Tag: meaning
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An Infinite Hunger
What is the meaning of life? At the beginning of the year I sat with a student who was trying to decide whether to change degrees. He had come to the college office after lunch and had waited near the doorway until I looked up from my desk. He said he only needed five minutes.…
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The Compass, Not the App
What gives you direction in life? I used to think direction meant knowing where I was going. Now I think it means knowing what I must keep facing. In the old days, we followed a map. We unfolded it across the steering wheel, argued about the best route, and tried to imagine the landscape before…
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The First Quote
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often? There are too many quotes to choose from. Some stay with us because they are beautiful. Some because they are useful. Some because someone we loved used to say them. And some because they arrive at a particular moment and never…
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What gets better with age?
Life. We had a big school reunion last year. I wasn’t sure what to expect—decades had passed—but it turned out to be surprisingly good. Familiar faces, stories retold, gaps filled in. A few of us met up again before Christmas. No agenda, just time to talk. One friend shared how he’d spent years teaching chess…
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Before the Days Draw Near
A reflection written for Robert Menzies College, Valedictory Dinner 2024 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth—when light poured freely, even in early mornings,and the world felt carved just for you,like soft clay in young hands. Before the hard questions come,before the weight of wondering presses in,find joy in laughter echoing down long…
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Philosophers Baffled After Agreeing on Literally Nothing About the Good Life
A lively gathering of seven influential European thinkers ended in spectacular confusion this week, after not a single participant could agree on what it actually means to live a good life. The group—which included Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida—had reportedly convened at a private members-only…
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A Conversation About Contentment Across Generations
We were five generations at the table—passing the bread, refilling cups, and circling, as families do, around big questions in small talk. Someone had tossed it in lightly, like a crouton into a bowl of soup: “Do you think it’s possible to have it all?” As the conversation deepened, the focus shifted. Maybe the better…
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The Slow Productivity of the Morning
There is a kind of productivity that moves fast —urgent, noisy, tangled in a web of demands.And then there is another kind:the slow, deep work of becoming.I find it most clearly in the morning. The house is still.The animals are fed.The world has not yet begun to press its needs against me.In those early hours,…
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Who will you be? How will you live?
What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a question I’ve heard all my life — first directed at me, then at the next generation. It usually expects a job title, something neat and impressive. But what if the better question is: Who will you be? How will you live? That question…
The Afterword 