The Associated Press has a story this morning on on how weak and powerless people feel when they spend too much time obsessing over the news and not enough time pursuing their values.
I thought I’d share with you a photograph that seems to me to be a perfect expression of how weak and powerless humanity really is:
(Many more here.)
The universe, by definition, is everything there is. But your every experience of the universe starts and ends inside your mind. Your experience of life will be precisely as splendorous or as squalid as you want it to be. Do you want to change the universe, forever, for the good? Start by changing the way you think.
Flynn Gentry-Taylor says:
What is your ultimate book or tape on changing the way you think? Flynn
June 22, 2008 — 11:00 am
Greg Swann says:
> What is your ultimate book or tape on changing the way you think?
I don’t have an answer to that question. I don’t think that way. 😉
I’m not being flip. I can think of dozens of books written right at me, with The Fountainhead being at the top of the list. Julian Simon’s The Ultimate Resource is the canonical answer to the AP story — chapter 14 takes it on 18 years in advance. But I don’t know of a book that teaches someone how to focus on all the ubiquitously wonderful things that don’t make the news instead of all the rare and tragic things that do.
Does anyone have any books to suggest?
My simple take: Get busier. You don’t have to shoot your television, but if you’re so busy piling up personal achievements, you won’t have much time for despair-by-proxy.
Two cents, net thirty.
June 22, 2008 — 11:38 am
Rob says:
And to think that God, the Creator of the Universe, wants to relate to us “weak and powerless” folk. Wow.
June 22, 2008 — 1:47 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
I like the new paragraph in the sidebar.
June 22, 2008 — 4:11 pm
Don Reedy says:
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig is an easy rider version of a philosophical discussion about the essence of quality in our life.
Using two couples who traverse the country on motorcycles, Pirsig explores the romantic side of bike riding, and contrasts that with the mechanical and technological things that surround us.
As Greg says above, life, even as seen through a motorcyle, is that which one wraps one’s arms around and embraces with passion. Technology, the mechanics of the motorcyle, is really quite a labor of love in the hands of those who are willing to work a little to learn about and explore its inner workings. Quality, illusive, romantic, yet able to be known without mathematical prcision, is the essence of what we know to be most important, and is, for example, prevalent here at Bloodhound.
I just looked for 1/2 hour and can’t find the old paperback version of “Zen” that I had, so it’s down to the used book store tomorrow morning to revisit this timeless treasure.
June 22, 2008 — 5:05 pm
Gary Frimann says:
I did not see a Starbucks in any of these photos. The future is looking bright indeed!!!
June 22, 2008 — 6:54 pm
Chris Frantz says:
Looking at the picture makes me feel like I am falling.
June 22, 2008 — 6:54 pm
Scott Patterson says:
Amazing photographs. I agree. Perception is reality.
June 22, 2008 — 9:54 pm
Greg Swann says:
> I like the new paragraph in the sidebar.
Thanks. I finally made time to read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing last week, so I thought I’d celebrate everything we’re getting right. 😉
June 22, 2008 — 10:33 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Technology, the mechanics of the motorcyle, is really quite a labor of love in the hands of those who are willing to work a little to learn about and explore its inner workings.
To understand a system is, metaphorically, to be the system. People will look at you funny if you talk about empathy for a machine, but if you understand the hardware you’re working with, you understand it like your spouse or your kid or your dog. This is the way I like to work with everything — hardware, software, prose, people — everything. I talk about Splendor all the time, but what I mean by Splendor is a concentration so intense that, whatever it is you’re doing, you’re not doing anything else. Hard to get there, but your performance is astounding while you’re there. I think this is the perfect operating environment for the human mind.
June 22, 2008 — 10:42 pm
Greg Swann says:
> I agree. Perception is reality.
Yeah, there I don’t go, not even as a metaphor. Reality is what it is, apart from and prior to our perception of it. It’s how we choose to react to it that matters.
June 22, 2008 — 10:47 pm
Greg Swann says:
Amending my comment above, this is a very old Willie story about metaphysics, epistemology and the Many Worlds theory of Quantum Mechanics, that, despite all that, brings itself to bear on the points raised here:
How Cosmo Overcame Trans-Universal Envy
A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story
“Oops!” said Cosmo, stumbling over my foot, splashing his vodka martini on my jacket. “Terribly sorry. My mind was elsewhere.”
