Core Value - Passion

“Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night.”

--Terri Guillemets

"When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire,

one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots."

-- Nikola Tesla

“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived?

Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it

become you and you will find great things happen FOR you,

TO you and BECAUSE of you.”

-- T. Alan Armstrong 

William Hazlitt would have us believe, “A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.” How would you respond to Mr. Hazlitt? How does the concept of passion fit into your paradigm of success? There are those that would discourage us from making passion anything more than unbridled emotion, fantasy, or reason run-a-muck. In the role of pragmatist, Benjamin Franklin warned, “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” Perhaps in Franklin’s day such an admonition was sound advice. Perhaps it is still good advice today for the general population. However, for that small percentage of the population who are “on fire,” the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson seem more appropriate, “Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.” The more contemporary voice of success promoter Anthony Robbins says, “Passion is the genesis of genius.”

Actually, one should question if we are not at greater risk by dampening our passions than by letting them ignite and set our world on fire? Henri Frédéric Amiel wrote in Amiel’s Journal, in December 1856, “Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.” Amiel’s analogy metaphorically brings the person to life, igniting that which gives us life, the human spirit which itself is metaphorically represented as fire, albeit but a flickering pilot light for many. Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, some years after Amiel’s passing observed, "The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire." Even more recently, Luisa Sigea, speaking of human passion in the September 2003 edition of O Magazine noted, “Blaze with the fire that is never extinguished.”

Even though the 18th century evangelist John Wesley was likely preaching more of a Franklin philosophy than that of Amiel or Sigea, he still connected that which we refer to as passion with spiritual fire. He did so stating, "When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn." One might say he was correct either way. The masses often find entertainment in seeing the passionate individual flame-out and take a dizzying, spiraling, nosedive toward self-destruction. On the other hand, that anomaly, a person passionately on fire, cannot help but attract the attention of others. They are as rare an event in human history as is Hailey’s Comet amidst the heavens. The first often fails because his courage fails. The latter more often succeeds because courage of one’s convictions fuels and fans the flames into a white-hot heat; passion. In the 18th century, Denis Diderot knew of the connection between passion and the human spirit, writing, “Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.”

And, contemporary writer Rebecca West observed, “It's the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.” The advice Marcus Aurelius Antoninus gave nearly 19 centuries ago would still seem appropriate applied to this current conversation. He observed, “Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself!” Let’s move on!

The bard of homegrown wisdom from the shores of Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor, once related, “You taught me to be nice, so nice that now I am so full of niceness, I have no sense of right and wrong, no outrage, no passion.” If we are not careful, if we fear our passionate impulses – forget about the lustful connotations here folks, that is not what we are talking about - then there is a real chance we fear living; being truly alive! A statement attributed to Howard Thurman speaks directly to this thought, “Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Blaise Pascal was of a similar mind when he wrote, "Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care." There are way too many zombies occupying our world already! Do you choose to add to that number? The writer chooses otherwise.

"Most people are other people.
Their thoughts are someone else's opinions,

their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

-- Oscar Wilde

The late Walter Cronkite observed, "I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got." Talk show host phenomenon Oprah Winfrey shares, “I believe that one of life's greatest risks is never daring to risk.” For some of us, a life without risks, a life lived without all the gusto one can muster, is not a life at all. It all goes back to our finding our true calling, our purpose in life, and then investing everything we have into its fulfillment. We must not allow ourselves to die with “our music still in us!”

Each of us, if we choose to live life fully, must examine our lives thoroughly to determine that which drives us, that which constantly stokes that fire within. For the writer, Bertrand Russell comes very close to identifying and expressing some of his own governing passions:

*****************************************************************

“Three passions have governed my life:

The longings for love, the search for knowledge,

And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.

In the union of love I have seen

In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision

Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.

I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].

I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,

But always pity brought me back to earth;

Cries of pain reverberated in my heart

Of children in famine, of victims tortured

And of old people left helpless.

I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,

And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.”

