Friday, October 3, 2008

Living a Life of Perpetual Risk

I have a great quote from ‘Story’ by Robert McKee for you today:


“Life teaches that the measure of the value of any human desire is in direct proportion to the risk involved in its pursuit. The higher the value, the higher the risk. We give the ultimate values to those things that demand the ultimate risks - our freedom, our lives, our souls. This imperative of risk, however, is far more than an aesthetic principle, it’s rooted in the deepest source of our art. For we not only create stories as metaphors for life, we create them as metaphors for meaningful life - and to live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk.”


Who would of thought I would have watched Survivorman, bought a pair of crampons on ebay then go to Alaska and jump ontop of this glacier. And as a bonus we found the ice cave below. Risky? Yes Adventurous? Yes Is it worth taking chances despite the inherent risk? Absolutely!And we'd do it again in a heartbeat!


That last sentence really jumps out at me. ‘To live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk’. When you stop to think about it though, that is the essence of adventure. And the truth is we all crave adventure. Somewhere deep within us, we want our lives to be part of something larger than ourselves, something with meaning.

The reality however is that we typically end up settling for cheap imitations. Instead of living a life of adventure we cover up the desire with watching just enough movies or playing adventure games on the PlayStation. But the truth is, there’s nothing like being in an adventure yourself.

If living a life of perpetual risk is what it takes to have a meaningful, adventurous life, are we prepared to go there? It’s so easy to end up choosing the easiest, safest, most comfortable option. I hope to use my life both to live on an adventure and inspire as many people as possible to do the same.
What do you think?

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