I am not going to claim that self-esteem is the only source of motivation. Pain seems to be a good motivator as well. Indeed, I do not jerk my hand away from a hot stove because I'm worried about my self-esteem, I do it because it hurts. Pleasure, or at least the desire for pleasure, is also a motivator of action.

But I think it is quite obvious that most people are not motivated every waking moment by feelings of pain or a desire for pleasure. We aren't mindless beasts, bundles of primal desires and fears that live their lives on the whims of nature. We have the feeling of agency, and regardless of the truth of determinism, we do not feel as though we are being forced against our will to do something by some metaphysical causation. We do most things because we see a reason for doing these things, an overall purpose, goal, or intention.

The source of these reasons is an innate need for a steady self-esteem. By self-esteem, I mean the feeling that one is somehow significant, valuable, worthy, or important. Self-esteem drives our desire for new stuff - we don't get new fancy cars because the cars somehow bring sensual pleasure to us. We get these new fancy cars because they are a status symbol - an icon of our own accomplishments.

Great works of art, literature, science, and philosophy stem from not only our creativity and curiosity but from a need to prove oneself as a worthy individual. Schopenhauer, for example, would isolate himself from the majority of society (out of disgust) but nevertheless perused newspapers for any mention of his name and his works. And Camus (and others) recognized that if the universe is unable to provide a sufficient ground for our self-esteem, self-esteem would have to be based on the individual himself in a radical expression of rebellion.

Unrestricted capitalism is a manifestation gone wild of this need for self-esteem. The worship of those who have managed to succeed in the merciless system are icons for our own desires for greatness to latch on to. Money, power, bitches, cars, yachts, private jets, mansions - these are all manifestations of a person's self-esteem and their denial of death.

Eudaimonic episodes are in fact instances in which the universe seems to fall into place perfectly around the individual. The individual feels empowered, limitless, invincible.

The need for self-esteem also explains why humans so often deceive not only other people but themselves. Of course, the religious will disagree with me on this, but religion from a secular perspective would come across as a need to reassure the ego that death is not the final act of life. For death is the ultimate threat to the ego, and a threat to the ego means a chink in the armor of its self-esteem. This also explains why so many people are unwilling to be honest about their existential situation - it threatens the bubble they have created, the safety net in which their own self-esteem can be cultivated like a psychological greenhouse.

I doubt any amount of extended pain will be enough to force someone to question their own existence - so long as they have an adequate self-esteem. The woman suffering from terminal breast cancer can nevertheless be proactive, social, and exciting so long as she maintains her self-validation. Without this self-validation, she likely would succumb to feelings of hopelessness and despair when she views her own body attacking itself. The minimum-wage worker barely making it through paycheck to paycheck can nevertheless deceive himself that he is living a decent lifestyle by cherishing the small pleasures as the fruits of his labor, or by comparing himself to those who are even worse.

Because of this, self-esteem is not only the primary source of human action (and therefore the primary reason to continue to live), but also the primary source of quelling anxiety. For the most supreme acts of self-validation and higher-level pleasures are also the most efficient at distracting us from our condition.