Jean Paul Sartre, the French existentialist, achieved lasting international fame in the early part of the twentieth century by suggesting that although humans are frightfully lonely creatures living in a thoroughly empty world, they are nonetheless responsible to live authentic lives.  Even if we have no meaning, we are still here, Sartre insisted, still here and living on this forgotten and forsaken planet and are therefore called to do the best we can with it.
     Sartre captured the heart of the human dilemma.  Even if we do not know why we are here, we nonetheless recognize that we are here and that, in most instances, we would rather be here than not.  Better to live in a meaningless world than to not live at all.  Better to live authentically than not.
     So every day becomes a grand adventure, a grand voyage of discovery, a journey into, as Sartre put it, the "new," the better, the next.  We go through life, living, breathing, delighting, challenging, basking, and enjoying, seemingly without end. It sounds very wonderful and entirely logical.
     On one hand, it is.  One day, however, life does end.  One day, it is over, never to return.  It's been fun, we think, it's been glorious, but now it's over.  Forever.
     Is that all we really want?