Verse 24: Try Not

Verse Twenty-Four
A man on tiptoe
can't walk easily.
The man who strides on ahead is bound to tire.

The kind of person who always insists
on his way of seeing things
can never learn anything from anyone.

Those who always want to be seen
will never help others to be.

The showman is never
secretly respected by anyone.

People like these, say the Wise Ones
are as useless as the left-over food at a feast:
No true follower can relate to them.
~ Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer & Jay Ramsey translation ~

For me, the underlying message of this verse is that, when we try too hard to be successful or impress, we lose our sense of balance. When we lose this sense of balance, we become unsteady and we are more apt to fall. In other words, by trying too hard, we end up undermining the very thing we had hoped to accomplish.

The reason we often prove unsuccessful by trying too hard is that we strain our bodies and our minds. This creates tension; a rigidity of movement. Benjamin Hoff explains this idea to Winnie-the-Pooh in The Tao of Pooh.

And when you try too hard, it doesn't work. Try grabbing something quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try again. Try doing something with a tense mind. The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard -- one that thinks too much. The animals in the Forest don't think too much; they just Are.

Back in my younger years, the aspect of football that I enjoyed the most was kicking. While most of my compatriots dreamed of becoming the star quarterback, receiver or defensive standout, my dream was to be a star placekicker and punter!

I spent hour upon hour at an old football stadium either punting the ball up and down the field or, using a tee, lining up to kick field goals. The short ones -- 25 yards and less -- were relatively easy. However, once I got beyond the 25 yard line, the task grew more difficult. While it was certainly true that I needed to kick the ball harder, I soon learned that the force utilized was less important than the fluidity of movement!

Professional football kickers encounter this same problem. In order to kick the ball 50 yards or more, one must make the kicking leg more rigid so that you can put added force behind the kick. However, if your leg becomes too rigid, then, while the ball will indeed travel farther, you will lose your ability to kick it straight. Consequently, you need to discover a balance between these two extremes which will allow you to kick the ball far AND straight.

If these varying factors are streaming through your mind as you prepare to address the ball, the chances are great that your kick will prove unsuccessful. Why? Because your movements will be too mechanical and the flow of your movements will be truncated.

If Jedi Master Yoda (of Star Wars) was the football coach of a wayward kicker, I can imagine a conversation going like this:

Yoda: Let go. Feel the force around you. Move with it and your kicks will be more successful.
Kicker: Look, I'm trying as hard as I can.
Yoda: Try? There is no try.
Kicker: What in the heck are you talking about?
Yoda: Try not. Do.

We would all do well to listen to the voice of Yoda. Our constant striving to accomplish our goals and objectives in life creates the very tension and stress that thwarts are efforts. By trying too hard, we continually move our individual holy grails beyond reach. It is only when we quit striving that things become easier and we find we can get far more done than we ever realized.

Try not. Do.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.