In the same vein, having the absolute understanding of life - if there ever be one - would undoubtedly make life less enjoyable. Richard Bach in Illusions wrote, "Learn what the magician knows and it's not magic anymore." Not to mention that desperately contemplating the meaning of life can lead to stress, ulcers, high blood pressure, and a lack of success. At the extreme, people frantically searching for the meaning of life have been know to commit suicide.
Evenif you discover the absolute meaning of life, you may realize that it doesn't really make any difference to the quality of your existence anyway. Your answer may be that ultimately life is pretty meaningless, that we are all insignificant grains of dust in the grand cosmic scheme of things, that we are all leading random lives, that our existence doesn't affect anything or anyone.
Unknown (resource) Alice Gray, Stories for the Heart
It was a few weeks before Christmas 1917. The beautiful snowy landscapes of Europe were blackened by war. The trenches on one side held the Germans and on the other side the trenches were filled with Americans. It was World War I. The exchange of gunshots was intense. Separating them was a very narrow strip of noman's land. A young German soldier attempting to cross that no mans-land had been shot and had become entangled in the barbed wire. He cried out in anguish, then in pain he continued to whimper.
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
At this moment you aren't on a journey, but wandering about being driven from place to place, even though what you seek — to live well — is found in all places more full of confusion than the Forum? Yet even there you can live at peace, if needed. — Seneca, Moral Letters, 28.5b-6a
