IS ADVENTURE DEAD? – What Story are YOU Writing Now? – 008
Freedom in adversity – AUDIO NSFW
Let’s get into it. Let’s get into it guys. I want to talk about an idea around adversity and freedom. That’s what I want to talk about today. Adversity and freedom.
I’m gonna post something right now in the chat and I want you to read it. I want you to marinate on it and I want you to think about it for just a minute. Here we go. Just posted that in the chat. Give yourself a moment to read it if you can. Just think about it for a second.
If you’re in the chat, I want you to respond with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Yes or no. If you saw this wanted ad right now in your life, right now, yes or no? Would you do it? It seems pretty obvious that most people are just like nope, I’m gonna pass on this one. That’s what I want to talk about guys. This is what I want to talk about.
RISKY BUSINESS
For everyone out there in internet land who was not here during this Sunday Sermon, then you have the opportunity to listen to it because you weren’t able to be and read it. So what I posted up in the chat here is a wanted ad:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”
–Ernest Shackleton 4 Burlington Street
I saw this advertisement come up. You know how these things kind of grabbed me. They grabbed me. They grabbed my mind. They make me think about things and obviously I went deep. So I looked this up. I did the DuckDuckGo and I typed it in: Ernest Shackleton ad.
What we find is this was an ad that this guy Ernest Shackleton had put out in the London Times back in 1912. Basically 100 years ago. Let’s just say 100 years ago. That’s kind of what we’re working with here. A hundred years ago. Ernest Shackleton. Who the hell was this guy? Who the hell was this guy?
If you look him up, this guy was a man who was an entrepreneur, a man who kind of paved his own way, kind of maybe his character flaw of sorts was that he actually wanted to be famous. So some people like to you know live their lives on their terms. They want to do risky things and they want to do amazing things because they had some vision of what they wanted to be or wanted to do. Not so much with this guy, Ernest Shackleton. He kinda was a hustler. Grinded his way through life, went through different things here and there. But eventually found himself kind of working in kind of a sea life and enjoying that and exploring.
He found that if you can explore and do things, you could be relatively famous. So he wanted to be famous. Now maybe this was probably one of the best advertisements of all time. One of the best and thousands of all time. So let me remind you guys as to why that might be true.
In this wanted ad, in 1912, Ernest Shackleton had gone to the Antarctic and he wanted to do more explorations down to the Antarctic and beyond. So he created this ad. It said “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”
I think what’s really powerful about this ad is it really belies and really reveals kind of at least the biography of sorts that I read about Ernest Shackleton. I mean it just shows kind of the endpoint. There is a lot of risk going on here. There’s a lot of irrationality going on here. I mean this really kind of shows Ernest for who he is. Honor and recognition in case of its success. That’s what he’s there for. That’s what he’s down for. He wants to get the recognition and success.
As the story goes, over 5,000 people showed up the next day after this ad. That, my friends, is what got my mind ticking. This was near 100 years ago. That’s all. 100 years ago. A wanted ad in the London Times.
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”
I mean that is a lot of risky business in case of success. That’s a shit ton of risk for in case of. That’s what we’re working with. I asked you guys the question, right? Would you do this? All of you guys we’re like hell no, not for me bruh, pass.
But in today’s world, this is irrational. Come on, you’re gonna look at me and say all this risk for the ‘in case of’ success? But near 100 years ago guys. This was 1912. Near 100 years ago, over 5,000 people showed up the next day to sign up for this expedition. I think he could only take like 217 or something like that.
LIFE OF ADVENTURE
This got me thinking, my friends. This really did. It got me thinking. What has happened to the calling in life? What has happened to the calling in life where the calling of life is a life of adventure? What happened to that, guys? What happened to the Free Willy? What happened to The New Adventures of Lassie? That’s what I grew up on—Lassie. What happened to the days of Alf? Even in the shows of Alf, there was adventure. I mean what happened to this the calling of life where the calling of life is a life of adventure.
