Have you ever had that experience when you try so hard to understand something, and you spend fruitless hours - akin to, and forgive the harsh comparison - banging your head against the wall? So, you put the task aside, and later, you return to it, and shazaam! Everything is clear, and it all falls into place. One is "received" by the task. One cannot complete it when one wants to just because one wants to.
This is like what mountaineers say. I had the pleasure of knowing a man who'd climbed K2 several times - but once turned back on an expedition that proved fatal for those who'd insisted on continuing to the top. He always stressed that one had to be received by the mountain, and look for the signs to see if one was being accepted. If things are too severe, it is better to turn back and try another time.
But the problem is that people invest so much time and effort into "completing the task" that they do not want to put the task aside and come back later - even if doing so will make the same task so effortless that it does not seem like work at all.
As is often the case, I write all this in half-understanding of what I am writing about. I write because I want to try to help myself learn. If I see that a task is going badly, I need to put it aside. And as I write, I am remembering all the bad class experiences that could have been saved by just giving up on what I am trying to teach and moving on to another subject. It can't be forced.
So, today I love going with the flow, or that Tao state of not forcing anything, but being led where one needs to go. There is a reason why we are not allowed to be "received by the wall": maybe if we understood it too early, we would abuse our knowledge.
And when things fall into place, naturally, there is that special peace and beauty that makes even the simplest things look so beautiful. I had a marvelous old lady friend, a pioneer journalist, who used to try to photograph those serendipitous moments of peace. At such times, she'd notice aspects of her flat 'as if for the first time', and would photograph those sights to remind her of that state later. She would also keep a selection of beautiful quotes around her typewriter for the same reason. Here is one: a verse, she had in the Italian, of Paradisio IV, 124-6: Now do I see that never can our intellect be sated, unless that Truth shine on it, beyond which no truth hath range.
And here's to letting our lives take their natural course, without forcing anything.
Elements: scallop and starburst: pugly pixel;
