Phoenix
by Dale J. Sprague
Reveries
1.2008
Meaning of life...rather than ask "Why am I here, or for what purpose is my life?...ask, "What are my values?" and acknowledge that one's values change as one's life evolves. For in those values does one balance pleasure and pain everyday. When the values fade or altogether go away, so do the pleasure and pain, so does the meaning of life.
My values have two categories. Physical and spiritual. And associated with these are pleasures and pains. One might think that one's intent should be to keep the tally of pleasures greater than the pains; yet, consider the value of pain. Pain come from involuntary ignorance, bad luck, and taking risks with voluntary ignorance. Without transcending ignorance, philosophizing about fate, or analyzing risks, new values cannot be attained. Without new values, how can one evolve in one's life with a fresh tally sheet of pleasures and pains?..as one journeys through the course of one's life. Pleasures are the rewards of life, and pain..the propect of attaining new values. Pain is more interesting when it is new.
As I have aged, it becomes apparent that my physical pleasures become more and more limited if not eliminated altogether. With age, I become more dependent upon my spiritual values, such as my fondness for literature, psychology, philosophy, mathematics, science, religion, history, and all their relatives, while physical values and the associated pleasure'pain balance decrease with age, my spiritual values and it associated pleasure'pain balance increases.
As I age, the meaning of my life has the potential of becoming more meaningful more than ever before..in that, as the pleasure'pain balance for the physical inevitably diminishes, the pleasure and pain balance for my spiritual values are limited only by my imagination, intuition, and inspiration.