Marlow's Musings 8/11/24
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
A while back I mused that we had reached Peak Purpose, becoming common and jargonish, when people like Robert Greene, who wrote 48 Laws of Power, were writing about living out your purpose.
It'd be like horror novelist Stephen King writing a religious devotion. Someone asked what a Stephen King novel about Ikigai would be like.
I decided to write my interpretation...
Harold lived with the scent of mildew and regret clinging to him like cobwebs. His life was a faded portrait of missed turns and diminished dreams.
A gnawing had followed him for years, whispers of a path never taken. The villagers in Havenwood called him "Old Dusty," a nickname that stuck like grit to his soul.
One day, a tattered package arrived, mailed from Okinawa. Inside was a worn book with only one word printed on the otherwise blank pages.
Ikigai
Ikigai? He had to know the meaning.
A Google search showed him a definition from The Ikigai Guy.
"Ikigai is experiencing your essence and purpose in harmony with everything you do."
Something flickered in Harold's chest, a dying ember teased by a sudden draft.
He recalled childhood dreams of carving intricate figurines from wood, dreams choked by practicality and the drudgery of the mill. His fingers twitched with phantom splinters; his heart echoed with the forgotten hum of saws.
Driven by desperate hope, he bought tools and weathered wood that smelled of forgotten forests. His hands, rusty as old hinges, fumbled at first, but the wood whispered secrets, responding to his touch like a shy lover.
Soon, rough shapes emerged, smoothed into intricate faces coming to life from calloused palms.
Laughter, a visitor long gone, filled his house. Villagers, drawn by the rhythmic tap-tap of chisels, marveled at the creatures that sprung from his bench.
"Old Dusty" transformed into "Happy Harold," his eyes regaining a lost glimmer.
Beneath the newfound joy, a gnawing fear took root. What if it was too late? What if Ikigai, like a fickle butterfly, had alighted too close to dusk? The joy turned brittle, tinged with the metallic tang of despair.
One night, he dreamt of a withered tree, its branches clawing at the sky, each leaf a missed opportunity. He woke in a cold sweat; the scent of mildew had returned, thick and suffocating.
Panicking, he ran to the workshop. His hands shook, the chisel trembling in his grip. The wood, once responsive, felt cold and unyielding.
The joy had gone, replaced by a chilling certainty – he was too late.
Old Dusty died that day, from a terminal case of missed purpose. His story became a cautionary tale in Havenwood, a chilling reminder that Ikigai, like a fragile flame, could be extinguished by the icy winds of neglect.
A more profound horror than ghosts or vampires visited that day. The horror of a life lived without finding its purpose. A chilling testament to the consequences of leaving your Ikigai covered, forever trapped in the chrysalis of unfulfilled potential.
Word of the Week
Horror (noun)
/hawr-er/
an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear.
Not living out your purpose is the most terrifying horror of them all.
In case you missed it…
This week, there were two Ikigai Thoughts for Today; the first was a quick exploration of two views of life in the long run.
The second was a reminder to celebrate your victories along the way.
Ikiquest+
This week's Coffee Contemplation was another real-time reflection. I shared how I hadn’t been living up to my mantra of “Less News, More Muse” lately and why I needed to reset and get back to following it.
Ikiquest+ subscribers can listen to it in audio narration or read the transcription.
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Comment of the Week:
This week’s comment came from Kelly on last week’s exploration of the marvelous work Hireath.
Certain words are full of soul, depth, they burn with a gentle fire that needs no kindling. Hiraeth is one of them.
A “gentle fire that needs no kindling,” went straight into my thought library.
Quote I’m Pondering
This thought is from Jean Cocteau…
"The course of a river is almost always disapproved of by its source."
Sometimes, we are the 'source' and life the river.
Interesting Thing I Saw This Week: Kristen Faulkner's Incredible Journey
In a stunning turn of events that reads like a Hollywood script, Alaskan-born Kristen Faulkner has become the first American in 40 years to win gold in the Olympic women's road cycling race. Her path to the podium in Paris is a marvelous Ikigai journey.
Just seven years ago, Faulkner was a Harvard graduate working at a venture capital firm in New York City. Though a rower in college, on a whim, she decided to take a beginner's cycling class in Central Park. She was bitten by the cycling bug and began rising at dawn to train before heading to her office on Wall Street.
As her passion grew, so did her talent. Faulkner started competing in local tournaments, showing promise that would soon change her life. In a bold move, she quit her lucrative finance job and moved to California to pursue cycling full-time.
She was added to the Olympic roster only one month before the Games because of an injury on the team. Even if she hadn’t won gold, this would be an example of exploring to uncover your Ikigai. Winning the gold medal makes it that much better.
Final Thoughts
Five years ago this month, my decades-long corporate career came to an end. In the intervening years I’ve experienced more Ikigai moments than in the 15 years prior when my quest for purpose began.
As I am wrapping up the final edits on my book The Ikigai Way, I realize I’ve learned more about Ikigai in the past few months than in even those five years. The more we explore, the more we learn. The more we share, the deeper our own understanding. The more we question, the greater the quest. Which, of course, is why I always close by saying…
Quest well.
How often do the waters of the river look back to see if its course had been of the source of its choosing? As long as I can answer for myself, have I only allowed a terrain set by others and gravity draw me into the path of least resistance?
It is always a pleasure to read the stories you craft on purpose through the lens of various authors David!
I found it curious that 3 very distinct places came up while reading it...
1. my introduction to the word ikigai thanks to the folks at Osmosis in exchange for my kintsugi geek out 🤓
2. starry bowls and...
3. your "If You Were a Tree" piece.
SOul excited for your book 🙌
What a gift this life affords us to share in exploring the poetry of our souls!
Now the human ecologist in me is wildly curious what universal thread there may be to how the word ikigai/dharma/choose your own adventure...found it's way into people's lives. 🤔