The homework in English class is watching movies. Unfortunately, my English is very poor, and it takes too much effort to choose words and make sentences. Translated to commemorate. (The translation is sloppy, I will change it when I have time, and archive it first)
Translation:
"Free Solo" chronicles free solo climber Alex from getting ready to finally fulfilling his lifelong dream of climbing the 3,000-foot El Capitan, the most famous rock climbing in the world. I am very impressed with the state of Alex's life. Free solo climbing without any equipment is called "freesolo". Unlike other sports, freesolo means perfection or instant death. When perfection is the only way of life, a person's state of life will become exceptionally pure. The meaning of life is not attached to anything, only to the present moment.
Judging from the changes in his life status, the reason why he chose freesolo has gone through a process from escaping reality to facing the essence of existence. In the beginning, freesolo can be seen as an option to get out of trouble. He grew up in a repressed family. His father was reticent and his mother was strict with him, and they divorced when Alex was very young. Before becoming an adult, he had never heard his family say "love" and didn't know how to hug. As he said, he was a shy boy with some darkness at heart, not the brave and cheerful free-rocking hero people imagined. Fearful of communicating with others, he dropped out of college and went rock climbing alone. But with freesolo being his whole life, there's nothing to escape, like complicated relationships, or limitless desires, all that's left is to constantly push his limits like climbing a rock again and again. Therefore, "freesolo" is not so much a choice of "now" as a metaphor for his life itself.
Freesolo also picked Alex, which means he's the right man for the sport. As with all sports, the body structure needs to match. His father taught him since he was 5 years old. He kept it throughout his life, even after the death of his father, which resulted in the strength of the musculoskeletal tendons in his fingers, and the proper length and strength of the muscles in his legs. Unlike other sports, freelance climbers also need to have excellent emotional control to overcome the fear of death, and it requires a non-social personality to come back inward from complex relationships. As the documentary shows, an interesting examination revealed a slight abnormality in his amygdala, the emotional center of the brain responsible for regulating and storing emotional responses. He has difficulty responding to tiny stimuli, so he can effectively control his emotions. In addition, his mother's strictness also shaped his focus on perfection. All of this made it possible for Alex to achieve excellence in free soloing.
For Alex, Freesolo is a profession, a calling of his own destiny. "Calling" is not a kind of transcendence, but a process of change that is the same as climbing itself. That is to say, as analyzed above, in the process of two-way choice between Alex and freesolo, calling becomes clear, and the purity of life also gradually emerged. The purity of life is a positive feeling of being in control of your life, not a negative feeling of being thrown into the world. Simply put, a state of life in which a person knows what he wants and how to get everything he wants. Judging by the scene where Alex is talking to a friend or girlfriend, his sincerity is astonishing, which rarely happens in my everyday conversations. He never hides his true feelings, even if they may upset others, which is how pure relationships exist. Some of his behaviors seem strange, although he is rich, his desire to consume is very low, so he can be called an environmentalist, but not like those who walk around calling for environmental protection. These are all outward manifestations of purity.
Going back to the moment he climbed El Capitan, the moment I was watching the documentary, I feel relieved. Alex was 100% focused on the rock and I realized that all the fear and hesitation was just a bystander feeling, what he needed was perfection. When perfection is the only way and people have no chance to fear their failure or death, all that's left is how to overcome fear. If I pursue perfection every moment to the extreme, instead of living in the imagination of various failures and yearning in vain for the chance to come back, then the anxiety that belongs to the modern man will disappear, a more natural meaning will appear.
In conclusion, I analyze why Alex has become what he is now by taking Alex's choice of free-hand rock climbing as the reason and freesolo's choice of Alex as his motivation. Freesolo can be seen as a metaphor for his life, pushing himself into an extreme state of being where there is only one way to be perfect and the other way to die. In fact, when he empties everything and perfection becomes the only option, life becomes purer than ever before, resulting in positive freedom that truly belongs to the moment.
