The Mountain We Climb
Success as Mount Everest
Western life is one of continuous aspiration for material betterment. We are fed a constant buffet of stories and imagery of people who have “made it”. From the side hustlers to the garage entrepreneurs like Michael Dell, we are bombarded with stories of those who have reached a state of self realization through material affluence. The implicit message in each of these stories is “If Joe and Jane Lunchpail can do it, why can’t you?”
Success is metaphorized as a mountain you see out your window every day that, if it isn’t climbed and conquered, you will never know what you were capable of or who you might have become. This viewpoint, if internalized and acted upon, will make your current existence feel like a screaming inadequacy.
To aspire to success is, in fact, to rebel against your circumstances in life. It is to break out of the economic caste you were born into, in pursuit of becoming something better in your lifetime. Pursuit of success is a defiance of fate. Indirectly, or by implication, it is also to point a finger at your parents and say “I reject you and the station in life you bore me into”.
The achievement of success is advertised as a kind of permanent euphoria. Still, we read about the failures and frailties of the wealthy, famous and powerful. We are reminded of their…
