A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
nytimes.com
A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
1–10 of 35 posts
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#2I'm sorry, I do catch the idea, but it really sounds like fluff to me. As with many of these type of articles, I see some discussion and history, but no content or true insight whatsoever. Only some anekdotes and religion-style stories.
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#3> “I’ve been out in the fields helping the sprouts grow,” he explained, whereupon his worried sons rushed out to see the results. They found a bunch of shriveled sprouts that he’d yanked to death.
There is a fair amount of sprout yanking going on in my little education world at present. I can use that quote.
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#4I'm sorry, I do catch the idea, but it really sounds like fluff to me. As with many of these type of articles, I see some discussion and history, but no content or true insight whatsoever. Only some anekdotes and religion-style stories.
What would 'content or true insight' look like to you? How would it be different to the OA?
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#5I'm sorry, I do catch the idea, but it really sounds like fluff to me. As with many of these type of articles, I see some discussion and history, but no content or true insight whatsoever. Only some anekdotes and religion-style stories.
This stigma against anecdotes itself reeks of what you seem to fear in religion. Such things are very personal, there are no hard and fast rules derivable from first principles. How we like to paint everything as simple and provable! You must try different things first hand, it is the only way to see.
Feel free not to try things yourself but do not dissuade others from finding what works for them. You do not know, in it they might find meaning.
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#6Don't use conscious effort to do whatever-it-is directly.
Instead, use that deliberate-brainpower to create patterns and habits that your un/sub-conscious will continue even when you aren't actively paying attention.
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#7We as a society have forgotten, or not yet learned, that the thing we call "us" is but a part of the organism that is actually us
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#8Is this about Analysis paralysis vs. learning by doing?
From what I understand of asian philosophy, I think the dichotomy between he Confucean and Taoist value systems is a very good mental tool - the former stresses academic learning and analysis while the latter strives for simplicity and doing what you can, right now, with the knowledge and tools you have.
To draw a caricature: The confucean systems hold the bureaucracy that keeps systems going for decades in the highest regard while a taoist would value the spontaneity of an "agile and lean" system the most.
I think the "wu wei" concept is linked to a situation where a person has an intutive understanding of a system and it's practical degrees of freedom and constraints, and thus can let his subconscious to perform most of the heavy lifting, versus a situation where for one reason or another the person does not have a lucid mental model of the field where he tries to work and proceeds through constant conscious cognitive evaluation. I might completely off in my understanding, though.
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#9Tl;dr There is no try. Only Do.
Practical advice from The way to approach this concept it to first understand your struggle. Beneath the need to struggle is a fear that the world is an unfriendly place and you are not supported. This view arises from the mind rather from the way, which teaches that the flow, the ever present essence of life, is the way. You can trust that the way will lead you. In truth, the mind-made view of the world, where struggle is necessary, is merely illusion. No matter how real it might appear. Wu Wei is the way.
To follow Wu Wei you must first let go of struggle. Stop fighting with life and trying to make things happen. You are struggling against the flow. You must first realize that you can give this up. Then it is the case that you act, you are not passive - merely waiting for things to happen, but you are no longer opposing the flow of events. Instead, you act, but let go into the uncertainty of life, and you see how life actually occurs. You become open to the mystery of which you are part. In a sense it is total acceptance of yourself and this moment. Of course, it is necessary to practice this. While the way is not of time, and we can be there in an instant, practice connects us to this place over time. Through practice the way reveals itself. Only through practice can this truth be revealed.
e.g.: Water may be directed and controlled by man-made dams, but it will always flow to its destination naturally. To be in accord with that nature, give up making dams for it only delays that flow.
Re: A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying
#10Easy is right.
Begin right
And you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy.
-- Chuang Tzu