person may identify the fact that irrationality is wrong, that it represents an aberration, a departure from reality. Or
he may conclude (in the form of an emotional generalization) that he is wrong in expecting people to be rational,
and may surrender to a malevolent view of the universe, to the conclusion that man is, for all practical purposes,
inherently irrational.
It is in the nature of a living organism that it must act to preserve its own life and well-being; it is in the distinctive
nature of man that he must choose to value his own life and happiness sufficiently to generate the thought and
action they require: for man, the process is not automatic. A person may develop the life-assertive selfishness
proper to a living being; he may form a solemn ambition to achieve happiness, an intransigent loyalty to his own
values, which entails a proud refusal to treat them as an object of renunciation or sacrifice. Or, fearing the effort,
the responsibility, the integrity, the courage that such selfishness (and self-value) require, he may begin the process
of giving up his soul before it is even fully formed; he may surrender his aspirations, his happiness, his values, not
to some tangible beneficiary, but to his own nameless, unidentified lethargy or apprehension.
Such are some of the basic issues involved in a person's sense of life; the list is far from exhaustive. It should be
mentioned that matters of degree are involved in sense-of-life issues; any of the possible responses can be
maintained with varying degrees of intensity and consistency.
The cumulative result of such responses is generalized feeling about oneself, about existence, and about one's
relationship to existence. A person's sense of life can reflect an unbreached self-esteem and an undiluted sense of
the value of existence, the conviction that the universe is open to the efficacy of one's thought and effort—or it can
reflect the torture of self-doubt and the anxiety of feeling that one lives in a universe which is unintelligible and
hostile. It can reflect a view of life as exaltation or a view of life as tragic doom—a view of life as adventure or a
view of life as frustration—a view of life as beauty or a view of life as sordid senselessness. It can embody
eagerness and self-confidence—or muted, wistful longing—or anguished, tragic defiance—or gentle,
uncomplaining resignation—or aggressive impotence.