The chase is the point to life. But not idiots chasing after unrequited lust.

OOC: Crossposted from theatrical_muse today.

Prompt 368: "It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And baffled, get up to begin again,—
So the chase takes up one's life, that's all."
--Life in a Love, Robert Browning

You know, I'd consider this a rare example of humans actually managing to say something profound if I hadn't read the whole poem.

Taken out of context, this quote suggests that the point to life is to keep striving, to keep chasing after something. It's a similar sentiment to another quote from a human: "A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" Given that we, ourselves, have spent a good bit of time in denial of this basic concept, it's rather amazing to me that a species as limited and pathetic as humans could realize it.

The point to life is the chase. To keep searching, to keep reaching for something new. To better yourself (which, unfortunately, gets exponentially harder the closer to perfection you get.) I, along with most of the Q, tried to pretend for millions of years that we *had* reached the pinnacle, that there was nothing more we needed to reach for... and I was miserable, and bored out of my mind, because stagnation is death and the Red Queen's Race applies to all sentient beings, not just the inferior ones. As soon as you stop running forward you slide backward. Even if you are immortal and omnipotent.

( Oh, if only the poem had actually been limited to this simple quote... )