- One of the peculiar things
about us human beings,
is our mortality.
Ernest Becker explored it in general.
Do you ponder the value of mortality?
Do you think about your own mortality?
- I used to, when I
was about 12 years old.
(laughing)
I wondered.
I didn't care much about my own mortality,
but I was worried about
the fact that if my consciousness
disappeared would the
entire universe disappear.
That was frightening.
- Did you ever find an
answer to that question?
- No, nobody's ever found an answer.
But I stopped being bothered by it.
It's kinda like Woody Allen,
and one of his films.
You may recall,
it starts when he goes to a shrink
when he's a child,
and the shrink asks him,
"What's your problem?"
and he says, "I just learned that
the universe is expanding.
I can't handle that."
(laughing)
- And then another absurd question is,
what do you think is the meaning
of our existence here?
Our life on Earth,
our brief little moment in time?
- That's something that we
answer by our own activities.
There's no general answer.
We determine what the
meaning of it is.
- The action determining meaning.
- Meaning in the sense of significance.
Not meaning in the sense that
chair means this.
But the significance of your life
is something you create.
