't do what you love AND you don't get paid for it, you're guaranteed to be unhappy. So the only way to avoid this lower-right quadrant is to always do what you love."