“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” ~Bruce Lee
“Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.” ~ Karl Popper
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned” ~Richard Feynman
If you are inhabiting a body and paying the least bit of attention to life, you will inevitably arrive at a few fundamental truths: 1) Our time is finite; 2) Our knowledge is finite; 3) None of that should hold us back from striving. Last week I wrote about the existential angst that arises when our level of stress outstrips our ability to deal with it. Benevolent patience was the solution I suggested, but I think there is one important clarification that must be made. Our actions must be supported by a vision for what we wish to accomplish. An intention that can guide us through the darkness.
By no coincidence, vision is the sense that is governed by the Wood/Liver System in Chinese Medicine. Again, the Liver also manages anger, which explains the euphemism, "blind with rage." This connection is a central component to how the Liver operates. Often associated with the role of a general, the Liver directs and manages its resources and troops. At its best, it has an objective vision for how it will not only win the next battle, but also the entirety of the war. At its worst, its plans (if they exist at all) are short-sighted, emotionally charged, and ineffective.
Predicting the future may seem like an exercise in futility, as there are far more unknown variables than known ones. So why bother anyway if death and disappointment are inevitable? While this may seem true at first glance, it is a reactionary mindset driven from a place of fear. Fear has its rightful seat at the table, and shouldn't be ignored, but no empowering decision was ever made by obeying fear alone. When it eclipses our vision, we behave foolishly. Reclaiming our autonomy is the pathway to the other side of fear.
Acting as though we might have some influence over the future is absolutely vital to our mental well-being. Forming a vision for how we would like to exist in the world is one of the hardest tasks that a human can undertake, though. Historically, cultures across the world have dedicated ceremonies that help aid people along the way. Vision quests, rites of passage, initiations, religious ceremonies, holidays, and the like, have helped shape human vision for millennia. The cannon of religious and secular texts has played a pivotal role in adding to our understanding and informing our next steps. But even then, tradition and knowledge is still an incomplete picture of the world.
Actual vision--observation of what is in front of us--is the missing piece to informing sound, long-term vision. The world is a complex place. All too often we default to prejudicial mindsets when we encounter complexity. The 'logical' left half of the brain excels in making rules and categorizing disorder. Whatever it can't understand readily it dismisses, or attempts to undermine or rationalize. This is the exact opposite of how the right half of the brain operates. It gets excited by information that doesn't make sense, not scared. Exceptions represent opportunities for breakthrough. Language, fire making, projectile weapons, internal combustion, electrified cities, medicine, sanitation, aviation, space travel, and artificial intelligence, were all born out of finding and capitalizing on anomalies.
Don't merely guess at how you think the world works, go out and test it. If you are at an impasse with a difficult challenge, the surest way to not succeed is to never try. Instead of repeating the same old patterns, look for new ways to fail. Chances are, if your intentions are set with the highest virtues in mind, eventually you will stumble on a solution that works. You will unite your vision of what is possible with your vision of what lies before you, and in doing so you will find peace--an understanding that transcends knowledge. It is knowing instead.
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