Unlike the “normal” adult who is dead inside and who consumes junk food, drugs, alcohol, and mindless entertainment in the frantic search to feel alive, it is natural for the psychologically healthy child to see the dawning of each new day as a new adventure, and to feel as if exciting discoveries beckon and continually lie in wait. “Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.” Heraclitus “The bold adventurer succeeds the best.” Ovidīoldness is in part promoted by the act of becoming more childlike – by regaining our capacity for wonder, curiosity, and most importantly, play. To make the voyages of a questing life, we must become bold, as all quests necessitate leaving the terra firma of the familiar. Quests are defined by their uncertainties, dangers, and risks, and so we must learn to cope with our primitive fear of the uncertain and unknown. There’s nothing else.” Tennessee Williams, Camino Real As the playwright Tennessee Williams advised: In seeing our life as a quest, we can, like Don Quixote, choose to live in the service of self-chosen values and ideals, become incomparable and unique, and try to make our life unpredictable, adventurous, memorable, and perhaps even worthy of one day being told in a tale. “Don Quixote… is an allegory of the life of every man who, unlike others… pursues an objective, ideal end that has taken possession of his thinking and willing and then, of course, he stands out as an oddity in this world.” Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation If our goal is to live, not merely to exist, how shall we best use our time? One option is to follow in the footsteps of Don Quixote, the main character of one of the greatest tales ever told, and instead of acquiescing to a repetitive existence, to structure our life as a quest. The proper function of man is to live, not merely exist…I shall use my time.” Jack London, Tales of Adventure I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom in magnificent glow – than a sleepy and permanent planet. I would rather my spark burn out in a brilliant blaze than be stifled by dry rot. For given that death is coming no matter what we choose to do, is it not better to burn out in an exciting life, than to fade away in monotony and boredom? Reflecting on the repetitive nature of existence can elicit dread, but as the poet Holderlin pointed out: “Where the danger lies, also grows the saving power.” (Friedrich Hölderlin) If the monotony of our days has become a practice in futility, it is a good sign we need to take measures to introduce more novelty into our life. Then we say: “Is this life? Nothing more than this? A closed cycle which is repeated, always identical?” This is a dangerous hour for every man.” José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Quixote We take stock of reality, which is like measuring the length of the chain which binds our feet. It takes us thirty years at the most to recognize the limits within which our possibilities will move. “Soon after we begin living we become aware of the confines of our prison. As comforting as this may seem, in the end it is also an unspeakable horror.” Teofilo F. “There are many, lucky or unlucky, for whom the course of their lives shows little or no departure from these well-ordered routines. Our routines help us impose order on an unpredictable environment, and good habits repeated daily are one of the keys to success in life and career. But for some of us our habits and routines are not the promoter of a great life but instead are webs of thought and behavior that imprison us and limit our potential, and so the thought of them can elicit feelings of futility and dread.
How can it fail to be interesting?” José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on QuixoteĪs creatures of habit we derive comfort from our well-established routines. Each adventure is a new birth of the world, a unique process. It is the unforeseen, the unthought-of, the new. “Adventure shatters the oppressive, insistent reality as if it were a piece of glass. The following is a transcript of this video.
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