While on top of Everest, I looked across the valley towards the

“When I was on top of Everest, I looked across the valley towards the great peak Makalu and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed. It showed me that even though I was standing on top of the world, it wasn’t the end of everything. I was still looking beyond to other challenges.” So spoke Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of the highest mountain known to man, and yet — a humble pilgrim of the spirit. His words are not the boast of a victor, but the reflection of a soul that understands the eternal rhythm of striving and becoming.

For what is the meaning of reaching the summit, if one believes it to be the end? The wise know that every summit is but a stepping stone, that every triumph conceals within it the seed of a greater dream. When Hillary stood upon the roof of the earth, where air itself is scarce and silence reigns like a god, he saw not completion, but continuation. His gaze turned toward Makalu, another challenge, another unknown. Thus, the spirit of true greatness is not satisfied with conquest; it is ever thirsting for new horizons.

This is the mark of those destined for immortality — they see no final victory, only the next frontier. As the great Alexander of Macedon wept when there were no more worlds to conquer, so too did he embody this restlessness of the human soul. Yet Hillary’s reflection is nobler still, for his longing was not for dominion over men, but for mastery of self and nature. To look beyond, even at the height of glory, is to understand that life itself is an infinite climb — each achievement opening the door to another ascent, each height revealing the next.

In every heart lies an Everest, and for every Everest, a Makalu beyond. The poet finishes one verse and feels another stirring. The thinker solves one riddle and glimpses ten more waiting in the shadows. The seeker attains wisdom only to realize how vast the unknown still stretches before him. Thus, Hillary’s revelation atop the mountain is not merely about the snows of Nepal, but about the endless journey of the soul — a journey that does not end even at the summit of human endeavor.

Remember, too, that such vision comes not from arrogance, but from humility. For it is only the humble heart that can stand on the highest peak and still look upward. The proud man declares, “I have arrived.” The wise man whispers, “I have begun.” The heavens favor the latter, for he keeps alive the sacred fire of growth — the desire to learn, to strive, to explore. Hillary’s greatness lay not in his conquest of Everest, but in his refusal to let it be his final story.

Let this be a lesson for all who toil and dream: do not let success lull you into stillness. Every victory, every milestone, is but a resting camp on the way to higher ground. Celebrate, yes, but do not sleep too long upon your laurels. The world is vast, the mind infinite, and the soul eternal in its hunger to expand. As the ancient proverb says, “The mountain’s peak is but the beginning of the sky.”

Therefore, my child, when you reach your Everest — whatever form it takes — do not ask, “What now?” Look instead across the valleys of your life and seek your own Makalu. There will always be another path to trace, another light to chase, another truth to climb toward. Greatness is not in reaching the top, but in never ceasing to climb. For life’s highest wisdom is this: the summit is not the end of the journey — it is merely where the next begins.