Focused Fluidity

Living in the tension, loosening the grip

“Being creative involves certain paradoxes. You must know your field inside and out, and yet be able to question its most entrenched assumptions. You must be somewhat naive to entertain certain questions, and optimistic you will solve the problem at hand; at the same time, you must regularly doubt that you have achieved your goal and subject your work to intensive self-criticism. All of this requires a great deal of flexibility.”
-Robert Greene, Mastery

I contend that the capacity to focus is perhaps the most imperative skill that we must cultivate. Without the ability to direct our focus, our lives become a chaotic hell, at the mercy and whims of impulses, distractions, manipulative suggestion, being jerked around by any manner of stimuli and emotional triggers in our environment.

In the last few days, I’ve noticed how rapidly perishable the skill of directed focus is; I had caved to a habit of social media scrolling and otherwise digitally distracting myself to grant myself a bit of relief from the constant buffeting of intense emotion I’d been subject to lately. Not much either— a few hours in the afternoon of mindlessly bouncing from one app to another, scrolling through Instagram reels in search of inspiring insights, flirting on dating apps with women I’m likely never going to put the effort to actually meet (because social skills and creating attraction is a perishable skill too), and sending nonsensical goofy texts to my best friend. What I noticed when I approached my habit of reading and writing this morning was how fragmented and disjointed my consciousness felt. My eyes traced the lines on the pages, but would start to impatiently jump ahead a few lines to the next paragraph. Instead of absorbing and reflecting on the material, I contended with the cacophonous ramblings of anxious emotional mental chatter, and an itching craving to reach for my phone and start cycling through the same 4 apps I’ve rinsed through the previous day.

Like trying to tame an animal, I spent the hour patiently calming myself down, and returned to the book, determined to direct my mind to my intended aim. Eventually, I was able to settle into a state that was present enough to take in and contemplate what I was reading—but the effort it required was tremendous, and the rigid insistence I had on becoming present and focused made it harder for me to think broadly about the concepts I was reading, or relate them laterally to personal experiences or other ideas I’d learned about.

I’m reading Mastery by Robert Greene as part of Erick Godsey’s Mentally Fit Curriculum; almost serendipitously, the parts of the book I was reading discussed the importance of an openness of mind, tempering the intensity, deliberation, and focus of one’s pursuits with a fluidity and lateral thinking type creativity. He used imagery of the Zen Master, who pushes their student to the absolute brink of intense focus and effort, with the intention of having them crack and give up — then in that moment of surrender, the release of tension allows for a rush of insight which allows enlightenment in. Almost like releasing a sponge you’ve been squeezing forcefully, then suddenly releasing, allowing it to absorb all the water it was ready to take in.

He warned against the rigidity and fixedness of belief that can form once a person attains a certain level of competence; losing the “beginner’s mind” which is humble, curious, open, takes in and synthesizes inordinate amounts of information from a place of assuming that because they know so little, they should consider as much as possible. While the refinement in skill and growth in knowledge on the path to Mastery opens up a world of possibility that the beginner/apprentice does not enjoy, the pitfall is that one can become entrenched in their ways, becoming blind to deeper insight and making new connections. It fundamentally limits creativity.

I’m delighted by this paradox of intensity of focus, guarding your attention and limiting the influences on your consciousness, counterbalanced with the curious openness and willingness to consider great breadth, making broad connections and staying open to lateral thinking and spontaneous revelation. I’ve experienced it myself in real time — breakthroughs in my guitar playing when I stop trying so hard to “be something”, my most brilliant poetry flowing through me when I’m not analytical, spiritual insights that reveal themselves to me in a moment of surrender after spendings months or years studying scriptures and meditating/praying. I’ve had dreams where the next part of a song, or a way I wanted to explain something to a coaching client has come to me. Conversely, I’ve felt like the simplest problems that I am more than competent enough to solve and work through felt utterly impenetrable to me because of my internally generated resistance, my rigidity and hyper-analytical thought.

Charlie Parker said “First you learn the instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play.” I think that’s what I’ve noticed about the path to Mastery—intensity and deliberation is a prerequisite to release. Flow needs the sweat equity of borderline neurotic control over one’s point of attention for a long time. As long as you don’t succumb to the pitfalls of identification with technicality, freedom can come from restraint. It’s my favourite paradox of Mastery—the self transcendence that comes from the most intense self involvement.

So first— guard your attention fiercely. Do not allow your mental capacities to become degraded and degenerated from low attention span media and garbage ego-stroking distractions. Become true with your aim and intention, understand who you are, and define why it’s important to manifest that. Then deliberately focus all your energies and efforts into living each day in as much alignment with the habits, values, perceptions, internal dialogue, emotional states, and relationships as that person who you know yourself to be (your life changes only as your day changes). Then, get the hell out of your own way, and watch how much more brilliant life is when it is lived in the flow state, when you become a clear channel for the Holy Spirit, when spontaneity and serendipity are your greatest allies, an alliance forged in focus and Mastery.