Adventure
A hint of satire from the predicament of being a modern human
A time comes when a man and his family must retreat into some uncontrollable wilderness of adventure. A man must put down responsibility, his dehumanizing tasks of every kind, and take up the bold unknown where unpredictability and risk are the only certainties. Yes, its time to unlash the moorings of our stability, let go and wonder about who we will become on the other side of this next week. Will we ever be the same? Who knows what will become of us, whether we will return, who we will be when we do, and how life’s mysteries may touch us in the marrow of our bones.
This is not an easy thing to do. The only way it is possible is by the alluring scent of adventure alone. We are haunted by the mystery of an encounter that we can feel is away from here. Like a salmon— somehow migrating only by instinct— to the mystery of their birth, we must go. It is a calling, not a will that leads us. We are compelled into unknowing, a dying to our creaturely comforts, because we have the hope of being born. We are at once exhilarated and terrified not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Yes, is the only response we can give to the calling of adventure. Our choice is to have no choice in accepting the adventure.
We will brave the wild by stepping on a cruise ship to Alaska today. Everything is preplanned with full guarantees of wildlife sitings, laughs, food, safety, comfort, warmth, technology, tours, and service.
Our modern impulse to control everything, even the uncontrollable, puts us in a prison of never letting go and stepping into wild encounter that we crave. Such is the predicament of being a modern human.