Fear: When I was a little boy, living in my tiny, isolated village, I was afraid of the outside world. It appeared to be an enormous hydra lurking just beyond the Pillars of Hercules (1) ready to emasculate and devour any who chanced to cross into its forbidden territory. The long and dusty road (at the time a three-hour trip) that took us to the next community was a grueling effort.
I admired my father for he seemed to be a “man of the world,” having been a soldier during World War Two. He often took my brothers, sister, our mother, and me to this larger town for a shopping outing. In this bustling community, however, I felt odd and out of place. Though I loathed my hamlet, it still retained a deep-seated pull on me and presented a sense of safety and security. I was unable, perhaps due to the traditional concepts of the father-son relationship, (2) to query as to how he had acquired his “maturity.” This distance existed, rather sadly, until the end of his life.
The first step in breaking away from the tentacles of my youth was a school trip to Europe when I was in grade twelve. I realized very quickly that, though we may have different skin tones (black, white, pink, orange, or blue), all blood is the same: it flows red when we are injured or wounded. All I needed to leave my home and begin to explore a much wider and, probably, more interesting world was a bit of courage. Not “battlefield courage,” but belief in myself and the realization that life is truly up to me.
I could easily have remained in my home locale for the rest of my life, gotten married, and had a good job working in the forest or fishing industries. I decided to take a chance and see what reality offered. This decision was profoundly fortuitous for today these industries are mere shadows of their former selves, and many of their workers are unemployed and unskilled in a technologically driven, post-materialist (3) society.
How then do I control this fear of just being alive, what the Existentialists call Existential Angst? (4) I believe that you must spend time introspectively and discover who you honestly are and what you want out of your piece of life. Many people are flummoxed by this question and respond with an, “I don’t know what I want out of life.” This is totally acceptable, especially when you are young. A more embryonic response begins the quest: “I want to be happy; I want to live a peaceful life.” Very quickly people realize that I cannot be happy or at peace if I have a mundane and stressful job. This produces or should produce a deep sense of ambition to discover what I am good at or have an aptitude for.
Great educators like Dr. Ken Robinson call this search, your element or your passion. (5) For you, it is a timeless activity that gives you the greatest joy. From his point of view, this thrust or direction will yield two benefits: you will feel good about your efforts and you will be noticed by others, thus opening other doors of opportunity. Now we come to the nexus of all activity, you must make an effort to initiate movement.
If you do nothing to improve your “lot in life,” you will receive nothing back, guaranteed; and you will have the net result: nothing. Intellectual sloth and physical laziness can achieve only poor results — be brave and act! Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944), the writer of The Little Prince leaves us with a thought: It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys. (Parts of this essay were first published in 2014)
A closing thought: We often blame others for our worldly failure in Western culture. In my view, this is simplistic and hackneyed: your life is one hundred percent your fault. You made or accepted the decisions that brought you to this point: I am free to be me, to succeed or to fail. Therefore we come to the center of my philosophy: life is to be viewed as one great adventure and I must take responsibility for it.
To sum up: This week we spoke about finding the courage to proceed in life.
To be noted: From Winston Churchill (6) — Never give in … never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force … never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Just for fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCWxgDuT75o&ab_channel=ClassicalMusic%2F%2FReferenceRecording
For reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfI2se3O80Q&ab_channel=JordanBPeterson
This week on your pensive walk, please think of the adventure that your life is, or should be.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Don’t be a wage slave – critical thinking is great!
Quote: Life is but a foolish gamble at something bigger than you feel today. It is fickle, but usually just and fair. Good people are mostly rewarded and the bad, and the evil, are probably punished.
Footnotes:
1) The Pillars of Hercules was the phrase applied in Greco-Roman antiquity to the promontories or rocks that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.
2) http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/fathers-and-sons
3) Post-materialism is the transformation of individual values from materialist, physical, and economic to new individual values of autonomy and self-expression. These, however, are not always well-guided.
4) Existential angst is the anxiety and subsequent fear of the possible meaninglessness of existence. Is life real and expansive or totally self-delusional and ego-driven?
5) The Element — ISBN: 978-0-670-02047-8
6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_LncVnecLA&ab_channel=WinstonChurchillSpeeches