What does our time on earth add up to?

I'll be joining the writers of Agnes Irwin on the sloping terrain of Chanticleer today; we'll be at work on memoir.  Last night, while again not sleeping, I found these words in Natalie Goldberg's Old Friend from Far Away.  They are the right place to begin.

"We are a dynamic country, fast-paced, ever-onward.  Can we make sense of love and ambition, pain and longing?  In the center of our speed, in the core of our forward movement, we are often confused and lonely.  That's why we have turned so full-heartedly to the memoir form.  We have an intuition that it can save us.  Writing is the act of reaching across the abyss of isolation to share and reflect.... Often without realizing it, we are on a quest, a search for meaning. What does our time on this earth add up to?"