When Perfection Is the Only Way
After watching a documentary called Free Solo, which documents a free soloist climber Alex Honnold from his preparation to the final completion of his lifelong dream about climbing 3,000ft El Capitan, the most famous rock for worldwide climbers, without a rope, the state of Alex's life impressed on me. Climbing rocks alone without any equipment is called freesolo. Different from other sports, freesolo means only perfection or immediate death. When perfection is the only way to live, the state of one's life will become differently pure. The meaning of life is not attached to anything other than the present.
Considering the change of his life state, the reason he chose freesolo experienced a process from escaping reality to facing the nature of existence. At the beginning, freesolo could be regarded as a choice to get out of his gloomy and involved situation. He grew up in an oppressive family. His father was taciturn while his mother was strict to him, and they divorced when Alex was young. He never heard “love” words from his family and did not know how to hug before he became an adult. As he said, he was a shy boy with some darkness in his heart instead of a brave and open man as people imagine a freesolo hero would be. He dropped out of university and climbed by himself because he was afraid of communicating with others. But with freesolo becoming his whole life, there is nothing to escape,such as complicated interpersonal relationships or infinite desires, and what is left to him is to push him limits like to climb rocks again and again. Therefore, freesolo is more a metaphor of his life itself than just a choose now.
Freesolo also chooses Alex, meaning that he is the right person for this sport. Same as all kinds of sports, body structure needs to be matched. His father has taught him since he was 5 years old. He keeps it all his life even after the death of his father, which results in the strength of the muscle tendons of his fingers as well as the suitable length and power of his leg muscles. Different from other sports, freesolo also requires excellent emotion control ability for overcoming fear of death and unsociable personality for returning immanence free from complex relationships. As the documentary shows, an interesting examination proves his Amygdala, the emotional center of the brain that regulates and stores emotional responses, is slightly abnormal. He has difficulty responding to small stimuli, so he could efficiently control his emotions.Besides, his mother's strictness has shaped his character of concentration in his pursuit of perfection. All of these make it possible for Alex's outstanding achievement in freesolo.
Freesolo is vocation for Alex, for it is a calling from his own destiny. The “calling” is not a transcendence but a changing process as same as climbing itself, which means that the sense of the calling has become clearly in the process of two -way selection between Alex and freesolo as analyzed above while the purity of life has steadily emerged. Purity of life is defined as a positive sense of controlling life instead of negative perception of being thrown into the world there. Simply speaking, that is a living state where someone knows what he wants and how to get it. From the scenes Alex talking to his friends or girlfriend, he is surprisingly sincere that rarely happens in my daily dialogue. He never conceals his true feelings even they may depress others, in which way the pure relationships exist. Some of his behaviors seems weird,like he has very low desire to consume though he is enough rich and thus he can be called an environmentalist, but not the same as those walking-around environmentalists calling for environmental protection. These are all the externals of the purity.
Back to the moment he was climbing El Capitan documented by the documentary I was watching, the pure state that Alex 100% focused on rocks front of him relaxed me for I realized that all the fear and hesitation were only felt by the onlookers, and what he needed was perfection. When perfection is the only way, people have no chance to fear their failure or fear of death, all that remains is how to overcome the fear. If I devote myself to an extreme pursuit of perfection every present moment rather than living in an imagination of various failures and thus vainly desiring for the chances of redoing, a more natural meaning will emerge with disappearance of anxiety belonging to the moderns.
As a conclusion, I analyze why Alex becomes what he is now from two aspects: Alex's choice of freesolo as the cause and freesolo's choice of Alex as the motivation. Freesolo can be regarded as a metaphor of his life that he pushes himself to an extreme state of existence, where there is only one way to be perfect while the other way is to die. In fact, when he empties everything and perfection becomes the only choice, life will become unprecedently pure, so as to obtain the real positive freedom that belongs to the present moment.
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