It comes down to this: live the best life you can.
You were gifted a life, free and clear.
You were born. And, as everything is finite, one day you're going to die.
Make of your life what you will, as you wish.
As bold and adventurous, or as silly and outrageous, or as ambitious and industrious, or as quiet and pleasant, as you like.
Ideally, with few regrets.
Values matter a lot; disvalues and threats, very little. Focus on the former as much as you can; tend to the latter as much as you must.
Your means to achieve this is to think, and to act. To use your mind, and your body. The first is primary. Your reasoning mind is the source of every value beyond the animal level, beyond gathering nuts and berries.
The power of a conceptual-level consciousness to transcend the immediate moment's thoughts and concerns is so magnificent, that when it's multiplied by two, by ten, by a thousand, by 7 billion, it has led to all of the miracles of modern living, which we experience and take for granted, from cheap and bountiful food, shelter, and clothing, to unprecedented safety and security, to dazzling technology, to endless art and literature, to values too numerous to list.
What's true of your nature, the need to be free to think, and act on your thinking, is true of everyone else as well. Respect this fact in others.
Once you establish that, then you can get to the business of meeting, and engaging, and trading with, and befriending, and loving, everyone you can.
And you should. You deserve to love, and to be loved. You deserve the spotlight, at least now and then. You deserve the rewards of every good action you've taken.
But these rewards won't always come of their own accord; karma requires a driver. So ring your own bell, blow your own horn, squeak your own wheel.
And, “take care of those you call your own, and keep good company.”
Tragedy, failure, drama, injustice, outrage, sadness, will touch each of us. And that's as it should be; values cannot be automatic, nor guaranteed, and human beings are fallible, breakable, limited, finite.
Suffer when you must, and as gracefully as you can.
But in essence, life is good.
If it wasn't, we wouldn't.
But we do.
So, do.
❤️
Lovely to read, Robert! Looking forward to more ;-)