Summary
This article discusses the rarity of life and encourages readers to strive for their goals rather than settling for lesser ones.
Abstract
The article starts by emphasizing the unlikelihood of our existence, suggesting that we should make the most of this "wild and precious life." It introduces the concept of diligence as a virtue that makes us useful and highlights the purpose of life as a combination of happiness and usefulness. The article argues that our goals often fall short due to setting them too low, rather than failing to overcome obstacles. It stresses the importance of aligning our thoughts with our goals to avoid internal and external conflicts. The piece concludes by encouraging readers to break free from their self-imposed restrictions, just as a butterfly breaks out of its cocoon.
Opinions
Your answer:
# Summary
This article discusses the rarity of life and encourages readers to strive for their goals rather than settling for lesser ones.
# Abstract
The article starts by emphasizing the unlikelihood of our existence, suggesting that we should make the most of this "wild and precious life." It introduces the concept of diligence as a virtue that makes us useful and highlights the purpose of life as a combination of happiness and usefulness. The article argues that our goals often fall short due to setting them too low, rather than failing to overcome obstacles. It stresses the importance of aligning our thoughts with our goals to avoid internal and external conflicts. The piece concludes by encouraging readers to break free from their self-imposed restrictions, just as a butterfly breaks out of its cocoon.
# Opinions
- Life is a precious gift that should not be lived idly.
- Diligence is a virtue that makes us useful and leads to good fortune.
- The purpose of life is a combination of happiness and usefulness.
- We often limit ourselves by setting our goals too low.
- Aligning our thoughts with our goals is crucial for avoiding internal and external conflicts.
- Breaking free from self-imposed restrictions is essential for growth and progress.
Calculations of the probability of you existing are all over the Internet. They all come out with skinny odds. Suffice it to say the odds of us being alive are zero.
You and I are radically improbable events.
That leaves us to ponder what to do with this one wild and precious life.

The gift of life is not ours that we might live idly.
Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness, its opposite, never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes.
Miguel de Cervantes
Diligence is one of the seven virtues. To be diligent is to have a strong ethic, a belief that work is good in itself as process. Hard work pays off. It makes us useful.
The purpose of life is happiness and usefulness.
We gravitate towards what we picture in our minds.
When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. The only limits are those of vision.
Most of us aren’t vulnerable to the risk of setting our aim too high and falling short. The danger lies in setting our goal too low and achieving it. Think bigger.
It’s not the obstacles that keep us from reaching our goals. It’s a clear path to a more comfortable, safer, lesser goal. Don’t settle.
When we are congruent with our thoughts, our goal will manifest with ease. But when we are incongruent in our thoughts, we manifest conflict and obstacles internally and externally.
The ideal is within you. And the obstacle to reaching this ideal is also within you. You possess everything you need to create your ideal self.
Why does the butterfly break through its cocoon? Because it’s tired of living in a constricted weave of its own making.
We begin to live the instant a restrictive cocoon of our own making becomes unacceptable.
Karolina KozmanaBy rejecting alcohol, you reject something very human, an extra limb that we have collectively grown to deal with reality and with each…
UnbecomingIt’s August in Northern Virginia, hot and humid. I still haven’t showered from my morning trail run. I’m wearing my stay-at-home mom…
Hazel Paradisemany ways to start a passive income today
Sufyan Maan, M.EngThink before you speak. Read before you think. — Fran Lebowitz