Transcriber: Claudia Solano Reviewer: Tatjana Jevdjic
(Portuguese Brazilian) The enchanting and hospitable capital of Minas Gerais.
(Music)
(Portuguese) Good evening.
And Namastē, I bring you greetings from India.
Actually, I wanted to come down from a rope here,
but Nathalia wouldn't allow that. She said,
"You might just fall and break the stairs."
So are you guys having a good time?
And I want a loud response from all of you.
(Audience) Yes.
There are some people down there who are sleeping, definitely.
That's not loud enough, OK?
So one more time.
(Audience) Yes!
Good, now everybody is awake. Alright.
So what I'm going to do today,
I believe that life is all over having fun,
enjoying in every moment, you know,
there's nothing to be sad about.
I know, because right now I am in a very happy position
because I'm talking and you guys have to listen to me, OK?
So, like, you cannot escape.
And I'm not letting you sleep. I can see all of you, alright?
So I will begin with a question
about the greatest adventure that mankind can ever undertake.
And according to me that is marriage.
So I would like to ask you a question:
What is one similar thing between climbing and marriage?
The answer is: Both start by tying a knot.
Now, what is the biggest thing
that differentiates marriage from climbing?
In climbing, if my partner is a man,
nobody will say that I'm gay, right? (Laughter)
Why am I talking about marriage now?
You guys wanted me to talk about climbing, right?
But I thought that I'd dedicate my talk today
to all our married friends here and across the globe,
because according to me that is the greatest adventure of all.
Because in there you're climbing Everest every day of your life
and I've only climbed it a couple of times.
So I would call it, because according to me,
marriage is mission impossible. For me.
So today, we're going to view this movie called Mission Impossible 5,
Tom Cruise, right?
He's not aware of this.
Because it has been produced here in Belo Horizonte,
the most exciting city on this planet.
This movie has been scripted and directed
by my very dear friend Adam.
Ops. I think that's a picture of his son.
I am really sorry Adam.
But you know, I think he's more cute than his dad.
So we'll leave him there, alright?
Now this movie stars only one person,
which is yours truly and it's just like my real life,
no lady love in this movie as well. Alright?
Adam, being Adam, he did not trust me at all.
He sent me the script on mail saying, "This is important,
so please mug it up and spit it out on the stage.
Because I don't trust you. I've no idea what you're going to say."
So I mugged it up, but I didn't trust him either.
So I put this into Google Translator,
and told it to tell me what this is all about.
And this is what the computer told me.
So Adam – (Laughter) – I'm going completely out of the script here.
(Laughter) I'm going to follow Google Translator.
(Applause)
When I joined the special forces when I was in my 20s,
I thought like I'm Rambo, reincarnated [unclear],
I'm gonna save the world – so I joined the special forces.
First thing my instructor told this to me
and this has stayed with me for the rest of my life,
although I don't make any sense of it, even now.
This is what he told me, and then Adam said this to me,
"Mr. Hunt, mission impossible, difficult as a walk in the park ."
So let's start with the difficult. Let's start with walk in the park.
So, let's look at a couple of my parks.
These are my kind of parks.
These are the kinds of parks where I take a walk.
These are some of the remotest and most hostile places on Earth –
many places where nobody has ever gone before or since,
that I was there.
And I love being in these kinds of parks
because it's always exciting —
I have no idea if I'm going to fall or live through the day,
what will happen..
So it's best to enjoy every moment
and be in it and just go for it.
Because, by staying in these kinds of parks —
obviously, no doubt I don't have a girlfriend, right?
Because, which girl would go for a stroll in a park like this?
So these are my kinds of walks,
these are the walks that I undertake.
But it's brilliantly beautiful, I always say that the world
looks much better from the top.
And people always ask me, "Where did that rope come from?"
And I say, "OK, I have no idea where that rope came from."
But I am very happy that there is a rope.
This is my concept of hanging out.
Like we always say, "Will you hang out with me?"
So, like, if the women out here think of hanging out with me —
This is what's gonna happen to you.
Again then, Adam said that every search for a -
something is missing —
Must begin with something, which we all require is a dream.
Now, I always feel that without a dream nothing can begin.
