In the end, London's challenge becomes a design brief. Rather than waiting for life to drift in sleepy orbit, we can choose deliberate conflagrations: projects with clear stakes, work that stretches skill, love that risks vulnerability. Then, as a counterweight, we can build stable structures—habits, communities, and rest—that keep the sky clear enough to notice the next chance to blaze. In this way, the meteor and the planet cease to be rivals and become phases of a single trajectory, where intensity illuminates purpose and permanence protects it. [...]
