Randy Pausch, a young, brilliant professor dying of cancer, gave his last lecture and it came to be one of the most watched Internet videos of all time. Not only that, his little book of 206 pages, The Last Lecture (Hyperion, 2008), remains a best seller. A handsome family man with wonderful speaking skills and an academic superstar, he captured a place in the hearts of millions of Americans.
The main purpose of his last lecture seems to be to energize others to affirm life by relentlessly pursuing their dreams. In essence, achievement becomes the ultimate end. Furthermore, achieving in Pausch’s mind is all about one’s self. To be fair, he does put great value in his family and he does mention “enabling the dreams of others” to be a valid aim.
As a whole his philosophy is good old-fashioned American individualism, blinded to the value of community or society for their own sake. All major spiritual traditions and most ethical systems argue for replacing self-centeredness with heavy doses of altruism and caring for others, but he chose to largely block them out.
Pioneering psychologist Viktor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning states that “it doesn’t really matter what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us.” Building on both the literature on psychology and bioethics, Stephen Post and Jill Neimark, in best-selling Why Good Things Happen to Good People, catalog the empirically established benefits of non-individualistic traits such compassion, listing, loyalty, forgiveness, and “doing good”.
Sociologists also argue for a collectivistic outlook. In 1985 Robert Bellah and colleagues published the classic book, Habits of the Heart, in which they said that “Clearly, the meaning of one’s life for most Americans is to become one’s own person, almost to give birth to oneself.” Sociologists Pearl and Samuel Oliner, in Toward a Caring Society, make a strong case for the opposite of the self-centered society. They argue that in a compassionate society, care permeates all major social institutions, especially families, education, government, religion, law enforcement, courts, and business.
People do not have to choose between individualism and a live of caring about others as their principle life’s purpose. Compassion can exist side by side with individualism, says sociologist Robert Wuthnow in Acts of Compassion.
Professors Morsch and Nelson in The Power of Serving Others argue that service as a personal philosophy offers the greatest chances for contentment and an enriched life. In whose classroom would you rather have your child sit, one who says dream and achieve or one where the message is together we build, grow, and enjoy?
The dream and achieve doctrine of Pausch has its limits. If you are not born a dream child (good looking, athletic, brilliant, or reared in a loving family), would not some of your dreams be delusions? And to whom should one compare oneself for a valid assessment of having achieved enough? Today I happened to read Steve Jobs’ accidentally released obituary. (As of today Steve Jobs is still very much alive.) Jobs’ list of accomplishments makes Pausch’s resume look sparse at best even though he was a very productive professor of computer science at Carnegie-Mellon.
Individualism offers few benchmarks for knowing that you have done enough to feel truly fulfilled. The practice of collectivist or service philosophies offers community feedback as well as your own feelings of satisfaction from having helped others.
The Last Lecture has inspired many to consider their vulnerability and to live their passing moments with greater presence and enjoyment. The author has provided a great service to these readers and viewers. Let us hope that they do not take away the hidden message that this practice and the aim of self-centered achievement are the answers to the puzzle of life’s purpose. In my opinion, the best path to that puzzle is each day to reflect on the most meaningful things you can do for others or the world.
What do you think is the best way to repond when one becomes aware of life’s vulnerability, such as learning that you have a short time to live? What thoughts can provide the most comfort? Please share your personal thoughts and experiences by clicking on “comments.” below. You will have to create a sign-in, but it won’t take long.
Comments 4
toffeelady — September 16, 2008
I saw a PBS show regarding the making and background of The Last Lecture. Because of that, I am very interested in reading the book. Your comments put a very much different slant on the lecture and Mr. Pausch's book that I came away from the show with. I will be especially interested in reading the book now, with your comments in mind. Thank you.
mkeck — September 21, 2008
The above blog by Dr. Ron Anderson has in turned inspired me to write down my own thoughts, borne of our discussions on "The Last Lecture." -- Michaela Keck, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
I had read and heard about “The Last Lecture” before even opening the book myself. I had heard that it was a huge success, that thousands of people had watched it on u-tube, and of the many enthusiastic responses. Yet when I read it, I was taken aback that this was finally it, that this was what everybody had been talking about, that this was what had been so positively reviewed in one of the prestigious weekly newspapers back home in Germany – that this was “The Last Lecture.”
