What was the meaning of life again? Oh yeah now I remember.

A little incident tonight led me to think about the meaning of life, once again and to remember all the various conversations I have had with myself over the years about the meaning of life and where I wound up on this topic. So here's the story: I was at a nightclub tonight. I really couldn't figure out what I had liked about it so much the previous times I had been there. The conversation was dull. The music was good but predictable and too loud so that it got drowned out mostly.

I began thinking to myself, what had made this all so interesting before? Then I remembered how trying to meet women at nightclubs, just for the challenge of it, had been fun in its own way. Of course now being very happily married all that was left was the music which was ok and sounded better on my ipod and the dull small talk.

I then remembered why the lady chasing had been so much fun previously. That's because it was all the Nichomachean Ethics. That is the book Aristotle wrote 2000 years ago where he mused on the meaning of life. The idea that he had was that we should seek excellence in all things as the meaning of life. I think this is something that throughout my life has always been a rewarding source of longterm enjoyment. So I liked being excellent at lady chasing in my youth. Now I seek pleasure in excellence at my job and in writing, health, etc. Seeking excellence puts me in a direction and sets me on a course to somewhere that is worthwhile to arrive at. It's good to have someplace to arrive instead of one short vacation after another, interspersed with drudgery, as people often view the work week.