“How are we going to choose to live? Who are we? What are we living for?”
These were three questions poised by Anand Mehrotra at the end of the documentary “The Highest Pass.”
I was blessed with the opportunity to finish the film this evening and found my eyes welling up with tears a few times. There is something to be said for being willing to risk life and limb to accomplish a goal.
In this case, it was a group of motorcyclists — with very little experience riding — daring to trek over the “highest pass” in the Himalayas. One rider in particular said something so very profound. To paraphrase him, he said at the beginning of the film that when things got rough on the trail he wanted to run home to his family.
After much thought, he chose to stay and continue the journey. In the end, his being was filled with a new sense of love. “Now instead of returning to my family out of fear, I want to return to them out of pure love.”
As we go through our days, it is common to seek comfort — the easy way out. Yet at the same time our hearts are crying out for some sort of adventure — authenticity.
Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, “Boredom is the root of all evil – the despairing refusal to be oneself.”
We walk around with our hearts aching — our minds wishing we could accomplish something beautiful and lasting, experience love in its fullest sense, get over the hang-ups and patterns we cling to.
Mehrotra, Kerkegaard, and Socrates alike teach the importance of knowing ourselves deeper. Discovering our most precious and sacred hopes and dreams that were planted in our hearts for a reason.
Those who say things like, “he/she is a dreamer…her head is in the clouds” are those who tend to lack vision. What if Steve Job’s parents told him he was a dreamer and he was silly enough to listen? Kiss your iPhone and iPad goodbye baby! :-D
When we know ourselves, we can be reintroduced to our child within — that being that understands the power of imagination, dreams, and life in the present moment.
“To inherit the kingdom of heaven, you must be like a child.”
To me, these words spoken by Jesus mean much more than taking a trip to a place beyond the clouds of this world. It’s that for the most part children aren’t as jaded as we adults. They have so much to accomplish, so much to see, and do. They laugh when their tummies tickle and they weep when their hearts are pained.
A child is self-aware and present in such a profound manner.
Why do so many of us adults rob ourselves of the same enjoyment? Why not dream and stick our necks out to undertake something bold and amazing?
How about we take time to connect with our purest selves? Discover our fearless and powerful beings. The only way to surmount our challenges and create life anew is to dig in and feel the emotions, pains, disappointments, frustrations, and fears we have experienced throughout our lives. No more burying our histories with silly, meaningless diversions.
Authenticity is where its at — and once we dig deep inside there is no turning back. Our true purposes will be uncovered.
“Beautiful things will be revealed. It’s just that you have never given yourself the opportunity to reveal what you are capable of. Do not let fear keep us from our own capacity.” – Anand Mehrotra
Be good to yourself!
-Jen Engevik