How To Get Where You're Going

The explanation must be treated with skepticism - what person wanting to seem reasonable, rational, benevolent, and harmless does not describe their sole intent as wanting to get to the truth? And yet, almost none come close, but instead we immediately see contradictory motives emerge, swarm, and prevail with unrelenting brutality, with the most basic curiosity for truth remaining arrested, not to mention the destruction or perhaps total absence of passion and rudimentary interest.

If you want truth, you must take on and live its experiments, for these alone are transformative, causing you to leave behind all who safely attempt nothing and accordingly lose everything.

Are you willing to abandon those going nowhere so you can arrive where you must? No one will help you and at most you will encounter lucky finds from other explorers who left markers as they passed through places you must see for yourself.

We know how to achieve any result. What of those who are motionless, lost, resigned, or perpetually asleep? In older eras we could spur them with reason, telling them they need a positive outcome, what directions they could go, or how to better themselves. None of these any longer work, as the barrier for getting through has grown high, perhaps impenetrably so, in turn making us doubt teaching and our duty as physicians. There is much to do and we wish to be with those who know this, not pointlessly entangled with opponents, indifferents, or do-nothings.

Our warm souls can seem cruelly cold, for we skip social drama and cut to conclusions. We judge which vessels will arrive and which will capsize at sea or in harbor. Most are not seaworthy -- this is not our doing or anything we can prevent, but recognition over which no tears can be shed. We only care for what will be, having no desire for soothing by delusional dreams of imaginary worlds.

At our destination we meet others who have gotten there. All who didn't we won't meet -- nothing has been lost. We all end up where we deserve.