Out of courtesy to my host, I resisted the urge to say something rude. Also the urge to leave at once: The party life is not for me. And though instantly a waiter was there, swabbing at my side, I’d had as much tiresome chatter and glittering zircon affection as I can take. The vodka shower was a bonus. I really should have taken my cue.
Instead, I looked at the slightly dark spot where the spilled vodka was rapidly evaporating and said, “Think nothing of it. It’s just as if it didn’t happen.”
“Yes, of course,” said Cosmo. “In fact, there’s an alternate universe where it did not happen.”
“…?” I replied. “How’s that?”
“At the time that I spilled the drink on you, an alternate universe was created. In that universe, I did not spill the drink on you.”
“On whom did you spill it?” I don’t know why these people are attracted to me. Cosmo is not Cosmo’s real name, of course; I assume that even people who don’t do American Express commercials have libel lawyers.
“Gosh,” he said. “I’m not sure. I was thinking that I didn’t spill it on anyone. But there’s always the possibility that still other universes were created where I spilled the drink on other people.”
“Oh…”
“Oh, well,” he sighed. “That’s the way the wave front collapses.”
“…I’m confused.”
“Not surprising. You see, this is the very latest scientific knowledge.”
“…I’ll bet.”
“If you do bet, even if you lose, you win!”
“And if I drive to New Mexico, will I wind up on the moon?”
“Very possibly.”
I said: “…?”
“For every potential alternative, in your experience, only one of the two possible outcomes actually results, correct?”
“Sure.”
“So if I flip a coin, it can come up either heads or tails, but not both, right?”
“Right.”
“Wrong.”
“…?” I repeated.
“If I flip a coin, and I see that it has come up heads, another universe has been created where another me sees that it has come up tails.”
“…!”
“If I flip the coin a thousand times, then a thousand new universes are created!”
“Given your argument,” I said, “then another thousand universes were created where you flipped the coin fewer than a thousand times. Right?”
“Yes. I guess so.”
“Plus an infinite number of universes where you flipped it more than a thousand times.”
“Right.”
“Plus another infinite number of universes where you did something else entirely.”
“Yes, yes,” said Cosmo. “Of course.”
“Each of which has its own infinite number of permutations.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way… I guess you’re right.”
“All of this while every other alternative in the universe and universes is going through the same process, each creating new universes at the rate of infinity raised to the infinite power per alternative. Am I getting this right?”
“…It sounds right to me…”
“It does?!? Where are you putting these universes?”
“Hunh…?”
Deep breath. “Ever heard of Occam’s Razor?”
Cosmo caressed his chin. “I use a Remington.”
“No,” I said. “Occam’s Razor is a logical proposition. It says that entities must not needlessly be multiplied. Another way of saying the same thing is that the simplest explanation to fit all of the facts is the one that is true.”
“Yeah, so… What are you getting at?”
“That when you flip the coin, or do anything else, only one thing happens, not both.”
He stomped his foot. “The best minds of science postulate that both things do happen in alternate universes. Who are you to argue with them?!?”
“Who am I to challenge the gods? Is that it?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way. Besides, in another universe you agree with me!”
“Therefore, in another universe you disagree with yourself?”
“Yes…,” said Cosmo, his face a mesh of reluctance and confusion. “I guess that must be true.”
“Except that he’s not you.”
“WHAT?!?”
“He isn’t you. None of the alternate Cosmo’s in all the alternate universes is the Cosmo with whom I am speaking.”
“Oh yes they are!”
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. “Scratch your head, Cosmo.” He did so. “Now cause one of those other Cosmo’s to scratch his head.”
“…I can’t.”
“So you are not him, right?”
“But I was him, before our universes split!”
“But you aren’t any more. And you have no control over any universe except the one in which you continue to have the power to scratch your head, right?”
“…I suppose so.”
“So even if there are alternate universes, this is useless and irrelevant to you. No?”
“But he didn’t spill the drink!”
“…?”
“He doesn’t do any of the stupid, clumsy things I do!”
“Now I get it… Listen, when you do something right, would you say that an alternate Cosmo has therefore done it wrong?”
