PureInsight | October 8, 2007
[PureInsight.] Mr. Steve
Jobs is the Founder and CEO of Apple Computers and Pixar
Animation. His Commencement Address to the graduating class at
Stanford showed us his amazing insight. Here is a portion of his speech:
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever
encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost
everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of
embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of
death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are
going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you
have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not
to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in
the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't
even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost
certainly a type of cancer that is incurable and that I should expect
to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go
home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to
die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd
have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to
make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as
possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy,
where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and
into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells
from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that
when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started
crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic
cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine
now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the
closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can
now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a
useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die.
Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.
And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped
it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the
single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out
the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday
not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared
away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other
people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out
your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow
your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Translated from:　
http://xinsheng.net/xs/articles/gb/2007/9/22/41479.htm
