Living a life of perpetual risk
I have yet another 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.”
That last sentence really jumped 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. Even if it doesn’t always feel great at the time!
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.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:22 am
“to live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk”
“are we prepared to go there?”
YES
September 7th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Hi Sam. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Our son recently commented to Jenny and I that he was excited about the adventurous decisions we have taken in this last couple of years. We look back and realise that we have settled for safety for many years and feel dissatisfied by that. Taking risks brings great benefits. However, not everyone agrees with that. We have also received a fair bucketing and find ourselves under some criticism because of the implications of risk-taking for others. I must admit that I then get cold feet and feel very tempted to return to safety (and mediocrity). Crazy thinking but I realise how tempting that kind of safety can be.
We won’t do it but I do understand now better why we didn’t do it before!
September 8th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hi Rob! Thanks for stopping by. It’s good to hear from you. Thanks for sharing some of your journey with living a life of risk. It is definitely always tempting to choose safety and ease rather than risk or adventure. Here’s to seeing more and more risk takers unleashed on the world!
September 8th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
wow, that is just an awesome quote. now if only we could avoid those really dumb risks…
September 9th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
You’re dead right, Lon!