*********************************************************************

 The writer E. M. Forster understood the power of human passion, especially when acted upon. He noted, "One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.” Can this be true? Do you believe this statement? Are you the “one,” or are you among the other 39? Margery Allingham, in her book Death of a Ghost, written in1934, wrote, “When the habitually even-tempered suddenly fly into a passion, that explosion is apt to be more impressive than the outburst of the most violent amongst us.” Much like Wesley suggested, that individual Allingham writes about, cannot help but catch the attention of others. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily because they are engaged in something of great importance. Rather, they often catch the attention of others because they are an anomaly. For sure, fire both catches our attention and causes us to fear, occasionally both at the same time. However, as an unidentified author noted, the lack of that fire might warrant our attention equally as much as its presence. In the unknown author’s words, “He who is passionate and hasty, is generally honest; it is your cool dissembling hypocrite, of whom you should beware.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson understood the importance of enthusiasm to the human passionate response and wrote, "Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." Human passion breeds commitment and rallies the human forces such as enthusiasm to a specific cause. Comedian Bill Cosby spoke to that commitment when he said, "Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you."

However passionate a person might become, there will be times when s/he is faced with resistance by others. Actress Bette Davis addressed the vicissitudes of passion and commitment in her book The Lonely Life, “My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.” Aldous Huxley attempted to put a positive spin on society’s stultifying effect on human passion with the acknowledgement, “Every civilization is, among other things, an arrangement for domesticating the passions and setting them to do useful work.”

Hum, well, you be the judge as to civilization’s ability to effectively domesticate the passions and determine what “useful work” might be, but this writer prefers to thank Huxley for his warning, and will be extra cautious around anyone attempting to “domesticate” him and/or determining the usefulness of his work. Realizing that there are sound precautions to follow as one manifests his/her passions, D. H. Lawrence suggested, “Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.” Furthermore, those of us wanting more out of life than being domesticated might heed the words of Anthony Robbins, "There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it's the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson." Also, to avoid domestication, do as Denis Waitley suggests, "Chase your passion, not your pension."

That last line by Waitley undoubtedly has some readers ready to abandon the pursuit of their passions since part of the domestication process is to create a false sense of “security” for those following the laws of the flock. Just recently the writer was visiting with a superintendent who encouraged him to pursue a certain job pathway because of the “great early retirement incentive program” that was offered. Now, if great early retirement incentive programs excite you, contact me and I will share the lead that the fellow gave me. However, if like me, life holds out more to you than retirement incentives, read on because what follows is more exciting to me than retirement incentives. If you have been following my writings you know you are dealing with a guy who intends to set the world on fire, not cool his heels and watch the world go by. Leave the sheep and cattle to be domesticated. For us, a walk on the wild side would seem a greater calling!

Terri Guillemets apparently wasn’t worried that following one’s passions results in diasterous outcomes. He wrote, “Follow your passion, and success will follow you.” Guillemets also realized that following one’s passion is not a one-time, flash-in-the-pan affair and suggested that you must “renew your passions daily.” For many of us the greatest struggle is to bring all aspects of our lives into alignment in order to allow our passion to blossom and flourish; to realize our personal manifest destiny. In the words of an unidentified writer, “When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one, and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.” The matter of “work” is often one of the roadblocks facing the person of passion. David Sarnoff CEO of RCA knows the importance of finding the work that is in harmony with one’s passion and suggests, "Nobody can be successful unless he loves his work."

Dale Carnegie knew this to be true as well and wrote, "You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing." Finding that right niche , where passion and work vibrate with harmony, is vitally important, that is, unless paying your way through encounters with creditors is not a concern of yours. In the words of Albert Camus, "Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies." Thoreau knew of this malaise when he spoke to the people living lives of “quite desperation.” Friedrich Nietzsche was just as aware of the fallout resulting from one following a life of desperation when he wrote, "Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?" Granted, for the person of passion, finding that “right work” might be a challenge, but it is a challenge each of us must shoulder and be resolute to “stay the course" until successful. Our very lives depend on our being successful! In the words of Donald Trump, "Without passion you don’t have energy, without energy you have nothing."

"Every man is proud of what he does well;

and no man is proud of what he does not do well.

With the former, his heart is in his work;

and he will do twice as much of it with less fatigue.

The latter performs a little imperfectly,

looks at it in disgust, turns from it,

and imagines himself exceedingly tired.

The little he has done, comes to nothing,

for want of finishing."

— Abraham Lincoln

George Wilhelm was quoted in the September 2003 edition of O Magazine stating, “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” In the same issue, Oprah Winfrey stated, “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.” Still a third individual, Nina Berberova shared in that issue of O Magazine, “I had learnt to seek intensity…more of life, a concentrated sense of life.” Search for the “down side” of living your life passionately if you must, but while doing so you might do well to reflect on the advice given by Dorothy L. Sayers in Gaudy Night, “The worst sin - perhaps the only sin - passion can commit, is to be joyless.”

