The Endless Carrot
La zanahoria infinita
A reflection on how moments of flow and ease reveal what is always available, and how the mind co-opts these glimpses by attaching them to external conditions.
The Endless Carrot
A reflection on how moments of flow and ease reveal what is always available, and how the mind co-opts these glimpses by attaching them to external conditions.
Sometimes what you are describing might be an escape, but in general it is a taste of reality. We call it being in a state of flow. You are having a great tango dance, or you find yourself in any situation where you forget about yourself. You are simply in the experience, and there is a sense that nothing is wrong right now. The belief that something is wrong, together with the belief in a separate "I," dissipates. It becomes like a film projected on the wall that you are no longer paying attention to.
Controlled glimpses
We allow ourselves these tastes, but they are controlled. We plan for them. "Later I am going to sit at the piano for twenty minutes." Or, "Today after work I am so tired, so stressed, and I need to get to the beach. Once I get to the beach, I will finally have a good moment." Then you arrive at the beach, it is beautiful, and you experience that ease. You think it is because of the beach. But actually, it is because for the moment you are there, you have paused the belief that something is wrong or missing right now.
We attach that openness to the experience itself, to the external circumstance. But the way this "I," the ego, works is by orchestrating and planning. "I am going to get to that." Then we give ourselves a brief reprieve, and it seems to prove that the strategy works. It is like the carrot at the end of a stick. Once you get to that corner, you can take a bite. "Oh yes, it works." Then you move to the next corner and take another bite.
Seeing through the belief
But if you undo the belief, if you see through it entirely, you can eat the whole carrot all the time. It is an endless carrot.