Here’s the other question. What is it about a life of adversity for an ‘in case of’, a life of adversity for an in case of success? Have we lost the desire for adventure? This was only near 100 years ago, my friends. Only near 100 years ago. It wasn’t that long ago when this ad was dropped. Have we lost a desire for adventure?
We’re going to explore this idea. What is it about adversity where the more adversity there is, the higher the ‘in case of’, the greatness of the ‘in case of success’?
This is the third thing that I want us to think about tonight. Is there really freedom in adversity? Is there freedom in a life of challenge, a life of adventure? These are three things that I want to discuss and kind of dive into with you guys tonight.
- Have we lost the desire for adventure?
- Why does when you increase diversity, you increase payoff?
- Is there freedom in a life of adventure? Is there freedom in adversity?
Now, I started off this particular talk showing you guys that advertisement by Ernest Shackleton from 1912. He was an explorer he wanted to be famous. He wanted to explore and he wanted to do amazing and fun stuff and be famous for it. He wrote this ad in the London Times:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”
We had over 5,000 people show up.
LOST A DESIRE FOR ADVENTURE
Have we lost a desire for adventure? My answer is absolutely! We have lost a desire for adventure. I don’t know how to remind any of you and I don’t know how to remind myself even sometimes on the daily that I am mortal. You are mortal. All things that I know and all things that I can relatively assume about your person is that you are mortal.
Let’s just say you’re about the same age as me, and if you are, then let’s just say you got 50 great more years. Some of you probably closer to 40, you fat fuck. Or if you’re younger than me, certainly, you got more like 60 maybe closer to even 70 great years if you’re gonna be topping them 90s. I hope I go before then, but I don’t want to program myself to do so. 50 good more years.
I have to remind you that you only got 50 more years and #1 you ain’t gonna be around after 50 more years or let’s just say 60 more years. No one around you is going to be around in the next 60 to 70 years. First off, you shouldn’t give two shits about what anyone else thinks about what you’re doing. Secondly, you shouldn’t give two shits about what people will say about you. Because you ain’t gonna be here in 60 years and neither will they.
Why have we lost this desire for adventure? When the historic reality is that in 60 years, you ain’t gonna be here and nobody else is gonna be here and you ain’t gonna give a shit about what they said or what they thought about you. Trust me, they ain’t thinkin’ about you anyway.
Is it that we’ve lost the incentives? Have we been so demoralized and desensitized to the greatness of life because we’ve already achieved so much greatness in life in terms of material wealth and material goods? That the need for adventure is supplanted by the fact that we can go into alternate reality as in 3D and get lost down the interwebs and the intertubes and the boob tube? And we get sucked in to the entertainment lifestyle, consumerism lifestyle that the third world would so love to enjoy?
Is this why? Is it because we’ve already received so much and we’ve been blessed with so much and our standards of living are so high that adventure is no longer, dare I say, necessary? When I came to this particular conclusion in my mind, my friends, I almost shat myself mentally because it was a disappointing particular realization for me. That adventure is no longer a necessity. It is no longer required.
You could literally go through life with zero adventure, zero spark. It is objectively possible. It is objectively speaking it is plausible, that this is certainly within the spectrum of possibilities of an individual’s life. For all assumptions, I just cannot believe that we have gotten to the point where there is no desire for adventure because it is not part of the human experience anymore.
I think you can put the adventurer on a spectrum, a long spectrum and say well, Peter to you adventure is X, and to me adventure is Y, and her adventure is Z. Yes. Yes. Good job. Excellent. Fantastic critical thinking. Excellent. I love it when people try to debunk my ideas by giving me bullshit rhetoric like that.
Clearly, yes, if you want to go relativism on me, certainly, nothing that I say has any merit. But what I’m talking about here is raw adventure, raw unknown, raw kick your face in, kick your teeth in, punch your face in, jab you in the gut, shank you in the spleen, roundhouse kick in you the in the ass. I mean like real adventure.
