How am I to live this short precious life?

     “What am I here for? Am I living in such a way that I can die without regrets? How much of what I do is compromise? Do I keep postponing what I ‘really’ want to do until conditions are more favorable?

     Asking such questions interrupts indulgence in the comforts of routine and shatters illusions about a cherished sense of self-importance. It forces me to seek again the impulse that moves me from the depths, and to turn aside from the shallows of habitual patterns. It requires that I examine my attachments to physical health, financial independence, loving friends. For they are easily lost; I cannot ultimately rely on them. Is there anything I can depend on?

     It might be that all I can trust in the end is my integrity to keep asking such questions as: Since death alone is certain and the time of death uncertain, what should I do? And then act on them.” 

       Batchelor S. “Buddhism without beliefs. A contemporary guide to awakening.” Riverhead Books, NY, 1997. www.stephenbatchelor.org