Written in 1958, it is timelessly insightful, especially given that Thompson and the world had no idea then that he would become one of the most important writers of the 20th century - gonzo journalism godfather, pundit of media politics, dark philosopher.
If our beliefs really do become our reality, then there’s no better
example of a life fully realized than the one of Hunter S. Thompson.
Found in Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience, Hunter notes “all advice can only be a product of the man who gives it” - he
seems to dismiss the opinion of giving advice in the first place, and then goes
on to give it most insightfully!
Let his
perspective inspire us all:
“It is not
necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson
April 22,
1958
57 Perry Street
New York City
57 Perry Street
New York City
Dear Hume,
You ask
advice: ah, what a very human and very dangerous thing to do! For to give
advice to a man who asks what to do with his life implies something very close
to egomania. To presume to point a man to the right and ultimate goal — to
point with a trembling finger in the RIGHT direction is something only a fool
would take upon himself.
I am not a
fool, but I respect your sincerity in asking my advice. I ask you though, in
listening to what I say, to remember that all advice can only be a product of
the man who gives it. What is truth to one may be disaster to another. I do not
see life through your eyes, nor you through mine. If I were to attempt to give
you specific advice, it would be too much like the blind leading the blind.
“To be, or
not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of
troubles … ” [Shakespeare]
And indeed,
that IS the question: whether to float with the tide, or to swim for a goal. It
is a choice we must all make consciously or unconsciously at one time in our
lives. So few people understand this! Think of any decision you’ve ever made
which had a bearing on your future: I may be wrong, but I don’t see how it
could have been anything but a choice however indirect — between the two things
I’ve mentioned: the floating or the swimming.
But why not
float if you have no goal? That is another question. It is unquestionably
better to enjoy the floating than to swim in uncertainty. So how does a man
find a goal? Not a castle in the stars, but a real and tangible thing. How can
a man be sure he’s not after the “big rock candy mountain,” the enticing
sugar-candy goal that has little taste and no substance?
The answer —
and, in a sense, the tragedy of life — is that we seek to understand the goal
and not the man. We set up a goal which demands of us certain things: and we do
these things. We adjust to the demands of a concept which CANNOT be valid. When
you were young, let us say that you wanted to be a fireman. I feel reasonably
safe in saying that you no longer want to be a fireman. Why? Because your
perspective has changed. It’s not the fireman who has changed, but you. Every
man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ
and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes.
This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant
experience alters your perspective.
So it would
seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands of a goal we see
from a different angle every day? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything
other than galloping neurosis?
The answer,
then, must not deal with goals at all, or not with tangible goals, anyway. It
would take reams of paper to develop this subject to fulfillment. God only
knows how many books have been written on “the meaning of man” and that sort of
thing, and god only knows how many people have pondered the subject. (I use the
term “god only knows” purely as an expression.) There’s very little sense in my
trying to give it up to you in the proverbial nutshell, because I’m the first
to admit my absolute lack of qualifications for reducing the meaning of life to
one or two paragraphs.
I’m going to
steer clear of the word “existentialism,” but you might keep it in mind as a
key of sorts. You might also try something called “Being and Nothingness” by
Jean-Paul Sartre, and another little thing called “Existentialism: From
Dostoyevsky to Sartre.” These are merely suggestions. If you’re genuinely
satisfied with what you are and what you’re doing, then give those books a wide
berth. (Let sleeping dogs lie.) But back to the answer. As I said, to put our
faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive
to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors.WE
STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES.
But don’t
misunderstand me. I don’t mean that we can’t BE firemen, bankers, or doctors —
but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the
individual conform to the goal. In every man, heredity and environment have
combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires — including a
deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that his life will be
MEANINGFUL. A man has to BE something; he has to matter.
As I see it
then, the formula runs something like this: a man must choose a path which will
let his ABILITIES function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of
his DESIRES. In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity by
functioning in a set pattern toward a set goal), he avoids frustrating his
potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he
avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer
to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks,
he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires).
In short, he
has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather
chosen a way of life he KNOWS he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary:
it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost
ridiculous to say that a man MUST function in a pattern of his own choosing;
for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most
meaningful aspects of life — the definitive act of will which makes a man an
individual.
Let’s assume
that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined
paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any
of the eight. THEN — and here is the essence of all I’ve said — you MUST FIND A
NINTH PATH.
Naturally,
it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve lived a relatively narrow life, a
vertical rather than a horizontal existence. So it isn’t any too difficult to
understand why you seem to feel the way you do. But a man who procrastinates in
his CHOOSING will
inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.
So if you
now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to
accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of
looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then
see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life. But you say, “I
don’t know where to look; I don’t know what to look for.”
And there’s
the crux. Is it worth giving up what I have to look for something better? I
don’t know — is it? Who can make that decision but you? But even by DECIDING TO
LOOK, you go a long way toward making the choice.
If I don’t
call this to a halt, I’m going to find myself writing a book. I hope it’s not
as confusing as it looks at first glance. Keep in mind, of course, that this is
MY WAY of looking at things. I happen to think that it’s pretty generally
applicable, but you may not. Each of us has to create our own credo — this
merely happens to be mine.
If any part
of it doesn’t seem to make sense, by all means call it to my attention. I’m not
trying to send you out “on the road” in search of Valhalla, but merely pointing
out that it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life
as you know it. There is more to it than that — no one HAS to do something he
doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that’s what you
wind up doing, by all means convince yourself that you HAD to do it. You’ll
have lots of company.
And that’s
it for now. Until I hear from you again, I remain,
Your friend,
Hunter
Hunter
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