Passion Unto Death

"If I die, what a beautiful death! To die in the exercise of your passion."
- Philippe Petit

Mister Petit is still very much alive. He was the subject of the 2008 documentary, "Man on Wire", where in 1974 he successfully wire walked between the Twin Towers of NYC for 45 minutes of total Zen, brought about by his sheer passion for what he was put on this earth to do. Here was a man who had an overpowering dream and set upon a path to make it come true. He accomplished something no one had done previously, and that no one would replicate after. For that feat, that dream, that passion, he became legend. What's more, he believed in himself and what he was doing so much that he was willing to die in the execution of his dreams.

How many of us are willing to throw ourselves so completely into the fires of passion?

Passion is key to the continued movement of our energy, the flow of our water. Without passion, we sit like a small boat on the water, waiting for strong breeze to blow through our sails. Of course, many of us fail to realize that we don't even have our sails up in the first place, let alone waiting for the wind to move us. Passion and self definition will be recurring themes in our ongoing discourse. Passion ignites our desire, and it's important to know where you keep the matches. What are your loves in this world, and why aren't you feeding those loves?

Animal expert Steve Irwin gave an interview several years before his death where he told the reporter point blank the he firmly believed the reason he was put upon this earth was to spread the message of conservation, and how important it was to our continued survival as a species. This man lived his passion, truly lived his passion, and he died doing what he loved. I never saw his death as a tragedy for exactly this reason. He was in the water, swimming amongst the marine life, filming a show on just how amazing these creatures were. What better way to leave this world (and a legacy) than in a perfect moment of Zen?

"Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what he loves."
- Blaise Pascal

Find your passion. Time is far too short to sit idle in your boat without a breeze. Find the reason you were put on this earth. The answers are probably a lot closer than you think.