What matters most - Part 2

Apologies for the delayed update. I wish I could say that there was some urgent business that kept me from this blog; but really there wasn't. I simply did not reflect to any substantial degree till now.

But back to the topic.

In our quest to uncover what matters , we had very tantalizingly stopped at the point of coitus . . . and we continue from there.

So if we were assume that what really matters most is the passing of fluids, er, genes from one generation to another, what next? Shouldn't our life span be a maximum of 30 years? (15 if you are in Britain, considering their problems with early pregnancy)

Or perhaps 60 years. 30 years to produce our own kin, and 30 to raise them up?

But I believe what matters most should be something greater than the sum of one and one's kids. Why then would we have invented the myriad things we did? and why pursue anything at all? Why indeed search for the meaning of anything?

It was at this stage that I stumbled upon this extract from a John Gardner speech:

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

Interesting, no?