The greatest tragedy of Thomas Jefferson

A friend of mine, having watched a documentary on Thomas Jefferson, contributed to a recent discussion on the nature of suffering that Jefferson once said, "The art of life is the art of avoiding pain."

This goes right along with protecting our hearts by disconnecting from the world. It seems that is exactly what Jefferson did. He lost his best friend, both his parents, five out of six children, and his wife during his lifetime. Then at a certain point, he fell in love again, but the woman was married. At that point, he wrote a conversation piece between his mind and his heart. That is where the above quote comes from. He decided to live in his "head" for the rest of his life, instead of his heart.

If so, that was Jefferson's deepest tragedy.

As much as life hurts -- and no mistaking it does, the longer you live, the more meaningless suffering you see -- it is infinitely preferable to simply existing. The only true joys of life come from being with other people.

A life spent alone is a life squandered, a lifetime of opportunities wasted.