The pursuit of nothing

We got the whole famn damily  out last to go see Free Solo, the National Geographic movie about Alex Honnold and his climb on El Capitan.

The cinematography in it is truly incredible.  Really.  That alone is worth mentioning – the subject matter aside.

And the film was definitely thought provoking as it follows Honnold over a near two year period as he becomes the first to climb the entirety of the three thousand foot plus granite wall without any ropes or gear to protect him from falling. 

In the film, Honnold has lived in a van and been working on this project in some regard for eight years.  The movie takes steps to paint Honnold as someone who is wired different.  He has to be different, right?  How else is he to not freak out and seize up in fear when he is 2500 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor and his only connection with the rock is between his thumbs, his toes in climbing shoes in an area totaling about the size of a postage stamp?

But they also make Honnold seem unaware of relationships and broken in connection to others – even described by film director Jimmy Chin as “Spock” at a point in the film.  His relationship with his girlfriend is portrayed as the best relationship he has ever had but also as something he is casual and flippant about when compared to his love of climbing. 

It seemed to me that perhaps some of this is true to some level, but as you’d expect from a movie, it only captures part of the story. 

It is worth celebrating the exploration of such boundaries.  The accomplishment is amazing.   Free solo-ing El Cap is its own Bannister breaking the four minute mile or walking on the moon sort of thing in that it shifts what we think is possible. 

At the same time, there is a small voice in me that struggles with the glorification of such things.  Is it really that important?  Did it make a difference in the world really?  And if he fell to become a puddle at the bottom, would we care any differently?   Should we take delight in the pursuits of Honnold over the accomplishments of a someone who is punching the clock at some 9-5 to make it a better future for their kid?   Do we want to create a society where people have great physical feats like this but at the cost of eroding the ability to love?

I recognize the deep hypocrisy in me when I state all that.   Running every day or running four laps around the track as hard as I can or 100 miles in the trails outside of Leadville or even encouraging others to do so as well are equivalent pursuit of nothing sort of activities as well.  Or maybe/probably worse, just the pursuit of some feeding of the ego. 

If the some of the intent of Chin was to pose such questions and thought exercises, it is a great success.  I don’t have solutions or a treatise as to how I consider this conundrum, other than I am glad that we live in a place and time where we can freely chase and glorify such endeavors.   That itself is divine and a gift that we should forget.  Nor should we forget what what it has taken to get to such a place.