Where does the human desire for greatness or significance come from? Why do we want to make a name for ourselves? Why do we fear dying and consequent oblivion--leaving without a trace, as if we had never been born? Why do we want the world to be different because we have lived? Why do we yearn for at least a type of immortality in this world or the next? Why do we fear nonexistence with a fear as elemental as the fear of falling? Indeed, it can be seen as falling from record without a trace, all alone in the pit without a thread of social connectivity. We grasp desperately for any shred of social tie so we will never be alone, never forgotten--never, never; because the contemplation of deep and total isolation is too great to bear. Vague, half-baked recognition of past generations bears witness--better to be alive today than to be the honored dead. For while a living human being, we chance can contribute; which is another way of saying we can lay claim to a perennial social nexus on earth or by faith in heaven.
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