Life Question 1

Scott-Maxwell concluded that she was living "an intense and varied experience" which led her to delve within herself. "I want to tell people approaching and perhaps fearing age that it is a time of discovery. If they say--'Of what?' I can only answer, 'We must each find out for ourselves, otherwise it won't be a discovery.' I want to say--'If at the end of your life you have only yourself, it is much. Look, you will find.' As Scott-Maxwell promised, many persons find their latter years a time of discovery as they begin to look more deeply within themselves.⁴

Poets and writers have often described life as a journey, and I can think of my own life that way. I have been traveling a long, long time. There have been mountains to climb, but they have led to high plateaus and an occasional peak. I haven't fallen off any cliffs, but there have been a few bruising tumbles down slippery slopes. I have usually been fortunate and traveled quickly, but there were times when I crept along and times when I seemed to lose my way.

It may be only when we get stuck or when things threaten to fall apart that we give some serious thought to our lives and try to get our bearings. Perhaps at such times we will, like LeShan, huddle with ourselves to see where we have fallen short. Perhaps, like LeShan, we will find new courage, direction, or resolve.

Major points of change can force us to take stock and get our bearings, but some unhappy points come about because we have paid too little attention to how we are living our lives. I remember seeing a house whose roof was sagging (the rest of it was not much better). The real-estate agent described it as a case of "deferred maintenance." It needed, she confessed, a little attention. We didn't buy the house, but I appropriated the term because it seemed to be an apt description of what is wrong with many lives.

When I was a youth, the coming of each new year was the time to take stock of one's life and to resolve to change what needed changing in the year to come. Although the custom of making New Year's resolutions survives to this day, it seems to be taken less seriously. Psychotherapist Richard Frank writes that he finds it helpful to ask himself several times a week how he would behave if he had infinite courage. That's a provocative question. (It's not sheer audacity that Frank has in mind but rather what would be in his "best moral interest.") You might consider what your own answer would be. Complete this statement:

If I had infinite courage, I would . . . .

And you might consider an alternative approach (also suggested by Frank) that asks how you would live your life if you were bereft of courage. Complete this statement:

If I were an infinite coward, I would . . . .

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