that’s whacked

the cost of not exploring

Tuesday, Nov 23. 2004  –  Category: Musings

Wired is running an excellent op piece by James Cameron (yes, he of Titanic fame) on the need for exploration. Definitely a good quick 5 minute 2-page read.

There is no more quintessentially human act than to use our consciousness to adapt ourselves to environments in which we could not otherwise survive. It’s what we do better than any other species on Earth.

Wendy and I have often had this discussion… why do I enjoy doing “stupid” (her word, not mine) things like climbing, trying to jump on my snowboard, laying out in ultimate, mountain biking, etc. etc. I suppose my answer is that you can get hurt doing everyday stuff (witness me ramming my head into a flower planter yesterday playing ping pong) - risk is a part of every day life. Everything we has risk… my commute to work has risk (case in point: the murder that happened on Fruitvale ave. on my drive home the other day). Why NOT risk it doing something worthwhile? I would die a thousand times happier falling to my death while climbing than I would crossing the busy intersection at Willow & Bayshore.

To me, there is no greater sense of feeling alive than when there is uncertainty. That being said, I’m all for preparing and trying to make sure there is a given plan of action. But let’s face it, when the shit hits the fan, and you find yourself sitting on a mountain peak at 11,000 feet when the sun is setting, that’s when you feel alive. It’s that uncertainty that keeps you going, keeps the adrenaline pumping, and keeps the blood flowing. Cameron makes the point that surviving is what has enabled mankind to stay at the top of the food chain all these years. Human beings have been engineered to survive… we weren’t engineered to sit at a desk all day.

If you knew everything life was gonna throw your way, then what’s the point of living it? What keeps my life going is not knowing what will happen…whether that’s laying out for a disc and hurting myself, trying to take a jump and landing flat on my back with my wind knocked out of me, or even just diving for a ping pong ball and slamming my head on a flower pot (which sounds not unlike a Chinese gong ringing… it’s a big flower pot).