There is an ‘ought-ness’ about life that troubles the reflective mind. He or she senses that we ought to be happier than we are, better than we are, wiser, more alive. We ought to be thinner, kinder, more peaceful, more controlled; and most thoughtful people have occasional, late-at-night presentiments that we ought to consider our finiteness.  As Sappho, the poet, said: ‘Not even God Himself can do what cannot be; and surely as starry night follows rosy-armed Dawn and brings us darkness unto the ends of the earth, Death tracks ...

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