The philosopher Horace Kallen once said, There are persons who shape their lives with the fear of death, and persons who shape their lives by the joy of life. The former live dying; and the latter die living. Whenever I die, I intend to die living.

When we stop searching for the Immortal Deeds that will give our lives meaning and concentrate instead on filling our days with small moments that gratify us, we will find the only possible answer to the question, what is life about? It is not about amassing great wealth and power. It is not about acquiring a status in society, but what you leave behind for posterity that counts.

A sign hanging in Einsteins office at Princeton reads:

Not everything that counts

Can be counted,

And not everything that

Can be counted counts.

Life is about loving and being loved. It is about enjoying food and sitting in the sun rather than rushing through lunch and hurrying back to the office. It is about savouring the transitory beauty of the sunsets, the leaves turning colour, the rare moments of true human communication.

Dear readers, it will gladden me immensely, if you so desire to “rate” this write-up. Thank you.

We should think of life as the accumulation of treasures. Every new friend made, every new truth learned or experience undergone makes us richer than we were. Indeed, as Wordsworth says:

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man

Of moral evil and of good

Than all the sages can.

Life is a good book. The further you go into it, the more it comes together and makes sense.