We all take on dares of one sort or another.

No doubt, we share risk-taking in common with our

long forgotten ancestors. These dares range from defending our ego to taking on the risk to
challenge ourselves to understand, so we can explain how the world works a little better. Like
people, research and discourse takes on the dare to inquire. This is a challenge to question and to
be able eventually to explain. Today we go about it, albeit in a different way using science,
whereas our forgotten ancestors could only rely on enduring myths and fables.
For example, if an older story than the biblical version of the beginning of humanity is
acceptable as a myth, this interpretation is possible. Adam and Eve lived unashamed in the
garden. They could wander safely untroubled by anxiety, guilt, or suffering. A deity, the
Demiurge, imposes but one simple restrictionnot to eat the fruit from two trees, one being the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. They disobey the deitys command and from that moment
on, when their eyes are open, they see all of themselves and each other. The dare of knowledge
of good and evil defile their innocence and shut the gates of paradise against them and their
descendants. A comparable theme to the pre-biblical story is Platos famous piecethe parable
of the cave. In the parable, if humans confined to a cave where they can see only the shadows of
things cast on a wall by the light of a flickering fire, they will be content with these distorted
appearances. However, the person who dares to climb from the cave into the sunlight, the person
who makes the ascent from below and discovers the brilliant world of truth, will not be satisfied
to live in the half-light of deception and bondage. Should the person return to the cave, ones
attempts to bring enlightenment to others will arouse distrust. Those, whose only realities are the
shadows of ignorance, will persecute this person.
Among the greatest dares all college students presumably share is the risk of higher education.
When a student goes to college, one asks, in effect, to be challenged intellectually. One signs on
for an adventure of the mind and expects new ideas to be revealed and knowledge absorbed.
Even though one may not be fully aware of what is in store, one nevertheless voluntarily accepts
a certain amount of personal riskthe dare of facing oneself more directly, the risk of disturbing
earlier patterns of thought and behavior, the dare of failure. There is also the subtle but profound
risk that comes with all learning. Doors once opened are very hard to close again. Many people
are threatened or discouraged when they move into a bigger room, a wider life-space. Yet, others
respond to the vital challenge, and embrace the risk.