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November 11, 1998

San Francisco to Hawaii, Second Attempt. Update #51

51. Date: Wed, 11 Nov 98 05:49:44 GMT
Latitude: 22 degrees 30.101 minutes North
Longitude: 148 degrees 29.139 minutes West
Wind E, Force 3-4
Heading 225 degrees(M)

Moksha Prior to Departure
Photo by Peter Santori

Little change hear. We continue to make one mile south for every two miles west, keeping us on track for Hilo. Hard, hard work though.

Last night we took swim at 3am, the graveyard shift. The phosphorescence swirling all around my body like shards of crystal reflected in the moon -each sweep of my arm sending out waves of magic energy into the black water. So amazing!

Today we are asked 'Why are you doing this' by students from the Classroom Expedition. Two days ago I (Jason) wrote about the big WHY for the perspective of escaping from something; the Living Death of leading a mediocre life without meaning and purpose. Now I'd like to address the same question but from a different angle; gravitating toward as opposed to away from something.

Shirley Nice(a very good friend of ours and key player in the Expedition 360 support structure) talks in her recently published book on public speaking 'Speaking for Impact' of a simple but effective question and answer process by which to identify essential truths about oneself. It's very similar to a game I used to play on myself to burn time during the long bike ride through South France earlier on in this Expedition. 'Why-testing', as I called it, would involve picking any activity in my life at the time and asking the question 'why' to each answer given. It will be a good way to answer the above question...

Q:Why are you doing this? (pedaling a boat to Hawaii)
A:Because the voyage is part of a larger project to go all around the world by human power.

Q:Why are you doing that?
A:It feels like the right path for me to be on at this time in my life.

Q:Why is it the 'right' path?
A:It fills me with a sense of meaning and purpose - taking me to where I ultimately want to go.

Q:Where is that?
A:I am very ambitious. I desire to one day achieve what I believe to be the hardest challenge of all in life.

Q:And what is that?
A:Becoming one with my inner self and the universe; reaching a place of permanent peace, balance and equanimity and sharing it with others. In orthodox terms - becoming one with God.

(I must stress here that I have no religious bias and use the term 'God' loosely for personal interpretation) to summarize therefore, I am on this voyage to Hawaii as part of a larger life-long journey to reach a state of ultimate being. It might sound a bit far fetched, but when followed far enough down the line, this is what for me it's all about!

(The 'Why test' only works if the answers are given as honestly as possible; from the gut not from the head!)

Final thoughts: I believe that asking ourselves WHY in all that we do in life, as often as possible -by using a method like the 'Why test' above -to be of utmost value in not only warding against mediocrity and slipping into a Living Death scenario as discussed in Monday's Update, but perhaps more importantly, to put us more in touch with where we want to go in life and possibly give us clues as how to get there. Certain 'esential truths' locked deep within our psyche can sometimes be unearthed and brought to light, giving us insight into our true nature. These 'essential truths' are like concrete pilings that stand firm in the shifting sands of the transient personality* we live our day to day lives with. They can act as yard-sticks from which to anchor personal belief systems and help develop individually arrived at values and ethics with which to conduct our lives. I am only just starting to realize that many traditional belief systems do actually make a lot of sense -if arrived at and understood from a personal perspective. The reason they got kicked out the door in the 60's and have had no credibility with successive generations since, is throughout history they've been forced down people's throats in the form of Absolute Truths that if not followed to the letter, would see a person shunned or even outcast by society.

All through the ages therefore people have been acting out of fear rather than true understanding -until the 60's that is. Since then a vacuum has separated generations of young people from connecting to these things we all have a need for; things like meaning, purpose, values and ethics etc. We all have an vague idea what they are, but they have no substance until someone gives us the tools to find them for ourselves. And this is what the Classroom Expedition is all about.

The Classroom Expedition has many levels; kids get to follow Steve and I via satellite; they get to learn about math and science, reading, writing and computers by studying our life on the ocean and their's on land; they get to learn about how their actions affect other people and there environment both locally and globally. But perhaps the most important thing of all is they get to ask questions; lots of them, as much of the time as possible. They are encouraged to always ask WHY, in order to fully understand -for their own personal perspective -what it is being studied. Hopefully, some of the participating students will discover some of their own essential truths before getting flung into the meat-grinder of adolescence; hormones gone crazy and trying to fit into peer pressure that is itself so much a product of pop media.

If you haven't already, check it out... It's still a pilot study and we're looking for feedback.

Personality* as in the phenomenal ego -the 'self' we fabricate in response to who others (friends, family, peers, society) perceive us to be. Also includes the mercurial nature of our emotions, moods and psychology.

Lewis & Smith,
The Moksha crew

Posted on November 11, 1998 7:35 PM