“…Yes.”
“So instead of concentrating on what you do wrong, why not think of all the things you do right. You might find that he’s not so special after all.”
“Hey,” Cosmo said. “That’s a pretty neat idea…”
“Sure. If the alternate Cosmo does everything right, and the Cosmo that has the power to scratch your head does everything wrong, then all you have to do is do everything right, and he’ll be stuck making the errors, right?”
Cosmo smiled for the first time. “You’re right!”
If it doesn’t make any sense at all, somebody will buy it. “Sure I am. You just be him, and then he’ll have to be you.”
“Hey!” he said. “You know, it’s working already!”
“How do you figure?”
“He didn’t have this conversation.”
June 22, 2008 — 11:12 pm
Louis Cammarosano says:
Greg
Nice inspiration for a Monday Morning.
I bet they can’t get good Chinese food there..
June 23, 2008 — 6:05 am
Don Reedy says:
Greg,
Uproarious laughter from San Diego. Hear it? Priceless wit and “plain speaking” as Sidney Greenstreet would say.
Can’t stay “here” now. Have to do something else, and do it fully, for a while.
I’ll be back in your universe later……
June 23, 2008 — 6:25 am
Matthew Hardy says:
I have found that to be conscience and awake while not thinking at all is the predicate to changing the way I think. I spend time being in a state of no thought, then introduce something I want to think about. I also do not presume that there is any kind of “afterlife” and instead try to remember that life here is heaven – this life, here and now is (obviously) the fullest expression of existence. To experience life as holding the potential for thought; to realize that I am not my mind but that I have a mind that thinks has changed my perspective on the use and value of thinking. I can put my hand on a table; I can put my mind on a thought. I can refrain from wildly waving my hand around; I can refrain from thinking thoughts that are not useful to me. That some live in a tribal context only just discovered while others operate robots on Mars illustrates the vast capabilities humankind possess. I tell my granddaughter when she is upset to stop for a moment to simply observe her emotions and thought. She quickly realizes her ability to choose what to think… and a smile returns to her face.
June 23, 2008 — 11:13 am
Teri Lussier says:
>a concentration so intense that, whatever it is you’re doing, you’re not doing anything else.
A zone? Where time and the outside world no longer exist? It’s just you and the task at hand.
I agree w/ CJ re/ paragraph. Makes me smile.
June 23, 2008 — 2:01 pm
Greg Swann says:
> A zone? Where time and the outside world no longer exist? It’s just you and the task at hand.
Another name for the Zone is Flow. The distinction I would make between that mental state and Splendor is the continuous awareness of an overarching philosophy:
June 23, 2008 — 2:13 pm
Jim Rake says:
We all need the attitude reminder…..Thanks
June 24, 2008 — 7:35 am
Greg Swann says:
> We all need the attitude reminder…..Thanks
Likewise. Your post on this topic was great.
June 24, 2008 — 7:51 am
Vance Shutes says:
Greg,
The photos from space are fantastic! My only thought which hit me when I put the photos together with your words was:
“Whether you think you can, or think you cannot, you are right.”
Others have commented about just getting busy. That’s it, too. Have you ever noticed when you’re really busy – and it may be just some of the mundane stuff we do in our businesses – that you don’t have the time or mental energy to think about how bad, or good, things in your life might be? An old adage is still true – an idle mind is the Devil’s playground. The same could hold true for idle hands.
I’m still plugging away at the dozens of ideas inspired and developed while attending Unchained. That busy-ness has kept my mind focused on business – not on the “economy”, or local home sale statistics, or any of the hundreds of other bits of negativity thrust at us in the typical media. That may be one of the primary reasons why the typical media are going down the tubes. Frankly, I’m tired of the negative news. There’s beauty all around us – certainly your photo in this article should remind us of it – we just need to re-orient our attention.
Thank you for what you do.
June 25, 2008 — 7:25 am
Greg Swann says:
> Thank you for what you do.
Same to you, bud. The world is illuminated by your smile.
June 25, 2008 — 7:32 am
Sue says:
I couldn’t seem to access the other photos, but I certainly get the gist and totally agree. Its all in your attitude and approach to life situations. The mind is an amazing thing. Thanks for the reminder.
August 23, 2008 — 10:08 am