[September 22, 2026] It is the human condition that you must have meaning in your life; for it is that very meaning that sustains you. Life is going to be difficult because you are in it for the long term. And, in order to sustain yourself in that life, you must find it in the voluntary adoption of responsibility.
Indeed, your life will be difficult, sometimes beyond your tolerance level. That is a guarantee for your future, if not already in your present. And, that can be unbearable and turn you against life itself; to corrupt you and drive you to nihilism and to even drive you to suicide. Worse, it can drive you to thoughts that are vengeful.
We all will suffer. But we can also all make our suffering worse out of our ignorance and malevolence; which we all know to be true. Despite that, we are remarkable creatures. We are capable of taking up the burden of that suffering and facing that malevolence purposefully and knowingly.
The evidence for this is absolutely clear, when people voluntarily confront their problems that face them and the malevolence that surrounds them, that they can make headway against it. That itself has meaning; to confront the problems that torment you and solve some of those problems that do confront you.
Yet, we will often pursue behaviors that are a waste of time. We all do it. Do an analysis for yourself to see actually how much time is thrown away. The answer will be surprising. Not only that, but many actively work in counterproductive pursuits. Despite all this, amazingly, we can still make progress, and thrive under the difficult conditions that make up our lives.
We can resist the malevolence that entices us. It is within our power, and in scientific studies of humans, we cannot still not know the limits to that. So, live courageously. Tell the people that you love this. Also tell those that you love that it is better to live in truth than in deceit.
So, pick up that responsibility that is there for the taking and move forward. It is part of our moral nature, and it’s not difficult to communicate to people about this.
Everyone knows that when you let your life go off the rails and you berate yourself for your own uselessness and your cruelty and your failure to take opportunities in front of you. If you are the master of yourself (the captain of your own destiny), there will be a voice of conscientiousness tormenting you to take on all challenges.
What that indicates is that we live in a world bounded by a moral dimension, that we understand well, and that moral failings have consequences. That is certainly not trivial. And that those consequences can destroy you, can destroy your family, and destroy your community. You can tell people that, and they will listen to you because they know. Maybe they don’t know they know, that’s what is important since they often cannot articulate it.
It will be amazing how much better and part of a good life they will live doing so. Decide to put your life together. That is a voluntary decision. People are remarkable. They are unbelievably resilient and able creatures, and we do not have any conception of our upper limits.
The message that we can put our lives together is missing, but must be told. That is a moral necessity. We owe it to others to tell them that they are fully capable of living well, even with the malevolence that lurks in the corner. That’s an ethical requirement of individual being.
We must constantly note that we are not what we could be. Take on the heavy responsibility for that and commit yourself to the attainment of that ideal.
Truth and courage.
NOTE: Much of this article is taken from lectures by Prof. Jordan Peterson.
————
Please read my books:
Life is going to be hard for everyone, and this article does a good job explaining why that is true. We all face problems that can feel too big at times, but we can still choose to take on our duties and keep going. Finding a reason to live helps us get through the tough days when things go wrong. People waste a lot of time on things that do not help them, yet they can still make their lives better if they try. It is important to be honest and brave instead of hiding from the truth. When we pick up responsibility, we become stronger and help our families too. Everyone should hear that they can put their life back together even when bad things happen. Truth and courage are the best tools we have to live a good life.
Melissa, true enough that this is another article from Gen. Satterfield (based on dr. Jordan peterson’s ideas of psychology). I do like these as they give us some idea on our internal motivations.