Living life is about examining life through reason, nature’s greatest gift to humanity. The importance of reason in sensing and examining life is evident in all phases of life.
Reason lets Human beings participate in life, to be Human is to think, appraise, and explore the World, discovering new sources of material and spiritual pleasure.
Yet not all pleasures are alike. Some pleasures are kinetic – shallow, and transient, fading way as soon as the act that creates the pleasure ends. Often they are succeeded by a feeling of emptiness and psychological pain and suffering.
Other pleasures are catastematic – deep, and prolonged, and continue even after the act that creates them ends; and it is these pleasures that secure the well-lived life.
Well-lived and not passionate excess. When you violate the limits of reasonable mean, it is penalized ranging from countervailing frustrations to pure catastrophe.
It is for this reason that ideals such as measure, balance, harmony, and proportion are the parameters within which productive living can proceed.
If, however, excess is allowed to destroy harmony and balance, then the life worth living becomes impossible to obtain.
Be honest with yourself and be prepared to assume responsibility and accept consequences. This has special relevance for you because of the common Human tendency to reject responsibility for wrongdoing.
Very few individuals are willing to hold themselves accountable for the errors and mishaps that inevitably occur in life. Instead, they tend to foist these situations off on others complaining of circumstances beyond their control.
One of the defining characteristics of humanity that distinguishes it from other forms of existence is social instinct, the need for association and affiliation with others, a need for friendship.
The formation of Society is a reflection of the profound need for Human affiliation rather than simply a contractual arrangement between otherwise detached individuals.
Gods and animals do not have this kind of need but for Humans it is an indispensable aspect of the life worth living because one cannot speak of a completed Human identity, or of true happiness, without the associative bonds called friendship.
No amount of wealth, status, or power can adequately compensate for a life devoid of genuine friends.