Full transcript
0:00Peter Pan is the story of a boy who
0:02doesn't want to grow up . He flies , he
0:05has adventures , and he lives in
0:07Neverland , seemingly escaping the
0:09heaviest part of existence , which is
0:11perhaps reaching adulthood . Even though
0:14it's a children's story , once you
0:16become an adult , you begin to interpret
0:18that story in a different way . Why
0:20might Peter Pan not want to grow up ?
0:21Because growing up demands something of
0:24him ; it demands a loss . When you are a
0:26child , you are an infinity of
0:28possibilities . You can imagine any life
0:30, you can be anything . You can be a
0:33hero , an explorer , an artist , an
0:35adventurer , a lawyer , a doctor ; in
0:37short , nothing is completely defined
0:40yet . So , childhood has this sense of
0:43infinite potential , but your potential
0:45doesn't mean you will manage to achieve
0:48it . You can be anything precisely
0:51because you haven't become anything yet
0:53. And maturing means , at some point ,
0:56trading the fantasy of being everything
0:59for the reality of becoming something .
1:03This is difficult because every choice
1:05requires a sacrifice . If you choose a
1:07profession , you give up a thousand
1:09other professions . If you choose a
1:12lifestyle , you give up other lifestyles
1:15. If you choose a person , you give up
1:18all other romantic possibilities . If
1:21you decide to build something , you are
1:23saying yes to one path and at the same
1:25time no to many other paths , to all
1:28others . And perhaps that is why so many
1:31people try to delay this moment ,
1:33because as long as you don't choose ,
1:35you can still imagine yourself as
1:36someone full of possibilities , with
1:38potential . But that is the point . The
1:41person who refuses to choose does not
1:44remain free forever . They begin to get
1:46trapped in their own lack of definition
1:48. And that very lack of definition can
1:50become something that suffocates them .
1:52At first , it seems a lot like freedom ,
1:55but later you may feel delayed and left
1:58behind , and at some point , you may
2:00suffer because of it . And Peter Pan
2:02represents exactly that . Someone who
2:05wants to preserve the magic of
2:07childhood forever , but pays a price for
2:09it . Because it is painful to realize
2:12that people won't stay , that you live
2:14in fantasy , and he never becomes an
2:15adult . And this has a good side , but it
2:18has a bad side . He does not build an
2:20adult life . And he remains in Neverland
2:23surrounded by the lost boys . And this
2:27name is quite interesting if you think
2:29about it , because the promise seems to
2:31be freedom , adventure , that eternal
2:33youth , but there is also a sort of
2:35stagnation there , because these people
2:37aren't growing , they aren't maturing ,
2:39they aren't becoming anyone , these
2:41people are suspended . And how much of
2:44that also happens in real life . There
2:47are people who confuse freedom with a
2:49lack of commitment , eternal possibility
2:52with a void . There are people who think
2:54that growing up and maturing means
2:56losing the spark of life . But maturing
2:58does not mean abandoning everything
3:00that is alive within you . It doesn't
3:02mean you will be left without
3:04creativity , without imagination ,
3:05without being spontaneous and without
3:07joy . The problem isn't you keeping your
3:09inner child . The problem is when that
3:12inner child drives the life you have as
3:14an adult . It’s obvious that we need
3:17to play , create , experiment and have
3:19that part still within us , but you also
3:20need the other part . You need to
3:23sustain a choice . You need to choose ,
3:26build , and answer for the consequences
3:29of what you have actually chosen . And
3:31choosing involves a renunciation . You
3:33will have to sacrifice something anyway
3:35, because otherwise you run the risk of
3:37having nothing and cultivating the
3:39illusion that you have everything .