Is life worth living? It depends upon the liver ... 2010

(WORK IN PROGRESS)
"Is life worth living? It depends upon the liver!" is a quote I was introduced in grammar school as an example of a pun on the word "liver." Now, in mid-life, with an intact liver, I seek an answer to the question for "me," the liver, with no pun intended.

The "value of life" question is answered by the environs and the circumstances most of the time for most people. They go with the flow, as it keeps creating an evolving value proposition for people's lives - academic success, professional success, family members' success, fame, power, .... Starting from basics, one reason to wake up in the morning can be that one didn't die the night before - clearly, a somewhat definitional, and definitely an obvious necessary condition. What I am seeking to address through this loud thinking are conditions of sufficiency for waking up in the morning and living another day.

As a corollary, I want to change the question to, "What makes life worth living?"

In the short term, we look to extrinsic factors - the success of children, the smile of a beloved, the green-ness of the lawn in your backyard, the first tooth of a grandchild, ..... - only to realize the impermanence of such factors. The easy dependency on the outside factors makes one vulnerable to changes outside ones control, paving the way to feeling a victim when things do not go the right way. This can further lead downward into a spiral of more serious emotional conditions.

Hence, we must look to factors within. And, more importantly, factors in the present moment.