Students in Service and Leadership at Harvard

Ruminations: The Outdoors As Catalyst

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” -René Daumal

There is something fundamentally transformative—sublime, really—about the unknown. But while novel experiences hold vast potential for growth, they also come with challenges and barriers to entry. Such is the case for incoming students of our university community, and such is the case for the great outdoors.

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