Because that is when you allow yourself to go beyond your limitations.
And when your dream, my request to you is — dream big.
As wild, as impossible as you can think of, because dreams are free,
you don't have to pay anything for it and it's completely yours.
Nobody is stopping you in doing it, anything.
So I was dreaming of climbing the highest mountains in the world.
That's Everest from the North face, which I have done.
This route.
Going into the biggest of crevasses,
climbing on the highest unclimbed walls in the world,
these were my dreams.
This is from Peru, Bolivia, Peruvean Andes.
And walking like this, on the edge without any ropes,
I never know — will I fall on the left side or on the right side?
So, it was always exciting, you know, if you don't know.
I love my ignorance. I know nothing about anything, alright?
And that's why I love my life, because I don't know what's going to happen next.
I feel God's existence is extremely boring
because he knows everything. OK?
This is taken from North Pole on my journey towards the Pole.
And I've always dreamt of going to places where no man has ever gone before.
But my purpose has always been to find my true self, my soul,
what I am really looking for.
Well, I am still looking. That's why I am in Belo Horizonte.
Still looking [for] my soul, myself.
This is my philosophy, I don't think that many will not agree to it.
But if you have any problems ever in life, just go and climb a mountain.
You will find the answers.
Because the answer will come from within.
And when you live in a place like this where any moment could be your last,
you really start asking yourself
the kind of questions that you should be asking
in normal life as well.
We are looking vertically down, so we're actually hanging
by the side of a very steep wall.
You ought to te crazy to be doing something like this.
So, I know I'm very stupid, I'm like, I don't have brains.
If I had I wouldn't do these kinds of things, so...
This is not really the healthiest of activities one can do.
Again, I feel that as long as we stay within our comfort zone,
within our similar world, we never really experience
the beauty of this world.
You know, we gotta go out and do something,
experiment with ourselves to begin with, challenge ourselves.
And then only we'll really see the real beauty of the world.
And believe me, I have pretty much travelled all over the world
in almost very country that you can think of,
which has mountains, of course.
Obviously, I've never been to Cuba, and I don't want to go there.
So, when you go here, you suddenly realize
that you have this amazing world. And it's yours, OK?
You're not Brazilian, I'm not Indian, you're not American.
We belong to this planet.
And you suddenly feel that, yes, it's worth fighting for.
Exactly what Sara is doing, what a lot of people here are doing.
Like the chief is doing, it's absolutely worth fighting for.
Let's fight for it, you know, we got to preserve it.
Because we got this as a gift from our ancestors,
and it's our duty, a responsibility to give this to our next generation.
This is from inside a crevasse.
I always talk about this picture because I fell into this crevasse,
I was bleeding really badly, I was lying like this.
I knew, I was going to die because nobody knew I had fallen inside.
And I looked at myself, "Oh, wow, what can I do at this moment?"
"Well, so I'm going to take a picture of this beautiful thing. (Laughter)
Because I'll never be in this situation ever again in my life."
So there you are.
So that's what making the most of the time, being in the moment [is].
This is very important — which kind of propels me always.
Like, people ask me, "You have done everything
that humans can possibly do in the mountains.
What's next?"
Obviously there's something next, because the more I climb,
the more I find out how much more there is to climb.
It's like knowledge, more I know.
Of course I know nothing, but for somebody —
the more you know, you realize how little you know.
So it's kind of a motivation to go beyond, keep going on and on.
Ok, mind is like a Swiss knife because it can do everything.
And if it comes with a brochure which nobody reads.
I love to fail. I love my failures. I keep falling,
I've broken every part of my body, I have stitches all over myself.
Because I feel that if I'm not failing,
I'm not really trying something hard enough.
Constantly staying within my comfort zone,
constantly getting grade A in school,
well, I've never been to school and college,
so that's not a part of my life —
But constantly doing good, excelling in whatever I do,
it does not mean that I am really good.
It just means that I am limiting myself to this red circle,
because Natalia has told me I better not step out of this,
or someone will shoot me from the back so I'll stay here.
But otherwise in my life I'm constantly stepping out of it, alright?
