Everyone of us is engaged in a life long effort to make living both meaningful and significant. Meaningful by fulfilling our own potential. Significant by improving the world.

Lyle Simpson, president of the Humanist Foundation, put it this way in a paper he wrote last year for "Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism" published by the Humanist of Houston:

After considering the question of "what is my purpose?" for years, I find that for me only two aspects of life ultimately have relevance. First, "our life is meaningful to ourselves to the extent we share in happiness." By achieving actualization of our own life, in the manner articulated by Dr. Maslow, we reach the pinnacle of our own existence. However, that alone would cause one to become selfish, and to miss the greater values in life that come from sharing one's own existence with others. Therefore, the second relevant element is equally necessary.

Simply stated, "our own life becomes 'significant' to the extent the world becomes a better place because we have been here." The healthy person keeps both in balance. Thus, as humanists, we not only have a duty to actualize our own existence, but we also must assist others to achieve the same result.

--Flo Wineriter