Targets, Quests, and Evolution

A red-figure krater shows a scene where harpies attack King Phineus. Attica, c. 450 BCE. (Archaeological Museum, Ferrara, Italy)

I often think of the future as an empty stage before a performance - a space brimming with unrealised potential. Execution demands that the performer set a target towards an outcome that is a blend of the planned and the spontaneous, in-the-moment, decisions that bring flavour and nuance to the finest performances. This makes each performance unique. Each performance gives the performer another chance to iterate, modify, adapt and aim for an outcome closer to the envisioned ideal. The pursuit, though fleeting, is wholly fulfilling.

I do believe that we are biologically engineered to aim and target towards a (self) defined ideal. Any progress that takes place is a result of overcoming specified targets in succession. As such, selecting a target within an infinite state space is crucial — not because I believe that we have the foresight to connect the dots, but because the vastness of potential demands it.

“Choosing a conscious path enables us to act on our value hierarchy more effectively than if we were to choose a target randomly, guided by no deliberate action. In part, this is because selecting a target requires assigning an ordinal rank to the items within the set of potential pursuits.”

Conversely, the inability to choose a target may, at best, imply a weakened value hierarchy, preventing the individual from ranking potential paths as multiple paths seem to hold the same value. At worst, it indicates a complete value system disintegration, removing the need to rank tasks because every target appears indistinguishable from the infinite others.

To pursue any target meaningfully, one must assign an ordinal value to that target. However, it's essential to be aware of one's capacity to pursue a given number of tasks simultaneously. In other words, you cannot keep assigning values endlessly. Pursuing anything means not pursuing infinite other things. There is a cost associated with meaningful pursuit. By spending energy to move toward a target, you sacrifice the opportunity to move in all other directions. Once you choose your goal and set a direction, relinquishing the prospect of all other paths requires sacrifice. 

But why, one may ask, must I actively choose knowing that an active choice imposes a burden that requires sacrifice?

“But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal?……. 
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept.”

— John F. Kennedy Address at Rice University on the Space Effort. Sept. 12, 1962

Because the performance, the pursuit of realizing potential on what would otherwise be an empty stage, however fleeting, is wholly meaningful.

Over the past few years, I have wandered into numerous conversations about sacrifice (and suffering). In my experience, suffering has varied in its origin but never in its intent. Mythologically speaking, the protagonist, often an adolescent at the start, must leave the nest to embark on a quest for something valuable and necessary. Along the way, he encounters the unknown and confronts the devil. To obtain the object of value, our adolescent must endure the harshest environments and reach a breaking point where he must ask, "What is at stake? Why am I doing this?" In other words, he must find meaning and evolve, or he shall perish.

In order to undergo the necessary evolution, the protagonist must let go of something invaluable and crucial to his existence. For if the metamorphosis fails to take place, our hero misses the target and figuratively dies facing the devil. What’s the big deal, you may rightfully ask. The significance of the narrative is two-fold.

1. First, the hero must voluntarily leave the nest and not forever bathe in the warmth of accumulated resources and comfort provided by the community. The Hobbit must leave the Shire. Bruce Wayne must go to treacherous mountains to train with the League of Shadows. Tony Stark must be captured by terrorists. All this is necessary for the hero to come to terms with his own mortality and reach the breaking point.

2. Second, to evolve, the hero must let go of something precious—the ultimate sacrifice. Frodo must destroy the ring. Bruce must choose between his lover and the ideal of justice. Tony Stark must sacrifice himself to save the world from utter wrath. These sacrifices are essential for the hero's transformation and the realization of his true potential. 

It is also important to note that if the hero fails to let go of objects that must be sacrificed for the greater good, the structure of evolution and internal value hierarchy comes crashing down on itself. For me, the ultimate manifestation of the respective is found in Gollum (a fictional character from The Lord of the Rings) whose inability to let go of the Ring leads to the corruption of Gollum's physical and spiritual existence. Moreover, it throws Gollum into a pit that is devoid of any potential. Some would argue that that is worse than death.

The journey and effort, no matter how small, hold deep meaning, and this meaning fuels our potential. Suffering, though harsh, is a more tangible reality than life itself, yet it also brings the chance to overcome it.

“To keep realizing our potential, we must set a target. Achieving this target requires sacrifice and embarking on a journey. Ultimately, this process is profoundly fulfilling because it imbues life with purpose and meaning.”