Recently I was re-watching Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech for the hundredth time. If you know me, you probably know that I look up to him as a role model. I know the guy had his issues, but I tend to focus on his positive aspects.
In the speech he mentioned about how time is limited for all of us and why that’s a good thing. You, me, the animals, plants and almost all living things in the world are here for a limited amount of time and then we leave, forever.
This really makes me think sometimes about the very meaning of life itself. I am sure we have all thought about it at one point or the other but being a philosopher at heart, I tend to do it more often.
I have been on again and off again on the thought that life is pretty meaningless because we are literally born to die but when I heard for the first time what Jobs had to say about death, my perspective was totally changed.
Death Is Life’s Greatest Invention
This is exactly what he said in his speech. Death is probably life’s single greatest invention and I couldn’t agree more. It is in fact death that gives meaning to life instead of making it meaningless.
It is an agent of change and something that nature has put in place to maintain its balance. It has been that way since the beginning and will probably be that way for a long, long time.
The world is ever evolving and it is death that helps ensure that by clearing out the old and making way for the new to continue where the old left, essentially carrying the torch of life forward.
If you manage to understand this, and I mean truly understand that you really have limited time here on the planet, I think your whole perspective will change and you will never be the same again.
Don’t Waste Your Time
Time is just like any other resources that we are habituated to use. It is limited and what makes it really interesting is that we do not know exactly how limited it is. Maybe you have it today and run out of it tomorrow!
It is a wonder then that we take such a scarce and unpredictable resource for granted. We forever live in an illusion that we have all the time in the world to do all the things we want to do.
Not only that, we waste our time, drowned in all the noise that exists in the world. We waste it on little things that don’t matter, on opinions of other people, on bad habits, in worrying, fear, and a million other things.
But as Steve Jobs said, in the face of death, all these things just fall away and all that remain are the truly important things that you really care about. It’s like shedding these useless shells that we have accumulated throughout our lives.
Just Do It!
I really love the Nike tagline. It resonates perfectly with me and how I want to live my life. As I said before, we live in an illusion that we have enough time to do what we always wanted to do.
And before you know it, that time slips from your hands through the spaces between your fingers like sand and all that you are left with is regrets. Sometimes, you don’t even get to have that and you are just wiped off!
Life is short. Do the things that you want to do. Be with the people who you want to be with. Have the experiences you want to. You don’t always have to be filthy rich to live a perfect life.
Whatever you do, put your whole energy and focus behind it. I won’t tell you to live each day of yours as if it were your last because frankly, that’s not living, but what I will tell you, is to make the most of each.
All images have been taken from the public domain.
