I was getting ready to leave at the end of the work day when the school secretary asked me how my Doctorate was going.

“It’s full of ups and downs,” I said; “A really bumpy ride.”

“Well… when you are finished, you will discover what life is all about,” she said. I think she was alluding to starting a family.

The problem is… I feel like our lives are determined. We can make choices, but why do we make them? Is nature in control or is it reason? So often, we respond to our natural impulses and justify them later.

We think we are using reason to control our desires, but our desires control our reason.

How do we avoid becoming a slave? A slave to discipline. A slave to desire. A slave to marriage.

Or perhaps, living in the void with total freedom is meaningless. We must tie ourselves to something to have meaning. And only this commitment to “something” is meaningful.