To explore is to go where one has not been before. To broaden this out, to ‘go where no man has gone before,’ which is, of course, the mission of Star Trek, the ultimate exploratory mission of mankind.
But the idea is older than mankind. Animals explore, sniffing and padding and climbing and flying where they have no knowledge. This leads me to think that exploring is innate, part of animal and human make-up.
But surely, exploring for humans must be different than that for animals, which rely on instinct and training more than conscious cognition. Can we say that dogs dig under a fence to escape and explore their environments? It is more likely to be hunger or the age-old sex drive that motivate animals to break out and explore the world.
Humans are, in soul and spirit, animals. We ignore instinct and primal urges at our peril. To pretend we have no animal nature deprives us of the strong pull and push for basic survival. Some of us are willing to risk our lives for the thrill or pull of exploration, whereas others are more cautious. I do not think culture or upbringing has as much to do with the urge of exploration as those personality traits that exert influence towards striking out into the unknown.
I have often been struck by the bragging rights that some will go to say, “I was the first.” The desire to be the first seems to be a motivator that often overcomes the reality that one may be the first to perish on the selected exploration. Mountaineers, deep sea divers, and extreme sports enthusiasts say they acknowledge the dangers, but believe they will never become a casualty. Or if a friend or family member dies on the mountains or the trek, they can shrug and say, “He died doing what he wanted to do.”
In India once, I met a man who introduced himself as ‘Number Thirteen.’ He had been the thirteenth Indian to succeed in climbing Everest and this was forever to be his claim to fame. As he was a policeman, perhaps it helped him his career, or later as a businessman, he would sell more of whatever by advertising his product using his unique claim to notoriety. He survived where others perished, or perhaps worse, failed.
We can claim that bravado or lust for adventure is a young person’s mindset. But Shackleton was forty when he set out on his ill-fated attempt in Antarctica. Hadn’t he had enough adventure, and failures, in his life so far? Sven Hedin was dashing about the Takla Makan desert when he approached 70. And he often pushed himself and his companions, to risk their health and lives to make just one more bid, one more attempt, to cross just one more sand dune. He had made mistakes in his youth and often miscalculated as a mature man. But he ignored warnings and common sense to push on.
Why? Why do we risk, why do we search, why do we ignore warnings, why do we think we will succeed where others failed? Ida Pfeiffer said she needed money from her next book to live, so she pursued ever more exciting and dangerous adventures. The conquistadores in South America were motivated by greed, for gold or for favor from the king. Many had little to lose, but much to gain. The sailors who signed up to explore oceans beyond their knowledge or experience, most likely had little to lose. After all, we all die, eventually, and perhaps fate, or God, has it all planned out.
I am not sure I would call myself an explorer; I don’t think I have ever been ‘the first’ anywhere, but I am fascinated with those who have. I eagerly follow the news of those who bicycle, walk, fly and explore beyond their lives and knowledge. I may think they are crazy, but I eagerly await their stories and follow along their paths of exploration.