As an Easter Egg in my Bouras MCAT Anki Deck, I included this flashcard:
Since the release of the deck, I have been receiving answers from fellow premeds.
Here is a growing list of answers that I’ve received:
responding to the 'meaning of life' easter-egg in your deck. I like the 'meaning of life' you gave, and it definitely fits into my concept of meaning. understanding our common humanity with others, and discovering how to relate to others in a healthy & mutually enriching way on small and large scales is part of what makes life meaningful. as well as understanding that we're all part of something larger, in that we're all just energy recycled over the centuries - life is a state of permanent impermanence, as Jodorowsky put it. lately I've also come to appreciate that developing mastery and understanding of our own minds, and accepting & owning the burden of choice, is one of life's great challenges and potential sources of meaning. (if you haven't read Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" or David Foster Wallace's speech "This is Water", both touch on these ideas in an accessible way). lastly (for now at least), one quote has been on my mind a lot recently: "All of us are infected today with an extraordinary egoism. And that is not freedom; freedom means learning to demand only of oneself, not of life and others, and knowing how to give: sacrifice in the name of love." (Andrei Tarkovsky). Part of the meaning of life for me may be discovering what I love enough to sacrifice for, and making those necessary sacrifices, with awareness of where my efforts are actually going - and still taking care of myself & growing myself along the way.