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By PASCAL FINETTE

The Heretic is a free dispatch delivering insights into what it takes to lead into & in the unknown. For entrepreneurs, corporate irritants and change makers. Raw, unfiltered and opinionated.

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Jan 3rd, 2017 Share: Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Beyond Mountains There Are Mountains

Haitians have a proverb — “Dèyè mòn gen mon” — which translates into “Beyond mountains there are mountains”.

With the new year starting I am sure many of us have taken stock of the last 365 days, mulled over the challenges and opportunities the coming year holds and made plans. Be they to continue on the course you set previously, a small or large course correction or maybe even abandon the route altogether.

Whatever it is, I believe it is safe to assume most of us know the mountain ahead of us. And the one thing I know for sure is that behind every one of those mountains there will be more mountains.

With that being said: Embrace the journey, as the journey is truly what this is all about. Your goals, the end state, winning — whatever you call it — are merely here to guide your journey.

I wish all of you, fellow Heretics, a wondrous, joyous, educational and simply amazing journey in 2017!

May Constantine P. Cavafy’s “Canon of Ithaka” be your inspiration for this year and beyond.

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon — don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon — you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind —
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.


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