Knowing path
View this email in your browser (|ARCHIVE|) There is an old Zen koan—a kind of puzzle—that asks us:
“How do you go straight ahead on a narrow mountain path which has ninety-three curves?”
You and I each have a mountain path that demands our work and attention.
Your life choices—professional or private—are in service to that path. They give definition to what you do with your days. They define you.
Thus the meaning behind the Zen puzzle: how will you be when the inevitable illusion of a straight line between the start and finish of that path is broken and you realize you must bear these many curves?
Seneca helps us solve this, reaching out to you and I over the expanse of years.
He reminds us of the importance of staying the course. “The rest,” he warns, “fall and rise in their decisions, wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things.”
So be firm with your power of judgment. With this, Seneca adds, you avoid “following the many footprints of those wandering in every direction.”
But understand where such clarity comes from.
We don’t earn the power of judgment by being arrogant.
It comes instead from being open as possible to the idea that our assumptions are wrong. In other words: be humble.
Here’s how jazz great Wynton Marsalis makes the case in his letter to a young musician:
“Humility engenders learning because it beats back the arrogance that puts blinders on. It leaves you open for truths to reveal themselves. You don’t stand in your own way…Do you know how you can tell when someone is truly humble? I believe there’s one simple test: because they consistently observe and listen, the humble improve. They don’t assume, I know the way.”
Seek advice from outside of those who are most prone to agree with you.
Challenge every one of your assumptions that go into the construction of what you believe and of what you think you know.
And only then be cheerful in knowing you have done all you can to bear those curves.
That is how you and I make better decisions and create our very best work.
Very best, Patrick
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