You can embrace any of a large variety of options within the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions, for instance or choose one of a panoply of schools of Buddhism or opt instead for Taoism, or Confucianism, among many others. The resulting panorama is truly astounding and reflects both the creativity of the human spirit and the urgency that we obviously attach to inquiries into meaning and purpose.

Correspondingly, the tools to seek answers to existential questions vary as much as the approaches that have been used-from sacred texts to deep meditation, from philosophical arguments to scientific experiments. Recently, even science has gotten into the business, with an onslaught of technical papers and popular books on happiness and how to achieve it, accompanied by the obligatory brain scans displaying 'your brain on…' whatever it is that may increase or decrease your satisfaction with life. The numerous religions and philosophies that have been devised over human history to address these issues offer answers ranging from the mystical to the hyper-rational. How should we handle life's challenges and vicissitudes? How should we conduct ourselves in the world and treat others? And the ultimate question: how do we best prepare for the final test of our character, the moment when we die? I N EVERY CULTURE WE KNOW OF, WHETHER IT BE SECULAR or religious, ethnically diverse or not, the question of how to live is central.

D ANTE, T HE D IVINE C OMEDY: I NFERNO, C ANTO I For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

How to be a stoic by massimo pigliucci