Finding Meaning Before The Darkness
ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND SOCIO-BIOLOGISTS CONTEND THAT HUMANS ARE HARD-WIRED TO SEARCH FOR GOD or its nonsectarian equivalent, the meaning of life.
Examples abound about our constant craving: everything from the "Obama Phenomenon," to the Oprah swoon to a plumber seeing the Virgin Mary in a rusty sink and Princess Diana conspiracy theories all point to our relentless search for meaning. To believe in nothingness seems against our nature.
Dr. Randy Pausch has joined our panthenon of purpose. The Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation and bestselling book cowritten by Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffrey Zaslow, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 47.
Professor Pausch delivered his last lecture on "childhood dreams" last September, about a month after he received his terminal diagnosis. He filled the 76-minute talk with stories about his apparent idyllic childhood, his childhood to-do list, and his life's work. Among the lessons he imparted were these quotes:
"Loyalty is a two-way street."
"When you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up...When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care."
"Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not just yourself.”
“Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. There are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail; the best gold is at the bottom of the barrels of crap.
"When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening. Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did. Or it can be just one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it. Anybody can get chewed out; it’s the rare person who says, “Oh my God, you’re right."
"Don’t complain; just worker harder....Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Work hard. Find the best in everybody. Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity."
"You can’t get there alone – People have to help you, and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth, being earnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day because hip is short term. Earnest is long term."Listening to the lecture might cause you to think that the euphoric-seeming Pausch really was in denial, despite his direct rejection of this charge. "I don’t know how not to have fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day that I have left."
And there are times that you hate yourself for noticing the contradictions in his words. For instance, some of the most successful people I know are the biggest liars. Loyalty, especially in business, seems a particularly dead concept, and would be banished as a ridiculous assumption by employees by the current Supreme Court. And if living a good life earns you good karma, dammit, then why the hell is this Dr. Zest dying of cancer?
It is only in the lecture's last words that you can forgive Dr. Pausch for repeating platitudes. It is then that he reveals his intended audience.
"Did you figure out the head fake?,'' he asks. The talk's "not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you. And have you figured out the second head fake? The talk’s not for you; it’s for my kids.”
He was leaving a legacy for his kids. In the end, his three children and wife are what mattered most. And I can understand wanting your children to believe in every possibility. I can find meaning in that.
Posted July 27, 2008
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