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Living

 

To analyze our own existence, to draw out ourselves and the people around us, and to begin to understand, slowly and carefully, the meaning of life and how it ought to be lived—that is the common goal of work and art.

In a million different ways, through a million different media, we are all seeking answers to our questions. Questions of self, questions of others, questions of the world around us; in every walk of life, there are questions to be answered. And with each question we answer, we gain a stronger sense of self and of security of our position within the world. By continuing to wonder and to seek out answers, we are insisting on living, and not simply existing.

The only measure of success, then, is not your existence to yourself, but how you have lived. If you are a kinder person than you were before, if you are more patient, more loving, more ready to forgive—then you have asked the right questions and you have found the right answers.

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