“Every joke,” according to my wife, “has an element of joke in it.” The first time I heard it, I figured she’d confused the idea. Her take on English can be quite original sometimes. “You mean, an element of truth,” I said, correcting her gently.
“No, an element of joke,” she replied, enduring me patiently.
I’ve long since come over to her side. At the base of every joke is a spring-loaded truth, a hidden reality that gives them their punch. When a truth suddenly bursts up, we laugh at the unexpected BOING it makes. After the glow of humor fades, the unmasked truth grows familiar, and the joy is now in the telling – in offering the surprise to others.
There’s an old one-liner whose element of joke burnt out long ago:
Q: Why did the mountaineer climb the mountain?
A: Because it’s there.
At first glance, there doesn’t seem much truth to look for here, and the joke is mainly on the listener in their hopes for a reasonable answer. But this is what secretly baits the hook (and coils the spring): it’s a maddening question. Why would anyone climb a mountain? Has anyone ever come up with a reason even remotely satisfying?
Taking The Risk
The man who came up with this remark didn’t find it very satisfying, either. George Mallory was a member of three expeditions attempting to scale Mount Everest; despite great danger and the loss of several companions, he and others persisted. It is unknown if he ever reached the peak; his body was found in 1999, 75 years after disappearing on the northeast ridge.
Why would anyone climb a mountain? Has anyone ever come up with a reason even remotely satisfying?
When repeatedly asked by reporters why the near-impossible assent was necessary to him, Mallory didn’t even remember giving his now famous reply, a dismissal of a question he considered foolish:
“Because it’s there.”
Most of us engage in some beloved brand of risk – but the reasons why are inexplicable. If climbing Everest seems rash mainly due to excessive risk without apparent return, then adventure itself is suspect.
You may as well ask, “Why did the traveler go to Rome during peak season?” Or even, “Why leave the house at all?” Or, “Why live, if you can be hurt?” Why bother? Why risk?
Risk isn’t comfortable. It’s difficult, exhausting, unpleasant and, in some cases, downright messy. As a financial investment, adventure ranks at the bottom of the list. Its reward has no trade value; its promise is unreliable.
For someone who doesn’t understand the need, there is no sufficient answer. Adventure can’t always be rationalized, because adventure is irrational without visible profit.
Focus On The Journey
The spirit of adventure is an exercise in curiosity beyond material gain – the real prize isn’t simply to reach the goal, but to participate in the experience.
For an adventurer, the reason for the pursuit is self-evident: there is no other way. Because it is there.
Adventure presents a gate to an experience beyond our own, something that cannot be quoted or relayed by another. It must be done to be known.
The real intent of risk is to grow – to put an adventurer in contact with their limitations to exceed them. How may I cross through the gate? What experience is there waiting? Who am I on the other side?
What conceals a joke is in taking something for granted too quickly. In this case, it’s assuming that happiness is the same as repose. When happiness is defined as “freedom from difficulty,” any effort is seen as an enemy; however small, need must be stifled or distracted to maintain this version of “happiness.”
As a result, many people spend their lives in this “pursuit of happiness” which more often resembles an “escape of comfort.”
When the product takes the place of the process, we exist merely to have instead of to live. It’s a shift from “I want something to eat” to “I want perpetual contentment – never to feel hunger again.” Seen thus, any desire is backward and unnecessary. The confusion caused by this attitude has not only led to a society of detached existence, but threatens to exhaust global resources in unrestrained consumption.
It may be that this outlook is a bigger joke than the first, but even less funny.
To Live Or To Exist
When destination takes more emphasis than the journey, it must be recognized that the destination doesn’t wholly exist.
It’s only a vista to look back upon the real source of meaning – the experience of the journey. In the same regard, happiness is a process that doesn’t reject, but rather embraces need. Though it may be at a great distance, or even a sheer vertical ascent, happiness can’t be sought for directly.
It comes as a secondary result of finding meaning in the endeavor itself. The art of adventure – of life itself – seems to rest in the mediating acts of personal expression that compose it. It’s less the arrival, more the movement within – choosing risks that best apply to who we are.
It’s a sentiment Mallory demonstrated in his own life; in an article regarding a recent Alpine climb, he asked the question, “Have we vanquished an enemy?” His answer: “None but ourselves.” This is the truth behind the joke.
I’m constantly amazed by what my wife can teach me: sometimes by way of a joke, or by what shines through prisms of culture and her own nature. I’m learning it’s much easier to simply agree with her on most things – it’s not so arduous a climb that way.
I’m finally starting to get it.
Source: Forget The Destination, Focus On The Journey
forget fforget foorget forrget forgget forgeet forgett forget the tthe thhe thee the destination ddestination deestination desstination desttination destiination destinnation destinaation destinattion destinatiion destinatioon destinationn destination focus ffocus foocus foccus focuus focuss focus on oon onn on journey jjourney joourney jouurney jourrney journney journeey journeyy journey forget orget frget foget foret forgt forge forget the he te th the destination estination dstination detination desination destnation destiation destintion destinaion destinaton destinatin destinatio destination focus ocus fcus fous focs focu focus on n o on journey ourney jurney jorney jouney jourey journy journe journey forget f orget fo rget for get forg et forge t forget forget the t he th e the the destination d estination de stination des tination dest ination desti nation destin ation destina tion destinat ion destinati on destinatio n destination destination focus f ocus fo cus foc us focu s focus focus on o n on on journey j ourney jo urney jou rney jour ney journ ey journe y journey journey forget ofrget froget fogret foregt forgte forget forget the hte teh the the destination edstination dsetination detsination desitnation destniation destiantion destintaion destinaiton destinatoin destinatino destination destination focus ofcus fcous foucs focsu focus focus on no on on journey ojurney juorney joruney jounrey joureny journye journey journey dorget gorget firget fprget foeget fotget forfet forhet forgwt forgrt forger forgey rhe yhe tge tje thw thr sestination festination dwstination drstination deatination dedtination desrination desyination destunation destonation destibation destimation destinstion destinarion destinayion docus gocus ficus fpcus foxus fovus focys focis focua focud in pn ob om hourney kourney jiurney jpurney joyrney joirney joueney joutney jourbey jourmey journwy journry journet journeu phorget vorget fughrget farget forjet forgit forgeet forgaet forgeat forgat forged dhe thi thee thae thea tha testination distination deestination daestination deastination dastination dztination dectination deztination desdination destenation destienation desteenation destanation desteanation destynation destiknation destinaition destineition destinetion destinotion destinution destinition destinadion destinateon destinatieon destinateeon destinataon destinateaon destinatyon destinatiughn destinatian destinatiokn phocus vocus fughcus facus fockus fotus fokus fosus fozus foqus focjus focows focys focuc focuz ughn an okn gourney jughurney jaurney jurney jaurney jojurney joowrney joyrney jourkney journiy journeey journaey journeay journay journeai journeay journei journeu
