To find the most fulfillment in life, one must venture into the unknown, experience the absurd and live dangerously. By leading a life that is constantly new and foreign you choose to live deliberately; not merely floating by on the whims of others and sticking with the familiar. Recently in my philosophy class we read the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, and it had a profound effect on my world view. Nietzsche challenges us to live dangerously, he says this is the secret to finding fulfillment in life. I agree with Nietzsche and his idea, I think that true fulfillment can be found in danger. Danger is all around us, just by daring to look at things from a different perspective we are experiencing danger.
By taking time to analyze the movements of ants or the orbit of stars we venture into ideas that have not come to us before and thus are in the pursuit of knowledge. This is the ultimate danger, not knowing and uncertainty can leave a man action-less, frozen with fear. But by stepping out into the dark we take a chance, to learn more and experience all the ups and downs that life can throw at us. It is so easy to live in comfort I see it everyday here at Penn State, especially in the honors college. Scholars who spend all their time in a study lounge, condemning themselves to a life of quite. But the world exists outside of our dorms and study spaces, the problems we need to fix are happening just a few steps out the door. Nietzsche is giving us a challenge, he tells us to dare to learn, dare to question and above all dare to live dangerously.
So how can we implement this into are lives, because philosophy is useless if not for the practical application of it. By staying conscious of why we make decisions, analyzing our actions and not being creatures of habit, we can live more dangerously. Take a chance, follow a different path and dance to the beat of your own drum. College is a time to discover yourself, so move forward into the unknown with conviction. Personally I take this step everyday, by challenging myself to look at things under a new lens. I don’t settle for the easiest answer, I challenge everything because there is too much absurdity to trust in anything outright. One thing I make sure to do everyday is take a moment to fully absorb my surroundings, especially while out in nature. I notice the little things like the colors of leaves the beauty of animals going about their day and the type of weather we are having. People may find it weird but ever since choosing to live deliberately I have smiled every time it started to rain here in happy valley. By choosing to live dangerously, approaching each moment as a chance to learn something knew I am finding more fulfillment and happiness in my life.
I definitely agree with you that a life without risk is a life without fulfillment. If you are never willing to try anything new, to test what you are capable of, you will never grow as a person and learn to adapt. By never trying new things, especially things that scare us, it condemns us to living a very flat life unfilled with a sense of accomplishment, and only provides us with the ability to think about how we could have done things differently. The whole purpose of taking risks is to learn from them, whether the result is good or bad, and take that knowledge with you from that point on. By not doing so, I’d go so far to claim that you aren’t really even living. You are simply not dying yet. After all, can we really call it life if you don’t experience all the things associated with it? Joy, fulfillment, love, none of them come without first taking risks. Sure, risks may be scary, but they can’t be worse than living out a virtual Groundhog Day, and having the same experiences, or rather lack there of, day in and day out.