Brooks Was Here... But So Was Red

C, and C, and Shawshank, and Longshanks

We all have that one friend. They’ve got talent and unlimited potential, but they’re not doing much with either. Everyone who knows them can see that talent going to waste; everyone agrees that it’s a terrible waste, and some friends have tried to tell them what Chazz Palminteri told us all those years ago, “the saddest thing in life is wasted talent.” You may have even tried to inspire them to action by telling them: how much you believe in them, all of the things they could do to manifest their talent, how much happier they will be if they go after their dreams, and walking them through a plan to get moving in that direction. Eventually, after all that time and talk, they end up right back where they were, and you end up even more frustrated than you were before investing all of that time and talk. You just want to grab them by the shoulders and shake some sense into them. Here’s a secret everyone knows; that doesn’t work. Here’s a secret nobody wants to admit; that friend, the person that’s letting their talent go to waste, it’s almost every single one of us. “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent,” and that giant pile of wasted talent onto which we have thrown ourselves is a tragedy of epic fucking proportions. What do you want to do about it, friend?

Wait. I don’t want to make assumptions. Maybe that person letting their talent go to waste isn’t you; but it’s definitely me. Let me tell you how I got here. Let’s start at the beginning. I’m about to die. “Metabolic syndrome” my doctor calls it; a combination of: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, obesity, and abnormal cholesterol. The years of slowly killing myself with my daily choices have finally reached critical mass. (No pun intended.) The bad “food,” the years on the couch, the endless white noise of anxiety, and the gargantuan doses of caffeine taken in a foolish and counterproductive attempt to inoculate myself against it all have finally accumulated to bring me to that same simple choice that Andy Dufresne had to make… “get busy living, or get busy dying.” Fortunately making my choice had become quite simple as well. I’ve been busy dying for the better part of two decades… let’s get busy living.

Randall Wallace said, “every man dies; not every man really lives.”* The truth implicit in this idea brings up a question of vital importance--what does it mean to really live? Asking this question is essentially the same as asking the meaning of life, and I can state unequivocally that I do not know. I don’t know if anyone knows, but I know who’s got a hypothesis worth considering--Neil Degrasse Tyson. Dr. Tyson says that, “meaning is not something you search for and find under a rock or behind a tree; meaning is something you create in your life for yourself and for others. And, when you do that, then you realize you have much more control over your happiness and over your fulfillment than you might have otherwise admitted to yourself if you’re spending your life searching for meaning."

“...Meaning is something you create for yourself and for others.” Maybe he’s right; maybe he’s not. I don’t know, but I do know I’ll get more benefit from behaving as though he’s right than I would from behaving as though he’s not. Granting that meaning is something you create for yourself and for others, it follows that meaning is also something others create themselves and for you; so we’re in this together. I know that’s right. So what meaning do we want to create? What are our intentions?

I Just Want To Celebrate

Coleman Barks said that “just being here is a cause for celebration.” Of course that’s true. Maybe it’s as simple as celebration. Maybe that’s what it means to really live. We’re born with a sense of pure joy, a sense of wonder, the intention to have fun with every waking, living moment. Then, at some point, most of that stops for most of us. Why? There are plenty of reasons, but stopping to inventory them doesn’t serve my intention at this point. What’s relevant now is the fact I stopped living with that sense of: joy, wonder, fun, and celebration. Not coincidentally, my life subsequently turned into something that I never intended. It feels like the reason this happened is that I never set an intention; not really, not honestly, not specifically. Did you?

Intention: it’s the difference between wanting to “look better naked,” and working to “create a state of physical, mental, and spiritual harmony that allows me to live a fulfilling life rich with meaningful relationships and experiences.” In simplest terms, both of these intentions will require exercise and proper diet, but one is almost entirely driven by ego, and the other is driven by a sense of purpose that celebrates life and demonstrates appreciation for “just being here.”

If a lack of intention led to my life becoming something I never intended, it might follow that setting my intention will lead to my life fulfilling that intention. But what intention should I set? I’m going to start with “creating meaning for myself and others.” What does it mean to really live? I can’t pretend to know that answer, but I can ask more questions. Why not try a life of intention? Why not try a life of celebration? What is my intention? How will I celebrate the joy of just being here?

Become What You Mean

I believe that the heart of every living human being contains a hero, and that hero is yearning to be unleashed. This is the primary lesson I took from Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero With A Thousand Faces.  According to Campbell, the general formula for unleashing your hero is to “follow your bliss.” That’s an idea that feels useful right about now. Celebration, intention, following your bliss… so far, so good. This feels like things are flowing in the right direction.

I spent nearly half my life pretending to be a salesman, and that time was well spent as it taught me some valuable lessons. One of them is “telling’s not selling.” It’s a simple truth. You might buy a widget from someone who tells you what the widget does, but you are much more likely to buy the widget from the person who demonstrates what the widget does. Telling’s not selling; people need to be shown that something is effective. Let’s apply this idea to that friend who is wasting their talent. Our intention is to inspire them to get busy living, so we’ve tried telling them all the things they could do to improve their life, and how much more they would enjoy living, but telling’s not selling. They need to be shown; as do we all.

Philosopher and psychonaut Terence McKenna imagined a world in which people could communicate the way octopi do. Octopi can change their color, shape, and texture to communicate. They can manifest intention. They can become what they mean. We don’t have to imagine that world anymore. We live in that world. Fashion, hairstyles, body modification of many varieties, the decisions we make, and the actions we take: all of these are modalities for manifesting meaning. We can become what we mean, and if we can, why wouldn’t we?

“Become what you mean.” That is our intention. That is how we choose to celebrate life, and show our appreciation for just being here. That is how we will unleash the hero that Joseph Campbell told us about. We believe that the heart of every living human being contains a hero, and those billions of heroes are yearning to be unleashed. What does it mean to really live? Who do you think we are? We can’t tell you that, friend.

Enjoy the show.

*It’s not my aim to make these posts overflow with movie quotes, but, as a lifelong movie nerd, it’s bound to happen. Additionally they leap to my mind because they have a context and richness of meaning that serve as an efficient shorthand for many valuable ideas.