From time to time I watch an animated feature movie on Netflix.
Those movies have the most clues for inner world patterns of all the movies… even though they are clearly designed to distribute memes… to train the next generations to become sheep.
But the artists that make the movies unwittingly, or defiantly, place some fundamental guidance and truth in those movies.
So it is with this little movie: Leap. (In other languages it is called the Ballerina)
It’s about a little orphan girl who lives in an orphanage, but dreams about becoming a dancer… a ballet dancer. She escapes the orphanage and goes to Paris to enroll in the famed ballet institute… to fulfill on her dream.
Through unpredictable events, she does… and though she can’t dance… a cleaning lady she finds turns out to be an ex famous dancer, until an accident made her an cripple. And she will become her mentor.
OK, here are the principles in the movie that stirred my inside up and explained a lot of things to me about me:
- 1. When you or any one asks: why do you “dance” or whatever you picked to do with your life, the motivation to “dance” is inner, and inexhaustible… like a spring. Not money, not fame, but that inner spring.
You can simply ask yourself. If you say: because I like it… meh. It has to be deeper to make you want to do the work it takes to become good at anything, including the things you are naturally good at.
I learned an expression in Landmark. I don’t know where it came from, probably some famous philosopher. It says: “I can do no other”… Ed Deci, a psychologist, is trying to get to the source of this “I can do no other”… but of course it is fully in the invisible, so he can’t. You have to feel it.
Some aspects of architecture held “I can do no other” for me, but not more than 3%. The rest was drudgery.
- 2. When you find that “I can do no other” then even teaching it, mentoring someone to do it, someone who has talent and that magical piece, will make you come alive…
I left architecture in 1988… and haven’t missed it. Not at all. That should tell you something.
- 3. There is a huge gap between being just naturally good at something and the thing… The shift that bridges the gap comes to our young heroine in the form of gently falling bird feathers, that land softly.
She gets it… that is what was missing… that quality of floating… Once she gets that, she becomes trainable, because she is not on the inside of the gap.
- 4. Once our heroine gets inside, she cannot be abused, called nothing, and cannot be victim. She will find her inner courage to say who she is, and protect it with all she has. Fiercely.
You can see that the process is not a 1-2-3 simple Huffington Post article… It is a process of becoming.
Another dance student dances, but dances without a heart. She dances because her mother wants her to. She could do anything… her heart isn’t into it. She is told what exercises to do… but no exercise gives you a heart. And although she will fight against anyone who threatens her, she isn’t able to fight FOR something, because she has no FOR.
Starts out and ends being the same person… no becoming. The “normal” result of a Huffington Post article… I am not picking on the Huffington Post… any and every 7-10% truth value article writer is without a depth, and without a heart.
In all of my observation of article writers I have seen only one person go through that gap… and become something else. James Altucher… and even he is not conscious of it, so he isn’t really nurturing the practices that got him there.
And if you are interested what was the 3% in architecture that supported me for 22 years so my spirit didn’t die was being fascinated with the invisible part of architecture, the inner dynamic of spaces.
Inner patterns, you could say. And little by little, with lots of wild turns, today I get to spend 50% of my time being engaged, examining, pondering, and discovering these inner patterns, with inner dynamic.
The rest of the time I sleep, and do mundane stuff… like everyone.
But my life is not mundane, albeit looks quite boring from the point of view of the uninitiated.
Get up, go to the bathroom, get dressed, drink some beverage… etc… sounds like everyone else’s life, doesn’t it?
But life has magic in it if you manage to hear your “I can do no other” calling.
PS: It turns out the Luther said that “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” in April 1521. In German, of course.
PPS: Most people are blind to patterns. Most people are totally blind to the invisible. And most people can’t see it even when it’s pointed out to them. Let alone everywhere…
Find what is unique and special about you and hone it. Find mentor… do not go on your own. You can only get so far without a mentor. Guaranteed.
Of course if you are reserved, if you are unwilling to own what’s moving you, then you will be unwilling to get a mentor… and you’ll have a life of quiet desperation, like everyone else, in spite of your unique talent.
And because pattern recognition requires you to have certain spiritual capacities active, 99% of humanity has no access to it. In order to recognize patterns, 1. you need to be able to see the bigger picture, for example. 2. You need to see what’s in front of you, not a picture of it in your mind.
Without being able to see patterns and recognize them, without being able to observe them in reality, you won’t know much about yourself, and you won’t be able to see what your strengths are, what you enjoy, what excites you.
Sounds weird? Most things you read about are out of limits for you, unless you can see and recognize patterns in a wide range of areas.
Same with values… Reading about values isn’t the same as recognizing values. Same with patterns. And pretty much same with everything.
I am mercilessly removing students who prove themselves not even understanding the issue… It is not a good use of my time to invest in their training.
If you are part of the 99%, you may be really sidetracked by a desire to have something. Fame, fortune, fun.
But none those desires comes from within. What comes from within is what to do… not what to have. Even if it is peace, quiet, success, love, etc…
None of those keep the human spirit alive… instead they kill the human spirit.
Read the original article: Pattern recognition… or how widely and how deeply do you see?