Existencial Angst: First Brush on the Topic

a. k. a. "'Cuz you only live once"

My generation seems to have discovered something trully amazing... that we only live once. I know, it's a great breakthrough, isn't it. I tell you, I can't imagine how these guys manage stuff like this.

Ok, serious now. When was the last time you met anyone or anything that didn't live just once?. People have been living once since the begining of time!!!. We don't know if the universe will get to live more than once, but best to not go down there.
So, seeing that everyone we ever knew has lived only once, why, all of the sudden, is everyone so FULL of this statement?. And by FULL I mean, making it a way of living.


The easiest, closest answer could perhaps be found on the fact that religion, in the developed world at least (which is really all I know), has seen better times. Or, put simply, we don't believe in the afterlife anymore. And that's big stuff. Suddenly we are riped out of the comforting thought that no matter how bad things are down here, it will be all better when we pass away. But this is only a small part of the story, or it has been since the Middle Ages.
From my modest perspective, there's something else going on. It is not what completes the picture, but it's bound to be a part of it. That is the lack of ideals that abounds in today's society. No one believes in anything. The perfect way to ride the world has been firmly stablished. We are all well fed, warm, healthy, educated, and with plenty of money left to spend in other much less urgent things. Everything is peachy. Well, everything for US is. And that perfect way to ride the world that keeps us all well fed, warm, healthy, educated, and with plenty of money to spend REQUIRES that we 1) only care about having plenty of money to spend and 2) don't see beyond the self. The result is a selfish, hedonistic society, whose only interest is in making money and in enjoying life mainly from what we can get from money.

Here's something clear as the light of day. We will always have existencial anxiety. It stems from the fact that we are mortal and aware of it. It's part of our humanity. It's how we DEAL with it that can be changed. And in fact it has, all through human history.
Is there a RIGHT way to deal with it? I'm sure of it. Do I know it? Hell, no. Do I think anyone knows it?. Most definitely no. Usually, when I don't know the answer to something, I consider all the possibilities. And I think and think again. What I am most afraid is that these people who live under the "'Cuz you only live once" ideal, haven't really considered ALL the possibilities. I feel like they are merely swallowing what they've been raised on. And my biggest fear, is that they are going to get to their old age, look back and think "yeah, I've enjoyed the ride. But what's left AFTER I'm gone?"