Men wanted for hazardous journey – that’s the first thing you fucking read? Guys, I had a serious moment. I was looking at this advertisement. Man wanted for hazardous journey. Of course, it’s always like what’s in it for me, right? There’s a job. What’s in it for me? I want to know how much a brother’s gonna get paid.
This guy, Ernest, he had it down pat. “Men wanted for hazardous journey.” All right, well, I guess if I can’t get past the hazardous journey, there’s no point in reading the rest. But if you dare read the rest:
Men wanted hazardous journey. Small fucking wages!
What’s almost worse than small wages? Being cold!
What’s worse than being cold? Being in complete darkness!
What’s worse than being in complete darkness? Being in the dark and in danger!
It is mini soliloquy, a mini poem of the spiral of death that this advertisement really is. And yet, over 5,000 people showed up for this motherfucker. That’s crazy to me. That’s crazy to me. That’s the raw adventure that I’m weighing us against because that was only 100 years ago. We have lost that sense of adventure.
I’ll be honest. I’ll put myself in the mirror here, my friends, and I thought about hey, what’s my sense of adventure? Let’s see… Loading up CODA 2, which is my coding application. Loading up CODA 2 and let’s see… Enter, enter, begin fucking writing code. I mean, a brother doesn’t have to go far for what I relatively consider a sense of adventure because I can begin creating some type of firmament, some type of architecture, some type of framework to begin designing out an application. Or I can turn around, I can hop in the Lambo or I can hop in the bloody fuckin’ race car. I have adventure—from a relative sense—at my fingertips.
I can take my own pills, guys. I can take my own jagged little pills. I get it. Have we lost a desire for adventure? When I mean adventure, I’m talking about 1912, Ernest Shackleton added the London Times adventure. Yeah, we’ve lost that. Do we need it? Do we need it?
I have come to the conclusion. After thinking about this idea is that we absolutely need it. Let me tell you why because this type of adventure is something that takes you away from the screen. There is a world out there that is so amazing, so eye-opening.
I was standing outside my garage today. My in-laws are here. My in-law was coming back from a walk and he saw me. I didn’t see him out of the corner of my eye and he looked at me he said, “You’re getting inspiration as you look out at the sky.” I was actually looking at the tree. But I was in a moment of concentration. I was in a moment of thoughtfulness and he caught me in it. This is how I get to adventure. It’s not wild. It’s not crazy. But I do believe that the world needs more adventurers.
We need people willing to give up a life of comfort, a life of ease, a life of automation. I want to be inspired by these individuals. There’s just too much of a marketing machine in today’s world. And Lord have mercy, am I part of the problem? Better fuckin’ believe it! Do I know how to make a marketing machine? Absolutely! We know how to be part of the problem.
REAL HEROES NO LONGER EXIST
I want to be inspired by real adventurers. I don’t want to be inspired by people who are willing to risk it all because life is short. Guess what? Life is short. Have we lost the desire for adventure? Absolutely! Do we need it? I think we do. I think we need it. I think our future depends on it.
Why do I say that with such conviction? It’s very simple. Because of the two children that I’m raising, who are gonna be their heroes? Do you know what the Millennials heroes are today? Do you guys know? I don’t ever want to move us into the world of negative politics. It’s so sad that they’re just so easy to pick on.
Today’s generation, younger generation, their role models are your Nicki Minaj’s, your Colin Kaepernick’s of the world. Need I say more? I’m done. Those are our heroes? Mothefucker who kneels? You’re a hero because you kneel? Get the fuck out of here! You’re a hero because you sing and you injected a lot of fantastic plastic into yourself? These are our heroes?
I was writing these notes down, you guys know I have these notes. I wrote down hero’. Who’s the heroes? Who’s the heroes that will show us adventure? And then I came to this conclusion guys. Why do you think superhero movies – Marvel movies, DC Comic movies – are the only thing that you can ever watch in any season? There’s always some sort of Marvel. It’s because we have to make up heroes. Because real heroes no longer exist. They are a dead entity in today’s society. We have to manufacture heroes from comic fuckin’ books because real people heroes no longer exist.
