The Conquistadors of the Useless
When you scale a rock face, and make it to the top, there’s nothing there. Lionel Terray, the great French climber called this phenomena 'The conquistadors of the useless.' Sure, the outcome is useless, but it’s the journey that makes it all worthwhile. Sometimes we forget that.
The meaning of life has been a subject discussed by humankind for countless generations: “why are we here?” “what is life all about?” “what is the point of existence?”. And answers range from achieving pure bliss, to 42. But what if there is no true meaning?
As in rock climbing, you get to the end of your life and face “the conquistadors of the useless”, death, but does that mean you are not to live it? Does one simply not swim because there is no treasure chest at the bottom of the lagoon? Why not follow a rainbow, even if there’s no pot’o’gold at the end? Some religions would argue Heaven, where one rests in an eternal state of divine happiness. Though this perspective may eliminate “the conquistadors of the useless”, it also belittles the journey and the adventure, as life becomes a miniscule time frame compared to one’s upcoming eternity of pleasure.
People tend to misinterpret and abuse the argument offered by ‘the conquistadors of the useless’, now more than ever as the phrase “YOLO”, or “You Only Live Once”, trends worldwide. Well, I only live once, and my journey is all that counts, so I can do whatever I want! I can live in the moment and simply disregard any consequences that may occur, right? Wrong. Life is an entire journey, and the longer you want it to last and stay enjoyable, the more careful you need to be. You only live once, so don’t screw it up.
But wait! That’s it, isn’t it? The meaning of life is the journey, because the journey is all that counts. But, what does that mean, “the journey is all that counts”? Counts for what? Counts towards what? And again, we come up with nothing.
So there’s no meaning of life, that doesn’t mean we can’t give it purpose. Human
The meaning of life has been a subject discussed by humankind for countless generations: “why are we here?” “what is life all about?” “what is the point of existence?”. And answers range from achieving pure bliss, to 42. But what if there is no true meaning?
As in rock climbing, you get to the end of your life and face “the conquistadors of the useless”, death, but does that mean you are not to live it? Does one simply not swim because there is no treasure chest at the bottom of the lagoon? Why not follow a rainbow, even if there’s no pot’o’gold at the end? Some religions would argue Heaven, where one rests in an eternal state of divine happiness. Though this perspective may eliminate “the conquistadors of the useless”, it also belittles the journey and the adventure, as life becomes a miniscule time frame compared to one’s upcoming eternity of pleasure.
People tend to misinterpret and abuse the argument offered by ‘the conquistadors of the useless’, now more than ever as the phrase “YOLO”, or “You Only Live Once”, trends worldwide. Well, I only live once, and my journey is all that counts, so I can do whatever I want! I can live in the moment and simply disregard any consequences that may occur, right? Wrong. Life is an entire journey, and the longer you want it to last and stay enjoyable, the more careful you need to be. You only live once, so don’t screw it up.
But wait! That’s it, isn’t it? The meaning of life is the journey, because the journey is all that counts. But, what does that mean, “the journey is all that counts”? Counts for what? Counts towards what? And again, we come up with nothing.
So there’s no meaning of life, that doesn’t mean we can’t give it purpose. Human