PART III - SIGNIFICANCE

We need a purpose. We need to matter. We need our actions to have consequence.
We hate the idea that we may be insignificant, we absolutely reject the idea that our lives have no purpose; we fear irrelevance.

Our desire for significance is so powerful that it will override even our desire for survival; we’ll give up our lives for our country, for honor, for principle, for a cause we believe in.

We need a purpose so badly that we’ll allow ourselves to be convinced that aliens landed on earth 20,000 yrs ago and told us we need to get “clear”, or that we can hitch a ride on a comet, or that we should all drink poison Kool-Aid.

And if we don’t have a cause, if we’ve not discovered a Purpose or Ultimate Truth, we almost always make one up.

I further contend that this need for Significance has increased in importance relative to our need for Security, because now in much of the world security concerns are less a part of our lives than at any time in history. Since we’re not spending all our time looking for food & shelter, we need a purpose now more than ever.