W********m
发帖数: 7793 | 1 129. The Path of Least Resistance
There’s good resistance and bad resistance. When we resist harming
ourselves and others, that’s the good kind. When we resist reality,
that’s the bad kind. What we want to do then is apply the good
kind of resistance to the bad kind, and resist resistance.
What does it mean to resist reality? It means to wish things are
different than they are. The sequence of events goes like this. First,
we experience reality with our senses. We see, hear, touch, smell, and taste
. Then, right away, our mind steps in with its thoughts
about the sensory input. If there is something about reality that
our thinking doesn’t like, then those thoughts themselves are the
resistance. They are the push-back, they oppose, they reject, they
resist what is. We wish things did not look, sound, feel, smell, or
taste the way they do. And unhappiness is born. Here are some
examples:
I feel. I feel rain on my skin. I feel the air because it is much
colder than my skin and moving. It is cold and windy and
raining and I am outside. I wish it was warm and sunny. I
wish I was inside.
I taste. I am tasting food. Molecules of food touch the sensing
molecules in my mouth which send nerve impulses to my brain
which I then perceive as flavor, texture, and temperature. But
what if my food is too salty? What if it is too chewy? Or too
cold? What if I take a dislike to my food? When that happens,
I have two options. I can either stop eating unhappily, or I can
continue eating unhappily. If only I did not resist the way
things actually are, I would just chew my food, and taste it,
and swallow it. I might feel mindlessly indifferent about the
food, or intensely satisfied, or plainly grateful, or anatomically
fascinated, but never unhappy.
I hear. I am hearing Joe. I am hearing Joe say something
I strongly disagree with. Joe said what he said. This is the
reality. But I wish he had not said it. That is the resisting of
reality. I resist reality practically every time I hear anything
I disagree with about anything. And when I resist, I am
unhappy. If only I did not resist other people’s ideas, I would
just hear them and chew them up and swallow them.
I hear. It is 1985 and I am on the phone, hearing my sister.
She is telling me that our mother has cancer and three months.
This is the reality. But I so deeply wish it were not so. I did
not know it then but I know it now: Extreme resistance is
extreme pain. Slight resistance is slight pain. Resistance and
pain are proportionate.
I see. I am seeing my opponent’s hole cards. I am seeing my
opponent’s hole cards because we are at the showdown and he
just turned them over. I see that his hand beats my hand. I do
not like what I see. I wish the cards were different than they
are. I resist. And it hurts. Resisting always hurts. Resisting
is hurt.
And there we have the meaning and the consequences of
resisting reality. At regular life, resistance is futile, and painful. At
poker, resistance is not only futile and painful, but also expensive.
If only we could be like water. When water moves, it follows
the path of least resistance. Water would be good at poker. | W********m
发帖数: 7793 | 2 "Extreme resistance is
extreme pain. Slight resistance is slight pain. Resistance and
pain are proportionate."
"If only we could be like water. When water moves, it follows
the path of least resistance. Water would be good at poker."
This is really really good. ~~~~~ |
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