Seek your ideal foolishly

Have you ever spent a twilight in the heart of your city, on a freezing winter day? You know, just to get yourself lost in the crowds and breathe the cold air in your lungs. I did that yesterday and it was really inspiring. I stood on a bridge over the river that crosses the center of my city, with my elbows resting on the icy concrete railing, with my music in my ears, contemplating the colorful lights of the buildings reflecting on the water and the cars and the pedestrians that passed me by.

I was pondering about the film that I saw the night before: "Agora (trailer)". The main character was a woman who dedicated her life to philosophy in a time when Ancient Alexandria was suffering massive and profound changes: the conquest of the Romans and the forceful passage from polytheism to Christianity. While other spectators found it amusing that in bloody times like those a woman sacrificed her womanhood for a "purposeless" ideal such as philosophy, I was crying my eyes out. She believed in her ideal, she lived for it and she died for it. I related so much to her because all my life I have felt like this: constantly struggling to live for an ideal, even if everybody was telling me that I'm the only one in this dream.

So, the question is (because there is always a question):

"Is it worth risking everything for any ideal?" My answer: "No".

But: "Is it worth risking everything for your own ideal?".

My answer is: "Definitely, YES!"

Why? Because I need to feel there is much more to life than a mere survival.

I need to have a purpose, a higher purpose, the kind of purpose that lifts you up and allows you to embrace life to the fullest.

I want you to stop for a moment from your daily routine and ask yourself this:

What is your most intimate ideal, the one for which you are willing to risk it all? The one that would make your existence purposeful.

The one that would fill your heart with elation.

I found my own ideal a long time ago. I have no doubt about it. All my thoughts and feelings pull me towards it every step of the way. I cannot breathe without it. I cannot dream without it. I cannot live without trying to reach it and I will certainly die with it in my mind, whether I will have achieved it or not.

"Without a purpose, we would not exist." (Matrix)

I am Hypatia and Davus from Agora, at the same time

I am Forrest Gump and Jenny Curran, at the same time

I am Ada McGrath from The Piano

I am Atreju from The Neverending Story

I am Noah Calhoun from The Notebook

I am Guido Orefice from La Vita e bella

I am Paul Rivers from 21 Grams

I am Ed Bloom from Big Fish

I am Rose from Titanic

I am Marianne from Sense and Sensibility

I am Izzi from The Fountain

I am Attilio de Giovanni from La Tigre e la neve

I am Amelie

I am Joan of Arc

I am William Wallace

I never give up

Not for anything in this world

"There's someone special for everyone, as long as you keep your eyes open. Seek love foolishly, my boy, even if it kills you."

The following video is the most beautiful scene I have ever seen.
This is exactly what it should be like: unstoppable, unbreakable, uncontrollable.



This reminds me of an unforgettable scene from "Big Fish".

"They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops. And it does."



Whatever your ideal is, seek it foolishly and never give up trying to reach it.

Without an ideal, we are nothing but empty wandering souls.