This has been a recurring question... the opening lines in the book make up the following riddle.
“I get you up before dawn. I’m the reason you’re unbeatable with the sword, unmatchable with the spear. I’m the secret behind your sculpted body. The secret behind your knowledge. Your languages. Your art of war. 97% of you fear me, but 3% of you embrace me. Live in me. Breathe me. I save the relationship. I dismantle the enemy. I have laid waste to entire cities and yet I am the reason they existed in the first place. I turn ideas into action. I turn dreams into reality. Since defeating realism I feast with the optimistic. I turn men into heroes. I turn heroes into gods. Without me you are nothing, you’ll have nothing and you’ll be nothing. What am I?”
Does anyone know the answer?
It's staggeringly simple. I made it up inspired from a youtube video titled hard work.
The speech went on to say "Hard work I used to fear you. I used to hate you, who do you think you are? Making me so afraid of who you are." I loved the monologue and realised there was already an unsatisfying riddle with a similiar premise, but the answer 'nothing'.
The answer, nothing, i think is a bit of a cop out, but, having said this, the simplicity of my answer will probably leave people wanting more also. The answer being...
have you ever seen the prestige?
'The transported man' illusion. the main character, angier (hugh jackman) was convinced his arch-rival's illusion was of a complexity beyond. The trick shocked everyone and he sought out an answer beyond what the world could give him. interestingly he found that answer in the shape of nikolai tesla, but it wasn't until the very end that he realised borden (christian bale) used a double the whole time. simple. not easy. but staggering simple.
the meaning of life? and the answer to my opening riddle...
hard work.
Someone once told me that progress is everything, but without hard work how can you make progress? We all want to be fitter, learn an extra language, eat healthier, stop being a cog in a giant corporation... so why don't we do it? It's because we shy away from hard work. when you get into the ritual you become addicted to the hard work - crave it even... but like everything, the first step is always the hardest.
find out what you love and go after it with all your heart.
if you commit to this path with everything that you have... If you make your 'why' bigger than your excuses...
When you commit to the road less traveled, before you've even achieved what you thought would make you happy... it is then that you will realise, that happiness comes from within and that it was in you the whole time.
