And then, he returned to his good-old… bad self
August 14, 2016
Maybe the most amazing thing in life, on a personal level, is to dream of becoming someone and then actually go for it, and manage to achieve it.
The sense of wanting something like this badly, brings with it a kind of a blind-folder. Without wanting to, you put it on, as you rush towards your desired goal. And maybe, it is somehow necessary to do so, because it helps you focus and avoid needless distractions.
For those who will finally achieve their goal, the moment of getting there, will be the only true revelation, since it automatically takes off that blind-folder… and there you stand, with your dream materialized.
If at that moment you take the time to consider, before taking your next step… if you take the time to evaluate the distance of your efforts, the questions spring up naturally.
Was it all worth it? Are things now as you have imagined them?
When I first saw the western “Jeremiah Johnson”, starring Robert Redford, there was a scene near the end of the film which remained deeply carved into my memory… In order to explain this, and make the connection, I will have to take you, in short, through the movie.
“Jeremiah Johnson” is a film about a young man, who after the civil war of North and South, realizes that he had enough of people, and enough of their killings and wars. So, he decides to leave “civilization” and become a solitary mountain-man and live in peace, away from it all.
Shortly after his departure he finds out that he has absolutely no clue of how to survive on those mountains and everything that he does… turns into a little clumsy personal disaster. But high up there, he meets with an old, experienced mountain-man, who is already deeply annoyed by the disturbance of peace, coming from this goofy, noisemaking, young man. The old man, claiming that he could hear him and smell him long before their meeting, decides to take him under his wing, and train him into the secrets of surviving and hunting.
Once that was accomplished to a satisfactory degree their ways parted, but unfortunately the young man did not find the peace he craved for. Even there, on the high mountains, he had to fight for the peace he sought!
The only difference was that this time he would not run away or return to the plains, and, without him intending to, he would even make a name of himself…
Many years after, the former apprentice and the old mountain-man, which have not seen each other all that time, meet-up again.
And then the old man, having heard about the accomplishments of his long ago student, asks him the question: “Was (it) worth the trouble?”
And the former student turns to him and gives him the answer that only a Master would give! He replied: “Ah?! What trouble?”
Getting where you want to be, becoming what you wanted, and then realizing that you were right about it, is worth as having lived a thousand lives… Because (fantasy-wise) you could live and die over and over again, only to take again and again the same path, in order to feel that kind of measure, of having achieved your goal!
If there would be a recipe of “the essence of life” it would be very hard to exclude this ingredient. Having achieved what you have dreamed and aimed for.
Even trying and having failed, is worth it… Because we must not forget those people who were denied the possibility to chase a goal in the first place, due to a shortened life, or other unfortunate circumstances, that is beyond their control.
When you try to become what you have been dreaming of, regardless of what that is, the process itself of doing so, changes you at your core. Because who we are, is usually not enough, in order to propel us all the way through… One must, in the process, elevate into something better.
For example, I can imagine a boy standing in his backyard, looking at the stars and dreaming of getting there. And it is possible, that one night like this, the gazing at the stars will take roots into his heart, and dream of becoming an astronaut… In the years ahead of him, he could give it everything he’s got, and finally become what he was dreaming of.
So, he could stand once more in his backyard, gazing at the stars, but now with his dream realized…
To my eyes, the only thing that remains from that boy is the memory of his dream. Because he has changed so much in everything he once was, in order to achieve his goal!
The possibility of acting in this manner is wide open to us all… But only few will make this come true…
Men who have accomplished their dreams are destined to be spontaneously followed by others. Not so much for their accomplishments themselves, as for the bright light they emit, and their blind determination against all odds… In comparison, it is like a dim light of a single candle against the explosion of a supernova.
But those followers do not “live in the shadows” of those who they choose to follow, as some claim. It is more the other way round. Their small light will fire up into flames, by joining the greater light…
Somehow it seems that the great majority of people live a life without a course, direction, purpose or meaning, that would be their own favorite choice of “seizing the day”. And I don’t mean this in a way that one is obliged to do so. But somehow what is the point of life if one misses out the happiness of exploring life’s possibilities through his personal achievement, regardless of what that might be?!
Sadly, it seems like that most people have never been through this process of thinking…
The only thing which surpasses this sadness of doing nothing, is setting enthusiastically your aim for a period of time, and then somehow at some point, let everything fall into oblivion through abandonment, including your own self…
I have seen this so many times, that I lost count of it… And without me intending to, a single phrase comes to my mind:
“And then, he returned to his good-old… bad self!”
Because what else is it, to retreat and run from life?
Always in a positive manner, but also in any way you can, become what you have always dreamed of…
This will produce a good and fulfilled death at the end of our days…
Humans are not afraid to die, they are afraid of un-fulfilled lives!
If this is not the Warriors path, then what else is?