I grew up in the midwest and spent a lot of time alone in the woods. I used to look for native american burial grounds and ponder about what forgotten treasures I might find while out exploring deep in the forest or diving in the lakes. When I did sleepovers at my best friend’s house, we got to watch Indiana Jones on his huge Sony Trinitron and I never knew movies could be so joyous until then. Indy was and is the man! He knew all kinds of historic wisdom, found ancient treasures, and kicked bad guy ass with bravery and humility. I’ve since traveled the world from the ancient temples of Ankor Wat, the Hutongs of Shanghai, through Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, and ridden camels through the Indian desert. And there is oft a moment where I think of Indiana Jones and get secretly psyched to myself to be living the adventure.
So why am I sharing this fact that I am secretly a huge nerd and what does it have to do with living life outside the maze? Well just tonight, I cracked a beer, fired up the basement fireplace, and re-watched The Last Crusade. It is about the search for the holy grail which carries eternal life. The villain blinded by his greed for immortality ends up helping the Nazis and ultimately drinks from a false cup that literally sucks his life away. Indy’s love interest dangles from a cliff reaching for the grail as Indy’s grip is slipping but she can’t let it go and falls disappearing into a seemingly bottomless pit. Then the ground shakes and our hero finds himself hanging from the same ledge and reaching for the grail. His father who spent his life looking for that cup gently tells his son to let it go and he is saved. The metaphor is as subtle as a Chuck Norris roundhouse to the face but George Lucas understood the hero’s journey. Anyone who knows his work, knows that it is steeped in thousands of years of mythology. And anyone who has read the Power of Myth or the Hero of a Thousand Faces knows that these myths are powerful because they appeal to themes that have echoed across civilizations across time. They resonate with us, because they are our journey as well. We are all at risk of being blinded by greed or our inability to cope with the fact that we will die and nothing lasts forever. We all feel like we can almost reach that next thing that will bring success for us even if we aren’t sure what that success even is. And yes this message seems passe and almost too cliche to be worth it but that may be exactly the point. These messages are there and to an extent we have heard this stuff since we were kids but the real challenge is to believe and understand truths that may fly in the face of our natural drives and the times in which we live. The idea that dedicated work pays off slow and steady to win the race if you never give up is actually true. It just flies in the face of our culture and natural drive for immediate gratification. That is why there will always be those earning from compound interest versus those paying it. The idea that mental health and exercise is actually as important as and directly linked to physical health and performance is true. It just flies in the face of our primitive sense that only things that you can see and touch matter. The idea that happiness is a choice that we make and something that we must nurture is true. It just flies in the face of the vain and materialist times in which we live where happiness is tied to reputation and wealth. I am not saying that we need to give up on goals or shun material wealth. I know how hard it is to give these things up since they are likely the very things that got you to now so that you can be thinking about your life outside the maze and reading my silly website. I am simply saying that these are our tools not the other way around, and that we owe it to ourselves to make sure that the places where we are applying our energies are focused on getting to the next level as opposed to dangling on a ledge reaching for a cup that you already got use of and now risk your life to blindly repossess.
