If, for example, your relationship with your parents came to an end all of a sudden, or a relationship with a student or a friend came to an end, would you be able to accept it as the best possible parting? YOUTH: N-no. That’s so . . . PHILOSOPHER: Then, you have no choice but to start building now the kind of relationship that would make you feel that way. That is what is meant by ‘Live earnestly here and now.’
