We have all seen the viral video circulating on the internet — a lone penguin slowly walking away from its colony, heading toward the distant mountains. The viral video shows a penguin which walks away from its colony toward the mountains from its distant location. The situation lacks any dramatic elements. The scene contains no danger because everything exists in a static state without any musical score or sudden movements. A single penguin walks away from thousands of other penguins who remain behind.
The scene creates an unsettling atmosphere. Penguins are not meant to walk alone. Penguins need to be in a group for their survival. Penguins exist in social groups called colonies. The colony provides everything that exists in the world through its warmth and safety plus its food supply and constant activity. The penguin chooses to reject everything which exists in the colony. The penguin selects peacefulness instead of chaotic environments and remote distances instead of close relationships and the unknown instead of familiar spaces.
The video made most viewers laugh. Some viewers thought the penguin looked disoriented. Others joked that the penguin was experiencing an emotional crisis. Very few people stopped to consider the situation for a long time.
The public failed to understand why he walked in that manner. The penguin moved with a specific purpose throughout its entire journey. The animal did not have any planned destination because it moved without purpose. The operation did not bring him joy, so he stopped working. The penguin lived with its female partner until researchers found him. Penguin relationships exist as deep connections between partners. The loss of a partner creates a concrete experience. The loss of a relationship creates an intense emotional experience.
The act of walking away from something creates a bond between people and their world. The penguin had already left the colony because it was not part of its social structure. The colony provided safety for him but it lost its value when it stopped providing meaning. The colony offered protection but failed to create life purpose. The penguin walked to the mountains because they had personal importance to him, not because they offered him vitality.
The act of barn door closure changes our perspective on the entire scene. People who leave their colony face dangerous situations while those who stay without a purpose will eventually die. People find their existence straightforward when they live their daily lives. You follow routines. You do what is expected. You blend in. You repeat. The process of achieving personal growth presents a difficult path. The process of becoming requires people to face their fears and experience losing their friends. Your personal growth process requires you to transform your life into your own personal “Mountain.”
People should leave the colony only when it serves their purpose. They should not leave because of foolishness. They should leave because their former protection from danger has been broken by their need to find something vital that has been lost. People must face their pain to fully understand their existence because they live in between two different states of being. Like the penguin, we move toward our personal Mountain when something essential is lost — certainty, belonging, love, or the version of ourselves we once were. The process of loss produces clearer paths for people to follow because it removes everything except the important things in life. The process of life shows us what truly matters in the world.
To an observer, a penguin leaving its colony appears unnatural and unsafe. Penguins need to remain with their group because that is how they survive. The colony provides its members with three vital resources which are body heat, protection from danger, and social connection. The system protects its members from dangerous animals and freezing temperatures. The safe space holds a hidden danger because people need to understand that they must choose between two different stages of existence which are survival and active engagement with life. The Nihilist Penguin understands this truth.
The decision shows no signs of being reckless. The decision shows no signs of being proud. The decision shows no signs of hatred toward the colony. The decision shows no signs of rejecting its worth. The decision shows deep understanding of one thing because people who have everything except meaning will eventually face unbearable pain. The environment becomes overwhelming when the sounds progress into an unbreathable state. The standard activities become empty experiences. The body heat no longer provides any comfort.
Human societies function in exactly the same way as every other type of society. The systems of family life create our existence through family life and educational systems and different cultural patterns and social rules which people must follow and social standards which remain unspoken. The systems create protective boundaries for our safety. The systems teach us proper behavior and essential values and the correct appearance of accomplishment. The systems teach us about acceptable paths and unsafe paths.
And most of the time, these systems work. They create order through their ability to divide messy situations into understandable parts.
The process of entering into discomfort starts after people experience their first moment of peace in their surroundings. The moment of entry into discomfort occurs in a quiet way which first needs to show itself through physical symptoms of discomfort which develop into an empty feeling in the body that people cannot identify. The empty feeling inside you creates restlessness and stops you from answering your questions. You start wondering why your days feel repetitive even though nothing is technically wrong. You start asking whether this life contains anything more than routine.
You are still alive but your existence has lost its living vitality. The Nihilist Penguin philosophy reaches its first moment of comprehension at this point. The Nihilistic belief system of this context leads to despair. The belief system holds that nothing holds actual significance. The system presents a reality which shows that people will eventually see their borrowed identity values disappear. People need exterior sources of meaning to exist but these sources will only sustain them for a limited time. People need to see the empty space which exists below their current framework to make their choice about which destination deserves their walking path.
The Mountain serves as the place where people confront their personal battles. The Mountain represents the path that guides you toward self-discovery through authentic encounters. The Mountain prevents people from finding themselves through the use of two methods which include entertainment and distraction.
The colony holds all its members through the use of three major factors which include the value of their connections with their team members and the value of their group affiliation and the value of their common area. The colony serves as a home for people who choose to stay inside the system because they cannot handle the price which comes from leaving the established boundaries. People need to leave their place because they need to face the false information which spreads about them together with their experience of being judged and their need to experience social isolation and their need to face failure without getting any certainty. People will start to lose their inner strength when their lives show no actual value. The Penguin shows people a path toward happiness which leads to their ultimate suffering. The Mountain may kill it. The cold may win. The journey may end without answers. People create their authentic self through their forward movement toward essential things which remain unclear to them.
The image remains with people because it continues to exist in their minds. The penguin represents our own identities because we share similar characteristics. Life begins to pull you toward its human needs because you choose to walk away from your comfortable space.