Have we lost a desire for adventure? Absolutely! Because no more adventurers exist is what I came to. That was my conclusion. You let me know if you agree with me in chat.
Elo says, “I remember this time last year. We did the cohort. I was in a rut. Trying to find my next career move. I remember the writing on the mirror every day. One year later, I have a new job. I love it now. Thank you, dogelord.”
Elo, thank you for being here. Thank you for encouraging me today with those words. I’m glad. You’re still here one year later and still listening to my lame-ass.
The first question: Have we lost the desire for adventure? Absolutely! We’ve lost desire for adventure because the mainstream adventurers are all dead.
Adventure still exists, it’s just impassively watching others adventure in the digital. This is true as well Nick. Of course. Absolutely.
I guess what I’m asking for are more of them. I want more people willing to risk. I’m not saying that I’m riskin’. I think I’m doing my best to build what I… Well… Let’s be honest. I just build what I want. It’s really cool.
HIGHER RISK, HIGHER REWARD
The second question: Why is it with adversity, the more adversity is the higher the payoff. Now, this seems relatively obvious, right? Higher risk, higher reward. Makes sense, Peter. Don’t have to think about it too much.
But I weighed it on a scale because what started this entire idea stream for me was this wanted ad in the London Times from 1912 for Ernest Shackleton which said, “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” It completely got worse and worse and worse.
“Hazardous journey.” Eh! I can handle that.
“Hazardous journey.” No problem. It’s 1912, bruh.
I’m in London, bruh. I’ve done the winters of up north. I get it. I could do this.
“Some small wages.” Well, slim pickins’. I can do small wages. 1912, guys. No problem.
“Bitter cold.” Guys, its UK. Have you spent the winters up in Ireland? I got this.
“Long months of complete darkness.” Okay. I mean, it’s London, 50% of the time it’s fuckin’ raining. Long months. I could do this.
“Constant danger.” Bruh, really? I thought it was just a hazardous journey. It’s a hazardous journey, constant danger is more than just the journey to and from?
“Safe return doubtful.” Wait, I thought this was just a hazardous journey with small wages where it’s gonna be a little bit cold and a little bit dark all the time. But the fact that I might not survive?
“Honor and recognition in case of success.” Well sign me fuckin’ up. Sign me the fuck up. I’m in, bruh. Where we meetin’? When we startin’? When we leavin’? Apparently that was the response back in 1912 by over 5,000 people. So what is it about higher risks, higher reward? Is that saying only contextually relative to the time period? Because if I take that particular saying, higher risk, higher reward, in today’s society and I’m talking about you and me Ninja, Nemesist, Nick, Boundless, Edward, Trila, Hetman, Raven, fishin, Elo, crypto mom, dad. I’m talking to you. I’m not talking about third world. I’m talking about you. I’m talking about me.
Higher risk, higher reward? I think it’s dead because adventure is dead. Our heroes are dead. We have to manufacture heroes now. I mean, under the this context, as I think about the movie trailers that I’ve watched this summer and all these superhero movies, I don’t want to say I kind of felt a feeling of revulsion, but I felt a sense of pity well up in my soul. Because as I imagined all these trailers for all these superhero movies, I remember that many of those trailers make me crack a smile. I smile. I laugh. I’m like hey, that was right on. They did that right, man. That scene looked great. I’m like these manufacturers heroes is all I got? Have I become so desensitized? Have I been so far out, having been so far gone?
I don’t think there’s payoff anymore. I just don’t think there’s payoff anymore. I do not think that there is enough payoff for the suffering that you may incur within the context of you’re already blessed lifestyle, living standards, opportunities, and income that all you guys listen to me have.
I think we have lost a desire for adventure because our heroes are dead. I think we have lost the risk/reward because there is no reward because the payoff isn’t worth it.
