I read the
story
- it's not a biography if I remember correctly - of the captain,
I might be wrong about that. But, I've got the basic story right. Well:
They had a shipwreck in the Antarctica. And, then they were there for a whole year, in the Antarctica, you know.
And none of them died; not one.
He didn't lose a single man.
Not one. He kept their morale high. And then they took this boat that was on the ship, and they crossed like four hundred miles
of the roughest ocean, the roughest frigid ocean in the world,
right. You don't go in that ocean. And then they went to an island,
and they walked across the island across these mountains that no one else has ever
climbed since. And they went to the city on the other side of the island they got a boat and they went rescued,
their compatriots and everyone survived. It's like ... "Endurance" is the name of the book. Read that book, man.
You'll think: Wow people are really tough, you know. And ...
... it's ridiculous ...
So, who knows how tough you are. And, maybe you find out by going out to find out how tough you are, right.
So you take on a challenge.
One that you think you can master; that's just a bit beyond your grasp.
And you master it. And then you're a little tougher. And you think: Hey, that worked out pretty well.
And so then you're more of a monster. And then you go out and you find another challenge.
That's even bigger. And you think : Well,
maybe I can do that too. And all of a sudden you can. And you get a little bit bigger. And God only
knows
what the limit is of you. And you find out by pushing yourself against the world. And of course that's what Abraham is doing.
And so ...
See, we're very pessimistic, us modern people. You know. We're pessimistic about
humanity that's for sure: Dismal, wretched, planet destroying,
cancer on the planet, right - as The Club of Rome described us
so pleasantly back in the 1960s. You know. And, I don't know ... Maybe we're ashamed of the Cold War.
Maybe we're ashamed of all the destruction in the 20th Century, and the hydrogen bomb, and, you know, the continuing
catastrophes of our societies. And were deeply ashamed of that, and ashamed of ourselves personally.
But it's a hell of a thing to, you know, call us a cancer on the planet.
There's just no excuse for that. Because, what you do with cancer is eradicate it.
And, I don't think that that's a very noble
motive, personally.
And, I think it says a lot about the people who would use such phraseology, that they would dare to
conceptualize humanity in that manner.
But, you know ... It would be nice if we could be optimistic. And, I think .. Again, the problem with being optimistic
is that it's naïve. So, then the question is: Is there an optimism that's not naïve?
And, I think there is. And, the optimism that's not naive ... is just a
is a visualization of how strong people can be. So, one of the things that I tell
people ... I told my students, in my class, in Maps of Meaning, here is a goal:
You want to be the person, at the funeral of your father that everyone can rely on.
How would that be? Do you want to be the person who's broken, and
useless, and adding to the misery in the corner?
And, look, I'm not
making light of people's grief. You know. I understand grief. But, who do you want to be when there's a crisis?
Right? Do you want to be the person that everyone can turn to for strength?
It's like ... Why the hell not? Why know what that as a goal?
That would be a good goal.
Because then if there's a crisis,
and there will be, it won't be such a bloody crisis. Because there'll be someone there that can deal with it.
You know. So, when I went and talked to these people at the funeral home, I envisioned that. I thought: Okay,
well, this is something you have to contend with, if you're going to be alive, and an adult. You have to contend with death
and suffering. And you have to be ready for it. And you have to be there, for the person.
Because that's all they're going to have.
And so, there's a goal, man. And, in this time of nihilism,
you know, it's: What's the point of life? People ask ... And they're taught that at universities!
What's the point of life? Everything's interpretation. Humanity's a cancer on the planet. You know. Well ...
How about no! How about, not that!
How about, that there "is" something to us!