And that's important, because it does not mean
that every time you succeed it does not mean you're good.
Challenge yourself, find out for yourself.
You have no idea how strong you are, OK?
And these are my kinds of the ways that I challenge myself constantly,
always, all the time.
This again – you might think I will say these [Unclear] messages,
but it's not true, believe me.
After a hard days work, a small cup of tea would seem like a God's gift.
This is my kind of suffering that I go through, willingly.
And believe me, I suffer.
It's not that I enjoy it. It's really, really bad.
But at the end of the day, I'm happy.
I can tell myself, "Look back, yes, I did it," you know.
It's a great sense of achievement, it's a great sense of doing something.
Actually all of you are climbing Everest.
It's not ony I who climb Everest. Because everybody has an Everest.
Your Everest could be - like for Erika,
it could be building a school in Guatemala.
And I have no logical way of saying
that your Everest is lesser or smaller than mine.
It's actually a bigger challenge.
Because, in Everest nobody is really resisting me, I am just going up in the air.
There could be a lot of people resisting your effort.
And we all climb in our own style and all styles are fine.
Now, when I was in school, well, I was never in school,
but someone told me that the shortest distance
between points A and B is a straight line.
And that's the way I like to climb
because I am a very lazy person, believe me.
My favorite pass time is sleeping and dreaming. That's what I do.
So I like to take the shortest route
and believe me it's always the easier route, alright. Seriously.
So these have been a couple of my climbs where I've gone in a straight line
as far as possible.
And this is good, you know, if I don't like my partner,
I can drop something on him and kill him. (Laughter)
It's a kind of [Unclear] purpose.
And here I'm climbing without a rope, like, this is the craziest kind of thing.
And I didn't see that there was a big chunk of ice on top of me,
and my friend was happily taking my picture
instead of telling me to get out of the way.
Obviously he liked me or maybe he wanted me dead.
Could be anything. (Laughter)
This is a very important lesson is life. You know, we tend to rush.
We tend to rush into everything, but we are going to remember
that nothing in life can be achieved without taking that one step, you know?
We are not long jumpers. You cannot jump across hurdles.
Ok, we can do it in Olympics, perhaps, but not in real life.
In real life everything has to be built step by step.
And believe me, every step is important.
I cannot say that my first or the second step was the most important
Now, these are a couple my steps that I take.
But I am sure they're as challenging as any of yours,
in your life, in whatever you do.
Always remember, don't worry. If the step is difficult, just take it.
Because, even if you're about to die, just imagine the situation
that you're absolutely down and out, you've collapsed on ground,
you're dehydrated, whatever...
Just tell yourself, I don't want to rest there.
All I want to do at this point of time is take one step.
And believe me if there is still one bit of breath left in you,
you will be able to take that step. OK?
You may not be able to reach there, but at least you'll reach here,
which is better than being here.
So life has to be dealt step by step —
Forget about the final goal, forget about the top of the mountain.
I never ever look up, don't ever.
All I want to suggest is to take the next step, that's it.
And anybody can do it, under any situation and circumstances
you can take the next step. And that's very important.
Well, obviously there are my kind of steps
where I'm taking one step at a time, just like baby Tiane is.
This is very important.
Ask yourself, when somebody tells you that this is impossible.
How does he know? He is not God.
How do you know that this is impossible for you?
Who has told you this? Challenge yourself. Ask yourself.
How can you reach and say, "This is impossible for me?"
No way! You're not God. You don't know anything.
Least of all, the biggest danger on this in this life is actually yourself.
We really do not know what lies inside.
So, if somebody tells you this is impossible,
say, "Are you God? If you are then it's OK,
otherwise get lost, OK, I don't believe you."
So these are some of my ways of finding out what is impossible.
But yes, I'm not saying that I don't fall, I fall all the time.
I've collapsed, in fact I think soon after this one or maybe the next one.
Yes on this, this was [when] I was climbing in Slovenia.
Just after the shot was taken I collapsed
with about a 30 meters of ice column on top of me.
It was completely red and they thought that I'm completely gone.
But, well, here I am in front of you. (Laughter)
Think about this.
The more options we have, I think we tend to underperform,
because I'm not doing my best;
because I know I have a fall back option, right?
