Nothing is Discovered On Purpose

By Greg -
"My daddy taught to never do anything without a purpose." I've met people like that, though none quite so honest or self-aware. Your daddy was right, so far or it goes, but the purpose should never interfere with the opportunities for discovery, and the plan should never preempt spontaneity. Purposes get you out of the house and plans keep you moving when you're stuck. But the goal can blind you to the journey, and the plan can make you deaf to good fortune and hostile to coincidence. In the 60's and 70's, I rarely saw anyone in the mountains who wasn't clearly stating their purpose for being there. There'd be a fishing rod or rifle prominently displayed outside their backpack, and they'd always ask about their prospects for success up trail. The worst were the mountaineers. They'd pass silently with only a disdainful glance at my gear. I once almost bought an ice ax, just to deflect their derision.

The first question that occurs to most Americans, at least when I was growing up determined to be irresponsible was, "What do you do?" Life was a career path and little else. We signed up to serve in any way we could, and did our duty, advancing to higher pay grades along the way. I think most of us feel suffocated by the system; we suffer through school, take a job, and count the days to retirement. Some wrangle the system to suit them, and wear themselves out with ambition. A few recognize the system as their own, and become its defenders and promoters, its priests and despots, its enablers and lobbyists, on corporate boards, talk radio, and politics. What do I do? I suffer and mourn the loss of nature's random beauty and pointless joy. And I walk in the woods with no purpose other than sensation, experience, unscripted discovery and spontaneous growth. That's why I write, too.

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