faith and ribbons... Re: [at-l] "Why" and "Purpose"

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:37:40 -0400
From: Raphael Bustin <rafeb@speakeasy.net>

At 03:10 AM 8/20/2005 -0700, Sloe wrote:
>### Well, so far, I have told you that it's about having faith,
>and JimO has told you it's about having attitude, yet you're
>still focused on a "why" or "purpose". Who gives a flop about
>the why? IT DON'T MATTER. IT'S GOING TO CHANGE TOMORROW. IT WAS
>DECIDED IN IGNORANCE. Does that help?

> Yes and no.  I still think you're talking semantics here,...
> The point is, to keep going when it's no longer fun, a
sane, rational person has to find -- or invent -- a purpose,
### No, they don't. They need faith.

> Words like "faith" just don't cut it for this hiker.
### Hmmmm. There's a pattern there, dude.

> Blue Sky walked because "failure is not an option." But how
does that square with freedom?
### It doesn't. Nor does it have to, nor is it supposed to.

> We all have the freedom to step off the AT at the nearest
trailhead or logging road - or never step onto it, for that
matter.
### Unless you decide "failure is not an option."

### There is nothing hard in these questions. They're quite
simple and quite straight forward.

>### I don't think you DO "love the trail" -- I think you love
>places on the trail. ...
>The trail (and the bugs and the sweat and the lack of town
>amenities you mentioned previously) is something to be endured
>by you in order to reach ["high spots" like] Glastonbury.

> Sheesh.  I think you're out of line here, Sloe.
### And yet you repeat the idea in the very next at-l post,
Rafe. Hmmmm. Pattern. Hiking is not about convenience -- we'd
take a car. It's about a commitment to exposing oneself to
voluntary deprivation, to see what else is left. Some of us have
lots left. [Boy, there's a book waiting to happen...]

Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:59:50 -0400
From: Raphael Bustin <rafeb@speakeasy.net>
Subject: [at-l] Re: Why and Purpose

> Several people here have said, "what is boredom" or "I don't
know what boredom is."  I am flatly amazed at such comments.
### Phew. Yow. But you have no right to be entertained -- no
entitlement. You must entertain yourself, or be bored, and quit
when the show drops into the quieter spots.

> When I cut short my section hike earlier this summer, I was
hot, miserable, dehydrated and in rough physical shape.
### We've all been there, and we've all made our choices on how
to respond. Yours was to quit. Not study, not work, not
experiment, not push, not respond, not learn, not improve, but
quit. "If the fool would but persist in his efforts, he would be
wise." Some are a bit more foolish than others, as was
previously mentioned.

spatiortoe

Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.