The Meaning of Life: A Practical Guide to Staying Alive

After a long, frightening journey, a Seeker of Truth reaches the top of a mountain and finds the cave of the Wise One. He says, “O, Wise One, I have come many miles and suffered many hardships, to ask you one question.” “Ask,” says the Wise One. “What is the meaning of life?,” says the pilgrim.

The Wise One pauses, smiles slightly, and replies, “You have come far and seem to me worthy, so I shall give you what you seek--the truth. The answer is in your question and this journey is your life. Go back down the mountain. When you arrive, you will know how much time you have wasted, and you will have no more time left. So, give me your watch.”

Why is life so mysterious and why is its purpose so elusive to us? It may be that we have looked for the meaning of life in the wrong places, as though in a nightmarish scavenger hunt arranged by the Prince of Darkness himself. From one moment to another, we thought it was money or power or fame or honor or comfort or some other pleasure of the flesh, only to see them, finally, as false clues leading to a mountain we shouldn’t have climbed.

This book records an inquiry that found the meaning of life by discovering the meaning of death. This is reflected in the words and behavior of those who decide to die--the suicides. These poor souls have much to teach us, for they have measured out for us the value of death, from which we can calculate the value of life, its reciprocal.

So a study of suicide leads to the truth about life, yours and mine. This book guides you to that revelation. The surprise of the book is that you will discover that you knew it all along. The promise of the book is that you will know that you know.