Life holds tremendous meaning for me. Because it is finite, it is precious. Does a flower that blooms for only one night have less value, less beauty, or less meaning, than a flower whose bloom lasts a week? Doesn't the ephemeral seem even more precious, because it is so brief?
Perhaps people would tend to extremes. I can't speak to that. I'm not like very many people, so I can't imagine what they would do. I don't see a universe without God as cold, or empty or frightening. I push for much, and I gain much, even though I believe life is as evanescent as a sunset. I would work and learn simply for the pleasure of working and learning. I find pleasure in the push itself. I value pleasure- but pleasure in all it's forms, and balanced pleasure. The pleasure of seeing a child grow up well. The pleasure of a job well done. The pleasure of good food, and the pleasure of not eating too much good food.
My temperment is moderate in the extreme, and I am an incredibly happy person- naturally cheerful. I do not think most people probably could go through life the way I do, but I am singular in my wiring, I think. I don't think it's anything I have done to be the way I am- I never believed, even as a child, in a higher power- and my parents sent me to church, until I put my foot down and refused to go.
I don't know that I can shed much light on anything for you though. I am made the way I am and that, I think, makes me live the way I do. I'm not sure that anyone not wired the way I am could ever understand the way I live- just as I know I will never understand religious transport or faith. I can read about it, but it's like reading about someone describing a taste, or a smell- you don't really know what they mean until you experience it for yourself, and I have no desire to experience it. |
