Mountain Peak

If you want a new idea, read an old book an adage associated with Ivan Pavlon.





A tale of an old man and a boy is told where two wolves are always fighting within him and in the soul of every person. One wolf was filled with anger, hate, jealousy, shame and lies. The other wolf was full of love, joy, truth and peace. The boy asked the old man which wolf would win the battle. The old man calmly answered, “the one you feed”.

This had been the outlook of our evening next to the fireplace with the old man. Every Saturday we gathered at his place, enjoyed the beautiful scenic view with diversified distinct tree species, cool breeze, bird melodies and a healthy diet. His nuggets of wisdom were our favourite basic consumption. Excited for the new lesson learnt, he asked if we had been to the mountain peak. We gazed at him blankly since we had never set foot. We had heard captivating stories from the travellers and we all had one wish and desire, to visit the mountains.
Smilingly, he narrated a story of a group of young men who had made it their goal to tour the mountains. They wanted to enjoy the unlimited view, the organic nature and achieve the most glamorous and admired dream of every single traveller. These six young men were determined. They were, Amare, Kwame, Ekon, Feelachi, Zane and Daliah. We were excited since we wanted to experience the exotic feeling.


They gathered at the foot of the mountain with only one question lingering in their minds, ‘how do we navigate to the peak of the mountain’. As they say, the higher you go the cooler it becomes, how cold could this be? And so many questions scared them. They knew if they had to climb the mountain, they needed physical, emotional, mental and psychological fitness. They engaged in deep mountain climbing discussions with the travellers and split up, think through different strategies to enable them to achieve this desired goal.

Amare visited the mountain foot on a Monday morning. He was lucky to meet a group of old men who had been at the peak. He curiously engaged in discussions about their experience. Jotting down the key points while his mind was blown away, he decided not to climb because he already had experienced the feeling as narrated by the old men.

Kwame was an energetic young man and was well known for processing a million thoughts all at once. ‘King of thoughts’, that’s what Feelachi called him most of the time. He was faced with the greatest challenge, which was indecisiveness. In his usual trainers, he woke up on a warm blooming Tuesday, walking through the paths, his mind was lost in the thoughts of going up the mountain. He knew for a fact; it was difficult to make this decision without the presence of his friends.

On the eventful day that the young men split up, Ekon felt ill. He tried to outline his reasons for going up the mountain but couldn’t find one. He felt demotivated and withdrawn from the positive energy that would steer him to the peak. He, therefore, decided not to journey.

Feelachi was determined. Nothing was going to stop him. He parked his, gears and off, he set for the uncertain journey. His mind battled with wild thoughts of monsters, snakes and other wild animals that would turn him to a meal. These thoughts didn’t change his mind, his journey felt liberating. He envisioned himself sitting at the top of the mountain enjoying the unique breeze. Feelachi was known for his organic aversion to rains. After two days of a distinctive experience, the clouds opened up, and this triggered abhorrence within and he abandoned the journey. He had created his experience anyway, and those were moments he would cherish. It was better to stay in the comfort of his shelter than to stay out in the rains.

Zane loved life and was always passionate about anything that brought him pleasure. His love for adventure was incomparable. This was an adventure, he dreamt of since he could remember. He was actualizing his dream and nothing was more thrilling than that. He set on his journey and he was keen to capture every single detail. After ten days he was exhausted, hungry and thirsty. Too tired to set up his tent, he zoned out under a massive tree. He woke up to loud music, which he was uncertain of the source. Hoping to get himself a meal, he followed the wavelengths and frequencies of the music. This led him to beautiful cottages, fancy and open-aired with the hushed and serene restaurant. He walked in and placed his order. Days later, he still hanged around the restaurant and secured a job. He ended up abandoning the journey that he was so determined to achieve.

“What happened with Daliah?” Amina asked. The old man gazing at the blazing flames explained. “Daliah travelled his journey with his desire tied to achieve his goal. None of the distractions deviated from his motives, he persevered. It was a long lone journey. He missed his peers, he stumbled upon distinct challenges, but the thought of the peak motivated him to endure all. At the peak, he found his liberation, quietly meditated and found his strength. He stood out amongst all and everyone admired him, yet he never let pride take the most of him. He remained humble even though he was the most celebrated”.

What an amazing story, we thought to ourselves. We all are like these young men. They are a representation of every soul. The mountain is the highest purpose of our existence. Like Amare, we choose to let the stories of others define our identity and experience. We bear the responsibilities and journey, for them, we end up failing to fulfil our purpose.

Some like Kwame, suffer from sceptical doubts and indecisiveness. We can hardly tackle most challenges and make sober decisions. We can hardly quiet our minds to think and this affects how we result in critical decisions. It stops us from exploring the full potential within, combined with our reason for existence.

Demotivation is a distractive syndrome. It makes it difficult to begin any type of journey leave alone living it. Its basic symptoms are; weakness, dullness, lack of energy, feeling stressed or depressed. These feelings often have triggers associated with fear, anxiety and much more. Learning to tame the mind activates a clear thought, which is the easiest path to living out our purpose.

We all struggle with things we don’t like. Aversion like Feelachi stops so many passionate souls from achieving their full potential. The employee we don’t like, the boss we don’t like, the job we don’t like, the food we don’t like, the subject we don’t like, the ethnic community we don’t like, the people we don’t like and the list keeps augmenting. This robs us of the joy of having a suitable working environment, achieving healthy and fit bodies, excelling in our academics and living harmoniously with ourselves leave alone others across all elements that attribute to personal achievements. What if we changed our perspective, how beautiful would life be, with everyone pursuing their purpose?

Pleasure can be satisfying especially when our bodies crave it. Like Zane, we find it difficult to define our path once we experience these things we love and crave for. It becomes hard to authentically reflect on our journey, forgetting that once we get to the peak, our freedom exists. We slowly give in to societal pressures, invest in activities that don’t contribute to the achievement of our journeys and unhappiness encroaches like darkness in the night. Sadness and negativity grow within and repeatedly are the melody we listen to. It is a prison and no one can set us free.

Those who have found enlightenment have been able to seek deeper and connect with their genuine passions. Finding the reason for their existence and living up to their full potentials. Celebrated Icons like Thomas Edison though deemed as a failure by his teachers, still made the greatest discoveries of all times, Abraham Lincoln considered as a failure in so many ways ended up as the 16th president of the US, J. K. Rowling, divorced with nothing to hold on to, she has become the iconic and prolific mind behind the famous and celebrated book series; Harry Porter and many more celebrated icons.

The deepest and sincere conversations we can have, are within ourselves. Are we truly investing in achieving our purpose or are we withdrawing from our purpose bank? Are we feeding the purpose wolf or a different one? We are all commissioned to live up to our true reason for existence; we have a choice to go up the mountain peak like Daliah or allow distractions to get in the way, conforming to new patterns and abandoning our most significant journey.