![]() ![]() In talking to them, I was struck with how relaxed most of them seemed to be even under strong pressure. In the past few years I have come to be quite well acquainted with several Muslim professionals-electronics engineers, pilots, businessmen, and teachers, mostly from Saudi Arabia and from the other Gulf states. As long as it provides clear objectives, clear rules for action, and a way to concentrate and become involved, any goal can serve to give meaning to a person’s life. The challenge might involve the desire to have the best beer-bottle collection in the neighborhood, the resolution to find a cure for cancer, or simply the biological imperative to have children who will survive and prosper. From the point of view of an individual, it does not matter what the ultimate goal is-provided it is compelling enough to order a lifetime’s worth of psychic energy. The first fact does not entail the second any more than the fact that we lack wings prevents us from flying. It is another thing entirely to accept this with resignation. It is one thing to recognize that life is, by itself, meaningless. Much of what we call culture and civilization consists in efforts people have made, generally against overwhelming odds, to create a sense of purpose for themselves and their descendants. But it does not follow that life cannot be given meaning. It is true that life has no meaning, if by that we mean a supreme goal built into the fabric of nature and human experience, a goal that is valid for every individual. But isn’t it incredibly naive to expect life to have a coherent overall meaning? After all, at least since Nietzsche concluded that God was dead, philosophers and social scientists have been busy demonstrating that existence has no purpose, that chance and impersonal forces rule our fate, and that all values are relative and hence arbitrary. In such a way, it is possible to give meaning to one’s entire life. If a person sets out to achieve a difficult enough goal, from which all other goals logically follow, and if he or she invests all energy in developing skills to reach that goal, then actions and feelings will be in harmony, and the separate parts of life will fit together-and each activity will “make sense” in the present, as well as in view of the past and of the future. That is what caring really is: a feeling of identification with what one's doing." Zhuangzi uses the metaphor of the "mirror" to explain this: by removing the interference of the self, your mind becomes a perfect reflection of the concrete situation you are in.“is turning all life into a unified flow experience. This idea of flow as a kind of "caring for life" is a major theme in Robert Pirsig's popular work "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," for example when he writes, "When you're not dominated by feelings of separateness from what you're working on, then you can be said to 'care' about what you're doing. After Master Wen-Hui hears Ting's explanation, he proclaims, "I have heard the words of Butcher Ting and have learned how to care for life." It is obvious to Wen-Hui that Ting is not just giving us a recipe for how to butcher an ox: he is giving us a recipe for life itself. Zhuangzi intimates that the flow-like experience can extend beyond the specific act of butchering to become a continuous state (this is similar to Csikszentmihalyi's concept of the "autotelic personality"). Furthermore, it has been found that people who experience a lot of flow in their daily lives also develop other positive traits, such as high concentration, high self-esteem, and even greater health (Hektner, 1996, recounted in Cziksentmihalyi, 1997, pp. However, in retrospect, the flow activity may be described as enjoyable and even exhilarating! A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that flow is highly correlated with happiness, both subjective and psychological well-being (Cziksentmihalyi, M. Interestingly, a flow state is characterized by the absence of emotion - a complete loss of self-consciousness. You should feel as though you have control and receive immediate feedback with room for growth. In order for a flow state to occur, you must see the activity as voluntary, enjoyable (intrinsically motivating), and it must require skill and be challenging (but not too challenging) with clear goals towards success. ![]()
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