To climb the highest mountain "because it is there;" (1)
To choose "to go to the moon because it is hard"; (2)
To attempt to dislodge a boulder with a staff; (3)
"To be a soldier" for "a splendid carelessness for life." (4)
"To throw away [one's] life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty." (5)
All of those acts are fearless, difficult, bold and ambitious. They are not acts of heroism.
I do not know what is true.(6)
Doing something for the sake of doing it is vacuous. Doing something hard because it is hard may be vacuous in addition to being a game or "test" of character. To kill for the sake of killing is immoral; to expose oneself to death for the sake of the exposure is to be a "maniac"(7); to throw away one's life is suicide; to blindly accept duty is the mentality of the herd.
I do not know the meaning of the universe.(8)
There must be purpose to our acts, for we are beings gifted with intelligence; and that purpose must be moral, for we are burdened with knowing the alternative.
To go to war out of duty, because one must, because the war came, because it is there-Those are not acts of heroism. To show carelessness for life including one's own, is not bravery. And it is not moral.
We are the universe. The universe exists inside each of us and all of us. It has no existence outside of us. The universe means what we intelligent, moral beings, by our acts, make it mean.
To choose "to go to the moon because it is hard"; (2)
To attempt to dislodge a boulder with a staff; (3)
"To be a soldier" for "a splendid carelessness for life." (4)
"To throw away [one's] life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty." (5)
All of those acts are fearless, difficult, bold and ambitious. They are not acts of heroism.
I do not know what is true.(6)
Doing something for the sake of doing it is vacuous. Doing something hard because it is hard may be vacuous in addition to being a game or "test" of character. To kill for the sake of killing is immoral; to expose oneself to death for the sake of the exposure is to be a "maniac"(7); to throw away one's life is suicide; to blindly accept duty is the mentality of the herd.
I do not know the meaning of the universe.(8)
There must be purpose to our acts, for we are beings gifted with intelligence; and that purpose must be moral, for we are burdened with knowing the alternative.
To go to war out of duty, because one must, because the war came, because it is there-Those are not acts of heroism. To show carelessness for life including one's own, is not bravery. And it is not moral.
We are the universe. The universe exists inside each of us and all of us. It has no existence outside of us. The universe means what we intelligent, moral beings, by our acts, make it mean.
1. Sir Edmund Hillary.
2. President John F. Kennedy.
3. Josue Dupon.
4. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "The Soldier's Faith."
5. Holmes.
6. Holmes.
7. Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman on Major General Andrew A. Humphreys' conduct at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
8. Holmes.
2. President John F. Kennedy.
3. Josue Dupon.
4. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "The Soldier's Faith."
5. Holmes.
6. Holmes.
7. Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman on Major General Andrew A. Humphreys' conduct at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
8. Holmes.
