By thedihedral Posted on

So you wanna ________?

So, you wanna stand out?  Bad news, you won’t.  At least not in the long term.  I’ve had thousands of students, many who went on to lead stimulating and remarkable lives.  I am consistently impressed with the complex and creative endeavors in which former students engage.  Of course, most of my students do stand out in one way or another, and usually for the “right” reasons.  But they stand out in a very local sense.

In terms of climbing, I’ve spent time with undeniably fantastic climbers who can do things that I couldn’t even imagine.  From big walls to boulders, I have witnessed spectacular climbers accomplish spectacular feats.  The greatest climbers and the greatest climbs I’ve ever seen also stand out in one way or another.  But they too stand out in a very local sense.

When we widen the aperture a little bit, we get a different view. Very few people care about the interesting endeavors of my former students and climbing comrades.  And very few people care about the interesting endeavors and climbing accomplishments of yours truly.  And very few people care about the interesting endeavors and accomplishments of you or anyone else.

If any of us stand out at all, it is an intensely limited and microscopic way.  Human beings just aren’t that interesting.  Even the very best of us are merely nameless, anonymous, and utterly forgettable.

In the entire history of rock climbing including all the best climbers who have ever existed, and all the best routes ever completed, how many names, routes, and historic feats will be remembered?  How many average ordinary people can name one historic climber or one historic climb.  Even the best to ever do it, will not and do not stand out.

Climbing is one thing, but philosophy is something altogether distinctive.  While climbing and philosophy are different things, in terms of standing out, the result is just the same.  How many people alive today can name at least ten different notable philosophers.  I’m sure most people in the west can name Socrates (am I overestimating this?).  I’m sure most in the east can name Lao Tzu.  I’d hesitate to bet that the average human could name much more.

With apologies to philosophers Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Phillipa Foot, Sally Haslanger, and Marco Belinelli as well as climbers Eva Hammelmüller, Jonathan Siegrist, Marco Zanoe, Jessica Pilz, and Jewell Loyd, almost no one in the world knows that you exist(ed), and almost no one cares.  Even the best of us don’t stand out.  In fact, these names mean so little that you probably didn’t notice that two of the names on this list are actually professional basketball players.  Because in the end, they don’t stand out either.

This thought although seemingly demotivational led to astonishingly creative works by thinkers such as Camus and Sartre, they inspired religious thinkers such a More and Camus, and inspired ingenious novelists like Dostoevsky, Murdoch, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (one of these authors is another basketball player).

The truth of the matter is that even the likes of Einstein, Plato, Gandhi, and Napoléon won’t stand out in the end, and none of us will ever be mentioned in the same breath as any of them.  We live in time that will be remembered for unfathomable technological advances.  It’s an era that will change the trajectory of the world forever.  We are crossing a line between the way the world was and the way the world will be.  That’s what will stand out.

You, me, and most every other human on the planet will get as much recognition as the forgotten peasant farmers prior to the Industrial Revolution and the forgotten factory workers after the Industrial Revolution.  On the macroscopic level we cannot possibly stand out.  Nothing any one of us will ever say, think, or do is of any far-reaching significance.

No one will remember the life of peasant woman Ròs Ó Conchobhair or factory worker Danny Duggan, no one will remember me, and no one will remember you.

While some interpret this futile little fact as demoralizing, I interpret it as freeing. 

You’re intimidated to climb a route because people are watching with high expectations, and you might fall.  So what?  Climb it anyway.  You falling on one route has about as much significance as a particle of manure on the wing of a fly circling around the head of Ròs Ó Conchobhair’s middle child.

You’re intimidated to submit a paper to your favorite philosophy journal because it might get rejected.  So what?  Submit it anyway.  You getting rejected has about as much significance as a kernel of popcorn left on the floor of a preseason basketball game in which Marco Belinelli dropped a whopping 6 points.

When we recognize the insignificance of all our efforts and actions, it should impress upon us that we have very little reason to care about how we impress upon others.

Stand out to yourself, because in the end, that might be the only way to stand out at all!

Climb On!

Carrot

23 Replies to “So you wanna ________?”

  2. sunyamar's avatar
    sunyamar says: Reply

    Love this too. Would like you to write one on standing out in th short term…. A smile, a newborn, a life saved after CPR, a first climb & such .

    Thanks for the laughs too.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Martha Kennedy's avatar
    Martha Kennedy says: Reply

    Ah, Carrot, I could write a lot on this topic, wait, oh yeah, I have. Haha… When I look at the people in the past whose names we know, I think of all the millions whose names we do not know who very likely inspired (or more!) the ones we know. What if Plato was the guy who wrote what some other guy said? Oh wait… Yeah… Anyway, here’s a book for you and your sabbatical, maybe… http://marthakennedy.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/find-yourself-in-alaska-with-climbing-gear-heres-your-book/

    Liked by 2 people

    3. thedihedral's avatar
      thedihedral says: Reply

      That was so funny Martha…I am currently reading this book called The Women Are Up To Something, about Anscombe, Foot, Murdoch, and Midgely, it’s very good so far, but one of the things I really like about all four women is that they weren’t about to give ownership of their ideas to anyone. But it leads me to think of all the people especially the women who fall into the lot that you cite here, those who had names, inspired others, and were never mentioned when it came time to give credit.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Martha Kennedy's avatar
        Martha Kennedy says:

        It’s all Maya, Carrot… Ambition is an illusion and fame is for the insecure.

        And what’s the point of “credit”? One of my best and oldest friends was once one of the most famous women in the United States.
        Anyway…

        Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
        The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
        Full many a flow’r is born to blush unseen,
        And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

        http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44299/elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard

        Liked by 1 person

  5. K.L. Hale's avatar
    K.L. Hale says: Reply

    Wow!! Yes!!!! I’m saving this! This should be published and remembered~🥰
    You nailed it. My heart and head were nodding the entire time. I had a conversation with a friend recently around this VERY topic. Do it anyway! PS~I giggled at the bb players.
    I love history, philosophy, science, nature obviously…learning! Yet, there are very few who I can visit with that might know those in history who have impacted my thinking and belief! I find them here~in WP, sometimes at a coffee shop, a mountain town, and a jazz club? Ask a middle school girl who she’ll remember….
    So you wanna_____? Do it anyway! Yay! Climb on! Write on! Teach on!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. thedihedral's avatar
      thedihedral says: Reply

      What an uplifting comment…thank you! I worry about the loss of community more than I should, but it is pretty amazing the connections that we make here on our sites, sharing ideas. It really does have a mountain town coffee shop feel!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. K.L. Hale's avatar
        K.L. Hale says:

        You’re welcome! It’s my pleasure—you hit a home run in my book! Yes, a mountain town coffee shop (sip sip hooray!).

        Liked by 1 person

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