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NEARLY TWENTY YEARS AGO A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH GUY LACELLE IN THE SHUANGQIAO VALLEY OF TIBETAN SICHUAN LED TO A SERIES OF INCIDENTS WHERE WE GOT TO KNOW WILL GADD IN JAPAN. IT WAS A HEADY, SAD AND BIZARRE RIDE ACROSS ACCIDENTS, TSUNAMIS, DEATHS. BIRTHS AND REBIRTHS, THAT RESULTED IN WILL PUTTING UP THE HARDEST – AND UNREPEATED – ICE ROUTES IN ASIA.
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT WITHOUT WILL, ICE CLIMBING WOULD BE DIFFERENT, WITH HIM BRINGING MORE TO THE DISCIPLINE THAN SIMPLY OCCASIONAL VANGUARD ROUTES. WHATEVER THE ANGLE THE SPORT HAS TAKEN, WILL SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED AT THE LEADING EDGE, BE IT COMPETITION, STUNTS FOR CHARITY, QUANTUM LEAPS IN STYLE AND GRADES, LOCATIONS, AND A HELLUVA A LOT JUST FOR THE FUCK OF IT. WILL HAS PLAYED THE ROLE OF MENTOR TO A GENERATION AND A HALF, WRITING THE BOOK NOT JUST METAPHORICALLY, BUT ALSO VIA ALL FORMS OF MEDIA AVAILABLE, NEVER REALLY LEAVING THE PUBLIC EYE. THE ENTHUSIASM AND POSITIVITY IS ENTIRELY REAL AND NOT THE PRODUCT OF LURID PROMOTION, AND CERTAINLY NOT THE SHALLOW SUPERCILLIOUSNESS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH ‘EXTREME SPORTS’.
WHEN ASKED, WILL ONCE TOLD US THAT TO CLIMB LIKE HE DOES HE “CLIMBS MORE ICE THAN WHAT MOST PEOPLE THINK IS POSSIBLE”, AND BEYOND THE SUPERFICIAL CATCH OF THIS COMMENT THERE BELIES SOMETHING MUCH MORE PROFOUND. IT IS EASY TO SEE ONLY THE FIRST HALF OF THAT SENTENCE, WHEN THE REAL INSIGHT WE THINK IS IN THE REST. UNHOLY ABILITY IS NOT WHAT MAKES GREAT CLIMBING GREAT, INSTEAD IT IS PERSPECTIVE AND ABOVE ALL ELSE, THE WILL TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
WE SAW THE OBVIOUS wILL-WILL MEME, AND THOUGHT WHY NOT POSE IT TO WILL HIMSELF, HE BEING NOT JUST A VIRTUOSO CLIMBER BUT A VIRTUOSO AT GETTING-SHIT-DONE IN GENERAL. WE HAVE SEEN FIRST HAND HOW HE ARRIVES WITH NEBULOUS, EVEN DISMAL ELEMENTS TO PLAY WITH, AND WALKS AWAY WITH WORLD CLASS RESULTS, SO HERE WE GO, TEN PROMPTS TO WILL GADD, ON THE SUBJECT OF WILL. AS ALWAYS, NOT A WORD WAS CHANGED.
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DEFINE ‘WILL’
WG Any definition of “will” probably says more about the person doing the defining than their definition truly does about some “a priori will” meaning something that exists regardless of our experience of it. How we see the world will define our version of “will.” My view of “will” is that it’s our internal desires made as real as we can make ‘em. That examining our ideals, desires, ideas, and then trying to make the best of them come alive is the goal. I read Nietzche’s “Will to Power” when young, and while most of it is forgotten the concept of trying to do something personally meaningful continues to resonate with me. Crowley’s mysticism doesn’t work for me, but he too pulled from the Socratic ideal of self-examination leading to a meaningful life, and that does work for me. The idea that we have to figure ourselves out before we can do our best is critical to me in sports and life.
IS WILL DEVELOPED OR REVEALED?
revelations when working to have them, even if we don’t know we’re working
toward a revelation. There are no divine revelations, revelation is just the
last moment of a chain of events when we go, “Ah ha!” The step onto the summit
isn’t any different than any other step, even though it reveals a new world.
All the other steps were necessary to get to the top, and more important than
the last one…
CAN WILL GO TOO FAR?
WG Clearly will can go way too far, from Stalin/Mao/Hitler/etc
convinced they are doing the right thing to most of the really shit human
behaviour over our history. A lot of our political systems exist both to keep
the status quo and to keep one person’s will from infringing on the wills of
others… When one person’s (or a group’s) will dominates a system that system
often gets screwed up to an incredible degree.
In climbing people often have a desire/have will for a
summit so much that they will die for it. And because climbing mountains is
fundamentally hazardous we all make this deal to a certain extent; we know that
good people die, but either feel we are special and won’t die, or are OK with
that possibility. I suspect few people
truly fit into the latter category. “Going to too far” is also usually only
evident in hindsight. Those involved in going too far usually think they are kicking ass, and may be. Sometimes
you have to go too far to figure out what “far enough” really means.
CAN WILL FAIL? WHY?
