Ta-Wan
The expert golfer does not think through a shot as he plays the shot. An expert gamer does not think "Press this button to do this action, followed by that button to do that action..." An expert typist does not think "Now this key with this finger then that key with that finger." A great runner is not thinking "Left, right, left, right, right, god dammnit wrong foot!!!"
An expert in understanding life does not have a linear thought process on the act either.
Thinking is quite linear. When we muddle through a mathematical problem, a game of Sudoku, typing a response to a blog post or playing a return shot in a game of badminton, we will notice that if the linear thinking process creeps in then it can be stumped at any moment. Just as you are playing the shot or going for the last step in the equation the mind can thwart the whole thing by tripping over an unrelated thought or doubt. The linear path is fragile.
When we are "in the zone" "in the moment" we are allowing everything to just take place and not commentating, not judging, we just let it go and it happens. When we bring in the linear inner monologue then we flop.
When we watch a master musician play some complex and beautiful tune with perhaps a very tricky part just around the corner then they and you will know just before they fluff it that they will fluff it or you and they will witness an emptiness of thought and the event unfold perfectly. That seeming moment where they contort their body and face is not deep thought but the outward expression of forcefully preventing thought occurring.
This is emptiness of thought which I name the non-I state, the state where we see there is no doer of the act. Life simply taking place and it is timeless, magical wonder.
You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.
An expert in understanding life does not have a linear thought process on the act either.
Thinking is quite linear. When we muddle through a mathematical problem, a game of Sudoku, typing a response to a blog post or playing a return shot in a game of badminton, we will notice that if the linear thinking process creeps in then it can be stumped at any moment. Just as you are playing the shot or going for the last step in the equation the mind can thwart the whole thing by tripping over an unrelated thought or doubt. The linear path is fragile.
When we are "in the zone" "in the moment" we are allowing everything to just take place and not commentating, not judging, we just let it go and it happens. When we bring in the linear inner monologue then we flop.
When we watch a master musician play some complex and beautiful tune with perhaps a very tricky part just around the corner then they and you will know just before they fluff it that they will fluff it or you and they will witness an emptiness of thought and the event unfold perfectly. That seeming moment where they contort their body and face is not deep thought but the outward expression of forcefully preventing thought occurring.
This is emptiness of thought which I name the non-I state, the state where we see there is no doer of the act. Life simply taking place and it is timeless, magical wonder.
You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.
The master musician became a master throguh a great deal of diligent practice.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they were practicing they were not a master. Only when thought ceased did the perfect version play out.
ReplyDelete