We are all more or less haunted by this question of posterity. It refers us to the meaning that we will give to our existence. What meaning do you give to your actions? To the values that you carry within you? Posterity as you approach it is more akin to celebrity codes. Perhaps you could better specify your need: is it that of transmission or of fame? That of escaping a death of the soul or of seeing his name inscribed in history?
In the 1940s, the American psychologist Abraham Maslow presented a theory of motivation in human beings in the form of a pyramid. This pyramid places our need for accomplishment at its apex. A need that tends to grow when it is satisfied, that is to say the desire to exploit one’s potential to the maximum in a search for truth. And therefore to transmit something of oneself. When we transmit what drives us deeply, this something of oneself survives our physical disappearance. To transmit is to register with posterity. It’s up to you to determine in your actions what you want us to keep from you. Your mode of action in the world could then be reversed and become more constructive.
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