WG We fail in exercising our will to the degree that we
believe in the idea we’re trying to accomplish/live vs reality. The more
self-examination and integration we’ve done the less adversity effects us. For
example, many people try to quit smoking or diet or go to the gym or whatever
and don’t. The reality is that they don’t actually truly want/believe in these
things; no will. I guarantee you that if someone said in a believable way, “eat
sugar today you die tonight” some people would still eat sugar, but most
wouldn’t because they would have a clear internal reason/will not to do so.
Put another way, the biggest failure is of “will” is to not
question it, and realize that reality matters more than how we view it… When we
“fail” it usually means our “will” wasn’t so much weak as wrong. Failing to
adapt to reality is a failure much greater than “giving up.”
The strongest examples of personal will I can think of are
refugees and others in survival situations who have an absolutely crystal clear
goal that everything else in life is secondary to. That’s pure will in action,
and won’t fail until they reach their goal or literally die trying. A lot of
will probably isn’t purely “self generated.” It’s generated by exterior
circumstances where there are limited solutions
(survive, endure, etc). It takes a lot of privilege to believe in true
free will, or a realization that, as Viktor Frankl wrote so eloquently, that
our last and greatest freedom is to choose our attitude toward any
situation. That idea has had a big
impact on me: Even, as Frankl was, stuck in a holocaust extermination camp,
with the very worst of human behaviour on display, we still have a choice in
how we respond. That’s powerful to me, a
beautiful form of will that can only come from deep internal and external
understanding; a form of iron “will”
forged in hell. The Stoics had a lot to say about this too
Being willing to adapt
rather than blindly follow one’s internal will is aso critical; I am
determined to do things (will), but always more determined to adapt to what is.
Buddhism does a better job with this idea than most practices: Be here now is
eloquent and often the best tool to understand any situation. If we just blindly follow our will then
reality will slap us down fast. I may start a project with an idea, but if I don’t
adapt to what is actually happening then I will fail or get killed, fast. If I
could have one super power it wouldn’t be more will, it would be more
understanding. The more we understand the more we can actually do. Without
knowledge and real-world fact-checks will is meaningless self-talk (Nietzsche
again…). Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” doesn’t mean the physically fittest
survive, it means those that are best adapted survive… Adapt or die, and that
likely means changing our “will.
WHAT DETERMINES HOW AND WHERE WILL IS APPLIED?
applying some form of will to do what I’m doing. That, without my current will
power, I would give into the cold or the pain of training or the mental
workload. But I made my decisions about how I will handle those problems WAY
before showing up to that session or climb. I decided that what I was doing was
important to me, and so I do it until it no longer makes sense to do it. If we
have a belief or a goal that something is important then we will do it. “will”
is just our internal belief structure in action. Without action will is
nothing…
A related topic to “will” is “resiliency.” I do a lot of
talking about resiliency to groups ranging from jailed kids to executives.
“Resiliency” really means that people have a clear goal that they are willing
to “suffer” for either individually or collectively. It’s not an end; being
“resilient” is sometimes a sign that someone is bad at learning, that they keep
trying to impose their will on a reality that isn’t having any of of it. Stop.
Listen. Learn. Adapt. Do better, not more “resilient.”
THE RELATION OF WILL AND CREATIVITY
that creation is important or necessary or whatever fires that person up to
create. New routes, writing, it’s all the same, go try… That’s the ideal of
punk music: Shut up and rock! Punk also rejects even the premise of collective
morality/will being “better” or more important than the individual’s will. The
punk, “Fuck you!” often isn’t as much of a direct personal insult as it is a
rejection of the group’s will over the punk’s will, and in a way a much bigger
and broader insult as it’s a rejection of the entire external world’s morality
and sensibility. That’s why people reacted so strongly to punk’s message: It
was a threat to nice, a threat to morality, a threat to the very structure
around it. Religions always hate atheists more than those who believe in “fake”
alternative gods because the atheist is rejecting the whole structure instead
of just getting it “wrong.” Creativity always has some punk in it because it’s
an attempt to do something personal and new, to exert one’s will instead of
consume the standard issue collective will. Which is why totalitarian
governments always go after the punks, writers, artists, poets, intellectuals
etc. if not first at least fast. Creativity is always dangerous to those who
want their will to be your will…
COLLECTIVE WILL AND INDIVIDUAL WILL
true for a group. Some is good for both, too much and bad shit happens.
HOW DOES WILL GET FROM POSSIBILITY TO REALITY?
general approach to life: Try. Listen. Learn. Adapt. Do better.
It’s a continual loop, never finished. I’m on a quest each
day to act on my will (try), to
understand (listen to the world, not my own head’s version of the world), apply
that understanding (learn), and then improve, do better. So ya gotta try/have
an act of will to do anything, that’s the hardest step toward doing something
cool in life. The more you try the more you ultimately succeed. But that first
little step of “try” is how an idea/will/belief goes from possibility to
reality.
IS WILL JUST PUNK?
first! Punk punk inspired/adjacent music is still a huge part of my life. It’s
personally honest, and the world could use more of that.
WHERE DO wILL AND Will ENGAGE?
based on what we either consciously or unconsciously feel is important, or
according to our “will.” My life would suck for
most people with all the travel, carnage and chaos, but I like it
because I’ve done my best to make it. To quote the great philosopher Ice T,
“You might say i think this lifestyle sucks?
I wouldn’t trade it for a million bucks
Although it’s all not glamour and gleam
It’s still my dream”
“will” is a means to live our dreams….
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