A World Without Heroes

ambition vs. simplicity - which makes a better world?

I had a chance to catch up with my good friend Thomas Chen over the weekend. Our conversation led to the IPO of SpaceX. Thomas noted that Elon Musk is crafting something that hasn’t dominated the American psyche since sending Neil Armstrong to the moon: the myth.

Specifically, a grand epic that it inspires a whole country and attracts trillions (yes with a T) of dollars into its orbit. This is indeed the power of Musk’s story of sending humans to Mars to save us in the event of this planet’s destruction, be it exogenous or endogenous.

To this, I asked: “and who’s the hero?”

Because in traditional myths, there’s always a hero or protagonist. This is a literary device that a) gives us hope and b) allows readers to place ourselves into the protagonist’s shoes. That’s the allure of myths.

However, as I go through the Tao Te Ching series, the more I find that the Taoist sage is one who dims his lights and merges with the dust. In other words, someone who is humble, walks with the common folk and adapts to the times.

Be like water.

After our dinner, I couldn’t help but be brought back to a brief essay I wrote in early 2024 at the conclusion of my 3-week sabbatical to Taiwan. The stillness of a long haul trans-Pacific flight back to Austin allowed me to distill an important lesson on ambition versus simplicity.

At its heart is imagining a world filled with ordinary people rather than trying to be or relying on heroes.

A World Without Heroes

I’m grateful for the three weeks in Taiwan. It allowed me to love again. To reconnect with the common human. To understand the world from their perspective in ways different from my ivory tower. I came into contact with so many characters from all walks of life.

From the hostel travelers to food stall vendors to tea farmers to street performers to indigenous people to mountain hikers to party goers to old and new friends. All my interactions have been with ordinary people doing ordinary things.

I had to go out of my way to connect with them back in San Francisco because everyone there wants to be extraordinary. As Olivia says, their policies are warm, but their demeanor is cold.

Because at the heart of ambition is selfishness, scarcity and urgency.

This is the nature of every wannabe hero, savior of mankind, to not only be appreciated, but worshipped. It is the same as a needy beggar, starving for recognition and praise. Egocentrism comes in many disguises.

What I witnessed instead in Taiwan are ordinary people desiring simple things: a place to live, having fun with friends, being there for family, and finding jobs that they enjoy. No one is trying to save the world.

Yet their world feels warmer, safer, and closer to paradise than the high tech, fast paced, “progressive” world that I come from.

This is the biggest takeaway I got from my travels. That simple desires and simple living could actually be better for society. That traveling allows us to experience the simple lives of others as something rich and novel, breaking down the barriers of understanding, while building bridges to respect and appreciation. That our world is indeed a wondrous place that will never run out of things to explore even as Google Maps seems to know it all. That every person is their own world to know.

- from the Traveler’s Notebook, February 6th, 2024

Ximending 西門町 in Taipei. Just every day people going about their day.

Related Aside from a followup journal entry - The best thing America can do

That is why the best thing for America to do is to subsidize a gap year for every student when they turn 18. It costs less than attending most colleges while opening up the minds of our young people at a critical age before they become formed by the existing societal paradigm. An opportunity for them to form their own conclusions, values and personal truths. Force them to adapt to change and the unknown.

To become more whole human beings before they join the ranks of “adulthood”.

At the national level, it would instill openness and perspective of alternative societal structures. As the parable goes, a fish does not know what water is. Most importantly, perhaps it would inject some much needed humility into the American psyche. That our system may not be the best, most viable way to live by. That the world is not so simple, yet its complexity and diversity isn’t something to be feared, but explored and appreciated.

This is how our next generation may become wise relatively quickly. Travel is education, perhaps the best kind in our increasingly connected and chaotic world. The sooner they invest in it, the longer they can reap its dividends.

Travel is experiential education. I’ve linked the 2-part documentary of this trip below if you want to relive it with me, my friends.

Now back in the present…

It’s striking how Tao Te Ching-like my thinking was back then, months before I would come across the book itself.

It makes a lot of sense actually - given this sabbatical was a reaction to severe burnout after the hardest year of my life. It was the first time in nearly two decades that I allowed myself to drift into Kairos flow rather than constantly running on Chronos rails.

Thank you for joining me for this timely reflection as we dive into Verse #8 this week on “being like water”.

-S

p.s. I highly recommend Thomas Chen’s essays on Substack and his excellent Instagram where he shines a much needed light on the fabric of the Matrix.