The Penguin Isn’t Depressed. You Are.
If you haven’t seen the old penguin video yet, you definitely will in the coming weeks — it’s going insanely viral.
It’s a beautiful story captured by Werner Herzog in 2007 for his documentary film “Encounters at the End of the World”.
In case it hasn’t reached you yet, here’s the clip:
But enough intros, if you know me, you know we’re getting straight to the point here.
I feel absolutely disgusted whenever I see this incredible story branded as the “DEPRESSED”, or “NIHILIST” Penguin.
Of course we don’t know what’s going on in his head. But the label we choose says everything about ours — and about the society that shaped it. If yours is ‘depressed’ or ‘nihilist’: This one’s for you.
Everyone knows boomers, but the current generation came up with a great new term for a vast majority of the current population… DOOMERS. Seeing everything as meaningless, hopeless, sad and tragic (including this little hero of ours).
You need to look deeper. And with more optimism.
I like to think of this Pengu as a Nietzschean Pengu.
The mountains are his dream, his Heaven.
He is going against his community, his tribe, and what might seem like logic. He is, quite literally, going against all odds.
Eighty kilometers deep into his journey, and five thousand kilometers away from his goal. In Herzog’s own words… he is heading toward certain death. But for our Nietzschean Pengu, death does NOT equal failure — not if the road to it was HIS OWN CHOICE.
But he’s NOT a victim! He’s a sovereign individual.
CHOOSING TO LIVE DANGEROUSLY
This is — currently — my favourite part of Nietzsche’s philosophy. And my favourite quote from The Gay Science (what a title, eh?) says it all.
For believe me: the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is**—to live dangerously**! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius! Send your ships into uncharted seas! Live at war with your peers and yourselves! Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge!
This quote captures the essence of success in any field. You need to evaluate the standards and “best practices,” but simply following the existing path will never be enough to truly SUCCEED. You need to burn your own ship as soon as you arrive in port, so that the only way to survive is to CONQUER. As Nietzsche says: you need to be a ROBBER and CONQUEROR before you can become a RULER and POSSESSOR! You need to see and FEEL the danger, and embrace it to become THE BEST.
AMOR FATI
He isn’t running away from his destiny; he is affirming it. He chooses the mountains even though he knows very well it is a one-way ticket. This way he transforms the necessity into the act of will. And that’s exactly what Nietzsche describes as AMOR FATI. You want nothing to be different, not forward or backward. You “not merely bear what is necessary, but love it”.
REJECTING THE HERD (or in this case: the flock)
The penguin doesn’t look back at the flock to check if they approve. He doesn’t slow down to explain himself. This is Nietzschean individualism at its core. Most people pick not only their careers and opinions, but also their entire identity based on what the group validates, and Nietzsche calls this a slave morality. Think of yourself as the chosen one, the ÜBERMENSCH. You need not only to ignore the rest, but you shall make a clear decision to REJECT the collective. You’re God’s favorite (Nietzsche would have hated me for that one), and nobody knows the path to your GREATNESS better than you do.
“He who seeks may easily get lost himself. All solitude is guilt: thus speaks the herd. And you have long been part of the herd. The voice of the herd will still echo within you.” / “You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame.”
Nietzsche in “Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
"BUT… BUT I HATE NIETZSCHE…”
First of all, what a dumb thing to say, but I have good news: not all hope is lost! You will see me often talking about CAMUS. And while he hated being called a philosopher, absurdism is one of the greatest philosophies out there.
Let’s just assume the nihilists are mostly right.
Yes, THE Penguin is destined to die, he can’t do anything about it. Yes, he can’t go back, he’s too far into his walk to death.
He must have lost all hope and must be depressed… but IS HE?
What I really like about absurdism is how easily it converts nihilists, people who’ve lost all hope and see everything in dark colours.
We can imagine the Penguin as the Sisyphus of Antarctica, and what does Camus tell us about Sisyphus?
ONE MUST IMAGINE SISYPHUS HAPPY
He knows the mountains will not answer his calls. He’s very much aware that the journey is going to be extremely hard. Yet he REBELS against the hopelessness. Because at the end of the day, if life has no meaning and you can’t do anything about your story, and your life — you might as well accept it with a smile. It makes facing the challenges a whole lot smoother.
Keep winning, and see you next time,
Raf