FREEDOM IN ADVERSITY
The last question: Can there be can there be freedom in adversity? This is an interesting and intriguing thing that came to mind as I first read this ad. The first thing that I thought about, my friends, as I read this ad is, “Man! Wow! That sounds like freedom.” Can you believe that shit? Can you believe how sick I am in the brain?
I read this ad and I was like damn, bro! That sounds like freedom. How sick must you be that when you read something like this, brother, sister, Nemesist, Boundless, you better count me in. If it was 1912, you know this brother would be signing up. I’d be like hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success? You know what? I think if 1912, I think I would have signed up.
The reason why I think I would have signed up. Now, I cannot put myself in any position back in 1912, obviously. I have zero knowledge about that time period. So you’ll have to forgive me for filling in lots of blanks here. Given what I think, I think, I think, I think I know, which is basically I don’t know anything is that back in 1912, I think I would’ve signed up. I think I would have done it.
The reason is because if I came into the equation with the knowledge that I know now, on the limited life’s time that I have now, the patience which I work right now, the schedule that I have now, the discipline that I have now, knowing that my time is of the essence, my time is worth a lot of money, it’s worth everything in life to me, it’s the only resource I really have, I’m not gonna be here very long and I don’t give a fuck about what anyone else thinks about me or says about me because I want to do amazing things that I think are fuckin’ fantastic and fun.
So if I was back in 1912 and I saw this ad with that particular worldview at the ready, I believe I would have signed up. I would have been like brah, you know what, I don’t know if you got a first mate. I think I could do that job. I think I could roll that. I think I could do that.
Boundless moons says, “My first thought was that this ad might appeal to people have nothing to lose.” I think we all, Boundless moons, have nothing to lose.
Nick says, “The proliferation of awful lot of laps gives me the impression that the adventure here is the thrill of deep dark place is alive and well. Blessed lifestyle allows adventure to take a different form. Hugely different situation in 1912.” I think we have a group of badass keyboard warriors I suppose. I suppose the warrior has changed Nick. I supposed a blessed lifestyle allows adventure to take a different form.
But, dare I say, Nick and this is kind of my point that the adventure of today, how adventure has transformed today, I think is a mere shadow of what it once was. I’m not saying that we are living less fulfilled lives. I think because of the advanced technology that we have today, we are in such a more fortunate position than back then. Adventure has transformed. But again, dare I say it, that the adventure of today is a mere shadow. It’s a shade. It’s a spectre. It’s a vapor of what adventure was back in 1912.
I believe that higher risk, higher reward really meant something back then. I believe they hadn’t back then lost the desire for adventure. I think those men, dare I say, lived more fuller lives even if their lives were shorter, even if their lives were shorter.
There was a huge part of that article that some of you guys remember me talking about not too long ago the article about the fear of killing, a fear of death. There was a big section in that, I was talking about kind of the whole idea around about feeling the adventure and camaraderie in the trenches and how those social bonds in the trenches is what we’re so strong, so sticky, so compelling.
I mean there’s no other way to put it. You faced death, you faced destruction, you faced absolute despair and the deepest level of human depravity against other men with other men. That bond is part of the reading that I went through. They talk a lot about was just so strong and so unique that it was so hard to find that back in civilian life. Which is why for us many, it was so hard to transition back to civilian life because you couldn’t ever explain to anyone in civilian life what that bond means to you.
I think there’s that gap. Within that fear—and this was a section of that research paper—there was real adventure. There’s real adventure in that because you are tested to your limits. You were shown within the battlefield what you were made of.
That is why 5,000 people showed up. That’s why over 5,000 people, in mind, in my estimation, we’re going all the way back guys, we’re bringing it home, 1912 Ernest Shackleton seeking volunteers for an expedition to the South Pole put an ad in the London Times that said “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” Over 5,000 people showed up and I’ll tell you why. Because these men or women wanted to show the world what they’re made of.