Like, if I'm standing here, I know if I take one more step
I'm going to fall off the stage, but I'll not really fall far. OK?
So I have this option.
But let's say if this edge is like 2000 meters high.
Can I take that step?
I don't have an option, right?
Stepping down is not an option for me anymore.
So I have to stay here. [unclear]
So this is really good and sometimes in life
it really brings the best out of you,
because the more we think of failure, the more we think of,
"Oh, I can do that, OK. If A doesn't work I'll go for B."
For me, options are very simple. Like, let' say a situation like this.
I know if I do it I'll live. If I don't do it, I'll die.
So for me life is very simple: Yes — I live, no — I die.
So, obviously I never say no. To anything. (Laughter)
So if you could treat life like that —
I'm not saying that you have go to an edge like that -
You know, my knees were actually shaking on that edge.
But it's nice, at times, just to tell you
so that I don't have any option. OK?
And then you really, really come out.
Now, we often rush towards the goal.
But I think it's the journey which is important,
and Christopher has brought that out wonderfully.
It's the journey for me, it's always the journey,
it's the climb, it doesn't matter what happens,
It doesn't matter what I reach, because where ever I reach is my summit.
It may not be the summit of the mountain, but it's my summit.
So I'm fine with it. I'm not rushing.
You've got to stop, to enjoy it, because even if I reach the summit —
let's say my longest stay on Everest so far has been about 40 min
and that was because I reached the top and I slept off.
I actually went off to sleep on top of Everest.
So, I only I woke after those 40 minutes. But that's it.
Whereas the entire climb has taken me about 45 days.
So which is more? The summit or the journey?
And that's what we're all doing right now, you know.
We're always reaching from place A to place B.
We are never really at a place.
So, this is what you have to enjoy.
It's not that what is going to happen next,
wherever I will reach the top or not,
what will happen to me. It doesn't matter.
Enjoy the climb, because that is life.
And I always say that life is synonymous with climb.
And life is a climb. Yes, and climb is a very big struggle,
we are huffing and puffing.
But the rewards: the view is great.
And I love to do this, you know?
So life, living life is great an experience.
I love to experiment, I love to challenge, go out there and do it.
Now, what is impossible today may not be impossible tomorrow.
I totally believe in this and that's where it connects me back
to my instructor in the special forces who said,
the difficult we do immediately, impossible takes a little time.
So give yourself some time. Beat all within yourself.
And your impossible will become possible.
Believe me, it will. It will.
There's nothing called impossible in this world.
Absolutely nothing.
And these are my ways of proving to myself
that things are not really impossible.
But I have my own journeys, you have your own.
And I'm not saying that yours is any way
less dangerous or less fatal than mine.
Or that I am doing something great and you're not.
I mean, we all are. Because, all our journeys are fantastic.
And this is a real take, which I always realize
that things are only impossible until they are not.
Because one day it will not be impossible.
Like, who had ever thought that we would have one day
something like a mobile phone?
I mean, when I was a child,
if somebody said, somebody is like this, I would have said, "Impossible". Right?
But today we all have mobile phones.
Now we have got these Google, Android applications, bla bla bla.
Goodness, I mean, I'm astonished right now.
Is it possible? Is it some kind of wizardry or something like that?
So one day, believe me, it will become.
So it is only impossible until it's not. As simple as that.
So you can see this and I can tell you with full confidence
that if there's anybody in this audience who thinks that he cannot be there,
in place of me — you're wrong, you can be.
You can be. And you don't need me for doing that.
It's all within you. Unleash yourself.
Because impossible is only a state of mind.
And why I love this word impossible
is because within the world itself lies the possibility.
Now see how it reads.
It's impossible but – I am possible.
And yes, I am somewhere there on this ridge somewhere.
I don't know where.
So I'd like to leave you with this thought of mind —
just keep dreaming,
and for that you have to keep sleeping like me,
and never stop exploring.
(Portuguese) Thank you. That's a trick photograph.
He was lying like this, I've made it like this.
And Adam said this presentation will self destruct in 5 seconds,
so let's run from here, alright.
(Applause) Thank you.