“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.”
-Chuck Palahniuk, Diary
This quote is by the famous writer Chuck Palahniuk. He is best known for his works like Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Choke and Diary among some. Over the course of time Chuck has written more than 100 books. His quote, “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will” is from his novel ‘Diary’. Today we’ll be talking about this quote and sharing our perspective on it.
Our Perspective
It is evident that we all die one day and there is no coming back. Many may talk about the soul or rebirth thing but even there we lose our body, current identity and life & family. Getting out of the philosophical and spiritual realm. Death is not something that’s rare, it’s constant. Everyone has to die someday, we can’t avoid it. So, instead of focusing on how to avoid death, we should focus on how we can use what we have(life).
The first part of the quote is quite clear but the second part can be very vague, depending upon your understanding. But on surface level the quote means to transform your life into something that will be remembered forever after you are gone. The quote focuses on making your life worth it. Live your life in such a manner that it has some significance even after your exit from the world. Or it can even be translated into doing something which has great value attached to it. Which roughly means your work speaks for you. Like giving some equation, quote, book, idea, business that is remarkable or contributes to the world or humanity.
But if you go deeper into understanding the quote and reading between the lines, the quote’s second part can have different meanings all together. Every person has a different meaning and perspective in life. Even our meaning of success differs. And there can’t be one wrong or right. There is nothing like 1 suits all, it’s all about choices and preferences. For a person making money may be their biggest goal in life and parameter of success is money. But for others it may be living life with peace at a peaceful place away from all the materialistic means. And there can be someone for whom their art or craft or passion is beyond boundaries. There are an infinite number of possibilities and thought processes. All depends on an individual’s point of view, situations, struggles and choices & priorities in life.
Conclusion
However an overview can be drawn that don’t focus too much on uncontrollable, focus on controllable. Forget about mortality, focus on living your life in such a manner that it becomes so significant and memorable, that your lived life becomes immortal.
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