I’m just making that up. I’m assuming that. I have no idea why these men or women showed up. But in light of what I do know which is the reality that surrounds me now, a reality of softness, a reality of our heroes are dead, a reality of that there’s no reason to risk in today’s world. It’s too damn good! It’s too damn good to risk anything, bruh! Why would you risk? Bro, it’s too damn good, man!
You have a 62’ TV bro. Don’t give that shit up! You just got upgraded to a BMW, bro. Don’t give that up. Bro, you just moved out of that apartment. You just moved into your own condo. Congratulations! Don’t give that up.
OPPORTUNITY TO WRITE YOUR STORY
I believe that there is freedom in adversity. I believe there truly is freedom in adversity and you have an opportunity today to write a story of your life. Let’s be fundamentally clear. I want to have this Sunday Sermon go off go out with a really solid head banger.
You are writing the story of your life as we speak. You are writing the story of your life as we speak. Right now. This moment. While you’re listening to me. Part of your story. Sucker! I got invited into your life. I’m sucking up some of your life time. You ain’t never getting this time back, moms! You ain’t never getting this time back, Hetman, Nemesist, cryp bro. You ain’t never getting this time back, Raven Sky. I suckered you in! You done wasted 46 minutes at your life listening to me.
You’re writing your story right now! Period. I’m writing my story right now. You know what? My story of this particular period, on this Sunday, is that I decided to do something that I know that I can do, that’s fun and giving. I’ve actually spent time writing fucking notes for because I love this shit. I love thinking about shit and explaining it or describing it to people who want to listen. You guys get to listen to it for free.
So guess what? My narrative, the story I’m writing today is that I spent time thinking about something that I think is important that could help other people and I gave it away for free. So guess what I feel pretty fuckin’ good about my day today.
The narrative of your life is being written right now and you’re listening to me. After I’m done, the narrative your life is still being written except you won’t be listening to me. You’ll be doing something else. What I hope that you’ll be doing is I hope that you’ll be thinking about what adventure you could get into. It could be small. I don’t care.
But what adventure that you could get into that wouldn’t cost you that much, but could maybe, just maybe, change something, make something happen. Who knows? I mean, it’s not like you got only one life. Oh wait, you do. That’s all you got. Not that I know of. Brother don’t worship Vishnu or Krishna or any of the other 100,000 gods. I don’t know if reincarnation—I don’t know! I could have been a chicken. I probably was a Doge!
But all I know right now is that I’ve got about 50 good years left. I want the narrative of my life at least from now onwards, to be a narrative of adventure, a narrative where I’m helping others, a narrative where I say that I wasn’t fuckin’ doing the same fuckin’ thing over and over and over again and then wondering why it took me too damn long to change it.
Maybe 1912 was just that much different. Maybe in 1912, people understood that there was a really, really powerful chance that they could have honor and recognition. That writing their story and saying that they tried was worth it. In case of success, remember. There was no guarantee. In case of.
I had a hard time reconciling this idea, my friends, I had a really hard time reconciling the ‘in case of’ part of this ad. Fuck! Over 5,000 people showed up for the payoff of ‘in case of’. Which means the payoff is I don’t know! What would it take for you to show up for something where real potential result would be ‘in case of’? Like what would it take? And then I’m asking myself this the same question, guys. What would it take for me to show up for the promise of ‘in case of’? God, that’s a great question. I don’t think I’m in the right mind to answer it right now. But all I know is I want you guys to think about when we’re off from today’s Sunday Sermon.
I want you to think about that you are writing your narrative you are writing your life story right now, right now, right now. The years are going by. The minutes are flying by. Seconds are flying by. Hours, weeks, months, years. Brother, it is August. Sister, it’s 2019. Do you remember where you were 10 years ago, 20 years ago, in the 90s? Fuck! I remember the 90s guys. It’s kind of fucked up. I remember the 90s really well.
That’s what I want you to think about. Thanks for hanging out with me guys in today’s Sunday Sermon. Now, if you’re listening online, smash the fuckin’ like button, share this with at least one person today. That’s all. Share it with at least one person. Maybe it’ll help them get off their ass. Peace out.