Author Description

Why Should We Strive To Be Important? Does It Make Our Lives Go Better If We Are Especially Significant? This Book Argues That The Common Impulse To Seek Exceptionally High Levels Of Significance Is Misguided. One Reason Why Is That We Cannot Reach Cosmic-grade Significance, Even If We Do Matter Somewhat In Our Communities. We Do Not Have The Size, Duration, Or Power That Would Allow Us To Be That Important. Even The Value That We Do Contribute To The Universe, Our Loving And Rationality And Pain And Pleasure, Are In Short Supply. So Our Significance Has Built-in Limitations. What Is More, Being Exceptionally Significant Would Not Be To Our Personal Benefit: It Does Not Advance Our Well-being, Our Meaning In Life, Or Any Other Of Our Interests. In Fact, We Have Ample Reason To Embrace Our Modest Levels Of Mattering: If We Do Not Matter Very Much, Then We Are Liberated To Go About Our Lives Without Worry, To The Same Extent. We Should Thus Feel Good About Our Unexceptional Lives. This Book Is A Celebration Of Being Ordinary-- Provided By Publisher.