A LIFE WORTH LIVING

“Believe, and you shall be right, for you shall save yourself. Doubt, and you shall again be right, for you will perish.

The only difference is that to believe is greatly to your advantage”

         This memorable quotation is by William James MD, the great American physician, philosopher and psychologist. He recorded it in 1882 in an article he wrote in the Princeton Review entitled ‘Rationality, Activity and Faith;’ a very complicated, complex and far-reaching essay on the subject of human behavior. It covered many aspects of thought and activity as he argued forcefully, and in my view very correctly, that ultimately we all become the person we believe we are, and each one of us will either enjoy the rewards, or pay the price of that belief.

         In life, each one of us is constantly faced with this dilemma; to do or not to do! Each time a situation arises or a decision is required, we instinctively experience a feeling of uncertainty that will remain until a decision is made. Those who are positive, whose belief structure is established and confidence secure, will go forward and be rewarded. But those who are consumed with doubt, apathy and insecurity are likely to hold back, and risk losing everything. In the end, it is never the task ahead, nor its difficulty or its complexity that determines success or failure. It is always about us, our faith in ourselves, our confidence in our ability and our belief that we will succeed, that determines the outcome.

         One of my most striking encounters with this dilemma occurred many years ago. I was a young physician only recently returned and working in the ER. To my horror, I was called by the police to the home of a friend whom I had known all my life. He had just committed suicide. It would appear that this young man, because of a number ill-advised choices and associations had found himself in what he felt to be in a pointless situation. He had lost all hope or belief that the life he so longed for, was still attainable. To him, all the doors were now shut tight. He saw no reason to live and he decided that this was his only option.. As I examined him, I remembered looking at his lifeless body and asking myself; “Did he really find the solution? Is he really finally at peace?”  ---- -I am not sure if I ever found an answer!

         There was another experience that has affected me even more unforgettably, and one which still stands out in my mind far more than the countless incidents that I have witnessed over the many years of my professional life. More than any other, it has served to underline the validity of James’ views to me. It concerns the actions of a member of my family. He was a man, who for as long as I have known him, overflowed with an inexhaustible belief in himself and in life. Starting from a relatively humble beginning, he successfully built an empire by dint of personal confidence and a profound belief in his ability and in the value of life.

Some fifteen years ago, as a result of an unfortunate accident,   he suffered a catastrophic fall which resulted in total paralysis below the neck and permanent loss of mobility. Contrary to the usual response one would normally expect of negativity, cursing his luck, his physician and his God, he instead believed that there was a meaning in this new life and spent the next five years of his life teaching others by example, how to cope with the disability. His belief clearly made his life worth living; and he lived it to the fullest!

I have chosen these two examples quite deliberately to demonstrate the extreme ends of the spectrum of life. Although they appear to be completely different in every aspect, in fact a closer examination will reveal that they both form part of the continuum of life which ranges from feelings of despair, doubt and disappointment on one end, to those of joy, confidence and optimism at the other end.  This is exactly what James was alluding to in the above quotation, and by inference, reminding us that the decisions and the choices are, to a large extent, in our hands. Where we find ourselves on the continuum rests more on the decisions we make and the choices we accept and far less on circumstances, luck or chance.

 If we value life enough, then we will be willing to expend the effort necessary. But if we do not, then we will surely end up discarding it;

-- and then pay the price!

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