Most people have a great many regrets when they go to their deaths, we’ve all heard them before. Either from popular culture, from the experience of friends, or because we’ve seen our own loved ones go to the other side with regrets in their heart. Granted I don’t think there’s a way to be one hundred percent sure you’ll not have any regrets going to the other side, we all make mistakes, I do believe there is a way to get the most out of life and know that you did all that you could with the time that you had.
We’ve all heard the expression no one says on their deathbed that they wished they spent more time in the office but we don’t hear the many other things, often politically incorrect, that people also have regrets for. Whether its a guy regretting chasing after fame and wealth instead of honor and meaning. A woman regretting trying to be a career woman or chasing after random guys instead of settling down young and starting a family. Or a million other things.
Living as close to the primal/cosmic order as possible is one way to prevent regrets and live a life worth living but I want to get into something else that I think makes a big impact. But first understand how all of this works, especially in regards to the order of things. Man was meant to live in a certain way, the further he strays from that way the worse off he’s going to be. Many people/faiths/ideologies say they have “the way” but few if any actually do. But with that being said let’s talk about an imperfect thing that still gives great results.
The Importance Of An Afterlife
Now even if you a die hard atheist or whatever what I’m going to say here is still going to be important to you. Throughout time man has usually had some conception of an afterlife, and generally that afterlife has to do with going before a god/God/gods and being judged for your actions in life according to various criteria. Maybe it was a god like Crom that would toss you from the mountain and laugh at you because you were weak. Maybe it was Yahweh who would throw you out for being unclean. Or Odin for being a coward. Or a hundred other things.
Generally you were judged in the next life for the actions that you took in this life. Now you may say “Charles I don’t believe in all that religious stuff.” and that’s fine, you can still understand its purpose and the utility and importance of that purpose. When someone believes that they’re going to have to go to a higher being and essentially have a reel of their life played before them and judged, it changes how they behave. Things like sloth, cowardice, greed and the like become less appealing.
It works as a check on human nature and works to help develop one in a positive way. Now you don’t have to believe in religion A or god B or whatever to still get the same thing from this. Imagine that when you die you’re going to have a reel of your life played before all those that you respect and care about. How are you going to live your life? Are you going to sit back, be passive, and rot away? Or are you going to go out and work and achieve?
Living A Life Of Meaning
Now something you’ll notice was that different gods considered different things bad in different times and different places. Granted they had a lot of overlapping things but what was considered important in the various cultures that these gods and religions came from had some variation to them. So maybe something like intellectual curiosity is important to you so its something you consider in your reel. Or maybe strength or honor or pride or whatever else is considered important.
The nice thing about the reel is that its going to highlight things that are important to you. Now granted this could go wrong, for example to the average person things like fitting in, being comfortable, and things of that nature are going to be what’s most important to them, hence the utility of a god for the majority of the population. But anyways back to what I was saying. For the reel of your life to work you have to value the right things. A healthy sense of pride is essential for this, and a very good thing.
Yes you heard that right, pride is good and essential to healthy functioning, in the right context. Let your sense of pride and of right and wrong and the legacy that you want to leave help you to strive to get the most out of every second. And to live a life worth living. Living a life worth living means taking control of each of your days and the habits that make up your days. If they are filled with worthy things then you’ll get worthy results, if not then you won’t get the results that you want simple as that. Let a reel of your life work for you to inspire you to more.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
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