A good question to mull over is whether, or not, passion is actually something we want to consider as optional to the well lived life? The French novelist Honoré de Balzac wrote, “Passion is universal humanity. Without it religion, history, romance and art would be useless.” Those are pretty significant words. Balzac’s observation is a rather profound observation! The choice to concur with, or refute, Balzac’s thoughts is yours. Whatever the final conclusion, it would seem time well spent to reflect on his suggestion. Understanding the fundamental importance of passion to meaningful living is really not as obscure a topic as the regulators of human emotions would lead us to believe. In a more conventional format, rapper Ice T, in The Ice Opinion, shared his perspective on that which Balzac addressed writing, “Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place.”

We would not want to conclude this discussion regarding passion leaving the reader believing the writer suggests that passion should exist without any form of authentication. As with any form of human emotion or effort, wisdom must be infused into the process. If for no other reason, effort to keep passion from being ill-tempered, unmanageable, and destructive would seem prudent under nearly all circumstances. Alfred Lord Tennyson encapsulates this idea well in his observation, “The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.” More recently, Salma Hayek shared, “I still get passionate about things, but my passion is not so scattered and it's not needy. It's a lot more powerful because it comes with this groundedness and peacefulness. That it's about the process, not about the results.”

The person truly wishing to have their passions bear fruit understand the need to be vigilant as to what they allow to enter their heart and mind, and discerning as to what is beneficial and what is not. Again, we are not talking about something of recent vintage, but of wisdom passed down through the ages. Twenty centuries ago, Seneca wrote, “It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.”

"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails

of your seafaring soul, if either your sails or your rudder be broken,

you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended,

is a flame that burns to its own destruction."

-- Kahlil Gibran

Where does the concept of passion fit into the lives of children and the efforts we make on their behalf? The Children’s Champion believes children are born as intensely passionate beings. All one has to do is to observe the infant learning to crawl, to take her first step, or to engage in play activities. Until the adults start setting limits and liberally using the passion-killing command “no,” children usually appear unstoppable, an engine with its throttle stuck in the wide-open position. Margaret Ramsey MacDonald suggests, "Whatever you do, put romance and enthusiasm into the life of our children." But, stop and think for a moment. Although the Children’s Champion agrees, at least to some extent with MacDonald, there is something about her suggestion that is analogous to fortified white rice – we remove the nutritious part of the rice and then attempt to make it wholesome by trying to artificially replace what we removed. Doesn’t that whole idea of re-instilling something in children that was already present cause just a wee bit of dissonance in your thinking regarding our response to helping children grow and develop?

Until we can work through the dynamics of protecting and promoting the innate qualities and characteristics of the “natural child,” Rousseau’s Emile', MacDonald’s direction is probably an appropriate route to follow. Our charge to “educate” the young needs to capitalize on the inherent attributes we know attract children to the learning process. The late Steve Irwin, of Crocodile Hunter fame, shared the thought, "I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message."

Marcia Wieder helps people follow and fulfill their dreams. Although her audience is usually an adult one, her following message would seem appropriate for use with children to help them “catch fire” and want to learn: "Fill your life with as many moments and experiences of joy and passion as you humanly can. Start with one experience and build on it." Likewise, we might apply Saul Bellow’s experience to the learning environment. Bellow stated, “There was a disturbance in my heart, a voice that spoke there and said, I want, I want, I want! It happened every afternoon, and when I tried to suppress it, it got even stronger." Can you imagine, even for a moment, how much more exciting, how much more productive, our efforts to educate children would be if we could but help to amplify that voice Bellow speaks of? As Oprah Winfrey said, "Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you." Do you buy into what Oprah says about passion? If so, have you ever been uncomplimentary toward the energy manifested in children’s actions and behaviors? Have you ever heard an elementary teacher exclaim that children need recess in order to burn off excess energy? Why then, if energy and passion are synonymous, would we want children to extinguish their energy, their passion, on something as inconsequential as recess? Instead, why are we not reprogramming our thinking and our response to children’s natural rhythms to capitalize on that passion?

  

"Great dancers are not great because of their technique,

they are great because of their passion."

-- Martha Graham