My surprise, or rather my puzzlement, that this was (1) what a fatally ill scholar passed on to a multitude of readers and (2) the bestseller that everyone was raving about, got clarified when a friend asked me whether the book contained any spiritual thought that was noteworthy. It is not until the last quarter of the book that Randy Pausch remarks that religion is a matter too personal to write about, especially since everybody has his/her own belief – and quite rightly so. Surely, this can be understood in favour of the author, his tolerance and open-mindedness. As to the answer to my friend’s question, however, I now had to explain what the book’s message was if it was not about deeper thoughts in view of this most singular and disturbing of human experiences – death. While I was trying to put that into words, I noticed that my own reaction to “The Last Lecture” derived from the gap in my personal expectations what such a “last” document should contain, and what this book actually was about.
I certainly was not prepared for a book that included so much advice on personal success. Much of “The Last Lecture” reminded me more of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac or a handbook on how to live the American Dream in the 21st century than of any of the more sombre literature by those who wrote in order to mourn and cope with the loss of a beloved, such as Henry David Thoreau, Joan Didian or C.S. Lewis.
In fact, it is one of the outstanding characteristics of the book that everybody is duly impressed how much this is about the joy of life rather than about death. This in itself is not atypical when representing death. As Goodwin and Bronfen have pointed out, there is “no knowing of death” (Death and Representation 4), which is why according to Kenneth Burke “the imaging of death necessarily involves images not directly belonging to it” (qtd Goodwin and Bronfen 4). Concluding their collection of essays on the representation of death, they emphasize that “every representation of death is a misrepresentation,” that death “is the constructed Other,” that it is “gendered,” and last, but not least, that it is a “physical” and therefore “frightening” experience (20). “The Last Lecture” is everything but frightening, death being replaced here with what the individual can achieve if he perseveres and believes in himself and his talents. Glossing over his emotional and physical low-points with a few side-remarks and briefly referring to the self-help group that he and his wife have joined, Pausch mentions the paradox of his healthy and good looks in spite of the nausea after each of the chemotherapies. Most of all, however, he insists that if we only follow our dreams, work hard, and never give up, we will realize these dreams. The overall optimistic and highly energetic tone is emphasized by the casual and informal writing style.
Yet from a man who has found family happiness in life, and from a scholar who stresses team work, one wishes individual achievement was not the topmost concern. But maybe that is the key to the book’s success, the fact that instead of a “last lecture” the audience can participate in a man’s success and achievement until the very last minute, as it were: Healthy looking, working and lecturing until the very end, busy traveling, spending quality time with the children, as well as taking care of the emotional needs (at least this is what we are being told on the side) – is not that the ultimate human dream? To live life to the fullest so that when the moment of death comes we are too busy to notice and therefore do not even need to think about it.
Personally, I think it is our own reaction to the book that ultimately betrays the illusions of our, alas, so modern society (and having just returned from my weekly shopping here in Taiwan, I spotted the book proudly wearing the label of bestseller here in Asia as well). While in the sciences and the humanities, the interest in death has surged over the last decades, as a society we have not really progressed since Elisabeth Kübler-Ross posed the following question in 1972: “The more we are achieving advances in science, the more we seem to fear and deny the reality of death. How is this possible?” (On Death and Dying 6). Death has been “medicalized,” “psychologized,” we try to theorize about it in various different fields, and at the same time we have safely eclipsed it from our every day lives. Thus, by overrating stories where people successfully appear to manage, and thus control the inevitable of our human reality, we entrench the taboo of death in our society and feed our own illusions of strength and success which have us pretend that we can take our lives in our own hands. What about all those who are good at what they are doing, who have dreams, and who still do not make it? Is there something wrong with them, have they failed?
Interestingly, what impressed me most is one brief sentence in one of the last chapters. This sentence had nothing to do with what can be measured or achieved in any way, but it is the sentence from father to daughter, or rather to the daughter who has grown into a young woman: Do not believe what men say, but observe how they act. I am positive that this daughter will have more substantial memories to remember of her father than the words printed in his bestseller.
monte — October 5, 2008
Ron,
You insensitive lout! Just joking but I'm sure that would be the first line of defense for those unable to handle the cognitive dissonance generated by your post.
This really is a courageous and thoughtful critique of the latest self-help craze to sweep the nation. This little essay deserves wide circulation.
Well done, sir.
Monte
KCJ — December 29, 2008
I don't think we read the same book. I do agree that Randy speaks alot of achieving goals, but he never does so in a way that disregards community or family.
I think that because he did not cloud the book with his personal religious beliefs makes it a more universal message. It allows for the common bonds of humanity to be revealed instead of doctrine and dogma to divide. He wasn't preparing a message for Christians, Jews, or Muslims, but for people. Remember, he was giving this talk at his WORKPLACE.
The fact that he talks about his personal achievements and work should not be something to tear apart. I think that he attained his goals in the most admirable of ways, and that is the bigger message.
He has lived his life with the character and integrity that I think all of us can aspire to, and that is the bigger lesson.