The Rubik’s Cube That Is My Life

BREATHE!

“When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it.”

-Socrates.

There is a story about a young monk who asks the abbot of his monastery: “when will I achieve enlightenment?”

The old abbot asks if the young man REALLY wants it, and the boy says “yes”. The abbot says “come with me” and takes the young man to a nearby stream. He grabs the kid’s neck and SHOVES HIS FACE INTO THE WATER. The kid fights like hell, but the abbot’s grip is like iron. Just as the kid begins to weaken, the abbot lets him up long enough to grab a single breath — then back in the water. Again and again he does this, then finally pulls the kid up and throws him on the river bank, where he sobs for breath.

When the young monk has recovered, the abbot said: “what did you feel?”

After he’s recovered a bit more, the kid says “I…I would have done ANYTHING for a breath of air.”

The abbot smiled. “When you want enlightenment THAT much…then will you find it.”

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“You have to want to win more than you want to breathe” — Mike Tyson (paraphrase)

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I had to maintain motivation and enthusiasm for FORTY YEARS, waiting for the culture to change enough to tell the stories I wanted to tell. When people ask how to do that, the answer is in the quotes above. Somehow, to motivate yourself, you…