Hunter S. Thompson on finding your purpose | Hacker News Reader

Hunter S. Thompson on finding your purpose

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54 pointsvinnyglennon22 comments

Perfect quote for a developer sitting in a cube:

"....no one HAS to do something he doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that’s what you wind up doing, by all means convince yourself that you HAD to do it. You’ll have lots of company."

After reading something like this, I always wonder if the author later decided "yeah that was pretty much bullshit". Especially if it was written in their youth. I mean, people change their minds - I'm 33 and I know that I think radically differently to when I was 23. When I'm 43, who knows.

Even if Hunter thought it was bullshit, he sure lived according to these principles.

He had a remarkable sense of worldview from a young age. At 17 he wrote:

"As things stand now, I am going to be a writer. I'm not sure that I'm going to be a good one or even a self-supporting one, but until the dark thumb of fate presses me to the dust and says 'you are nothing', I will be a writer."

His views changed a slight bit, but not much. He was truly a person who knew himself.

I think Thomposon would probably look with wry amusement on the orgiastic capitalism of the enterpreneuring and wantrepreneuring class.

I'd love to see Fear and Loathing in Startupistan, but I'm not a tenth the writer that Thompson was.

> there’s no better example of a life fully realised than the one of Hunter S. Thompson.

I wonder how much more he would have realized if he hadn't killed himself.

Sometimes people are just done. He couldn't live the way he wanted and was ready to go. His note:

"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun – for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax – This won’t hurt."

His son went outside and fired a shotgun in the air afterwards. He had known it was coming and was ready.

Personally I'd like to go out on my own terms as well. Though I've no idea when I'll be happy enough with what I've done to be 'ready' for such a thing.

Good points. He may have done this "rationally" (quotes because of huge controversies and arguments, ignoring).

But the question remains, what might he have done if he lived. He may have been done at that moment, but as his essay observes, people change with experience. He may have been a completely different HRT in a few years, if he had been open to it.

Maybe sometimes it's worth watching the grandchildren or the grass for a few years, until you finally recognize a change in the world.

True, but compromising part of what made him great and sticking around 'because you might miss something' would also be the antithesis of how he lived his life until that day. He wrote the following quote when he was quite young, about a baseball player IIRC:

"Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of the rat race is not yet final."

I find it quite interesting he became the embodiment of this himself. His attitude of "Buy the ticket, take the ride" is what he embodied until the day he died and knew the ride was over.

I personally would have loved to see him live on. Especially with regard to the end of the Bush presidency and further actions in the middle east.

See my comment about Nash Bridges.talk about legends dying hard...

> But the question remains, what might he have done if he lived.

I can't be the first to observe that with Gulf War II, he killed himself just when we needed him the most. <deity> only knows what he would have made of the Snowden revelations.

I have a huge goal/hope that when the time comes, I have the courage to do what Hunter did; to realize that it's over and the enjoyment is gone, it's time to move on, even if it's terrifying.

yeah but, you might miss something. :)

To paraphrase, this is quite what Thompson refers to with regard to the ninth path: make your own way. If you wait out of fear that you might be missing out, you're going with the tide and not finding your own way.

I wonder what Hunter would have said about the difference between fear of missing out vs staying for excitement of what might come. I honestly believe using the "well I get it and there's nothing else here" point of view is the ultimate arrogance in a way. In reality you have no idea.

> I wonder what Hunter would have said about the difference between fear of missing out vs staying for excitement of what might come.

This is really the way I mean it. Find the ninth path, even if it takes awhile to get started. That's where you might miss something.

This is probably the most relevant post in this thread.

I recently left the working world after realizing I really don't need that much money to be happy. In the turmoil, I realized some things I had read or thought that were a little misguided and almost burned all my industry bridges completely, thinking "f--- that place anyway."

But this comment really hits on something I've felt throughout the whole thing... eventually you just get tired of the games. And maybe one day I'll get back into the working world, but for now I have what I need.

http://sharetv.com/shows/nash_bridges/trivia?mode=desktop

He also made Nash Bridges with Don Johnson.

America had largely turned its back on this brilliant writer. He also wrote for ESPN, I think? He should have been able to do whatever he wanted by the end of his life. Instead...ESPN and Nash Bridges.

He actually loved writing for ESPN. His page 2 column was renowned. He actually wrote one of the most eloquent and accurate statements on 9/11 the morning of in that column.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1250751

He was an excellent sportswriter, and an even more extraordinary political one. His influence is now gone in Rolling Stone, but he gave them their entire ethos alongside Jan Wenner for years.

Right on. Thanks for that.

For what it's worth, this letter can also be found in The Proud Highway, also known as The Fear and Loathing Letters, Volume I, which is a collection of Thompson's correspondence.

Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN — and here is the essence of all I’ve said — you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.

But a man who procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.

That right HST quote always seems to materialize right when I need it.

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