MB: The Meaning of Life

I initially read this work of George Bernard Shaw in 1994 – and it started a fire in me that helped me get myself back on track with a sense of purpose and direction.  I had begun to drift – becoming a reflection of what others expected of me rather than living my own passions and truth.  While I’m far from perfect, I’ve tried to live by this credo since then – and my life today is so much more amazing that I ever thought it could be.  Perhaps it will ignite someting in you too.

This is the true meaning and joy in life:

 Being used for a purpose that I recognize and accept as a mighty and Divine one…   Being a force of Goodness instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making me happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community; And as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  My pathway was ordained before my birth by the Creator.  But only I can walk in the pathway that stands before me.  Without conscious effort and persistence, I will never realize the vast greatness of the journey.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.  For the harder I work, the more I serve, the more I give – the more I live. 

I rejoice in life for its own sake.  Life is no brief candle to me. It is a splendid torch. And I have been granted a marvelous opportunity to hold this torch up — even if only for one brief moment in time.  I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

After I return to dust, my success will be measured only by the lasting impressions I leave with those who remain to carry the torch.

  –Adapted from George Bernard Shaw by Michael R. Burcham, 1994.