Welcome to the Science of Cell, where you improve your life from the inside out.
Today is March 15, 2024, and we're delving into the concept of cultivating a beginner's
mind.
This is from the book The Art of Practice by Peter Hollins.
The book's available, of course, on Amazon and the audiobook on Amazon, iTunes and Audible.
Check out the author's website at bit.ly slash Peter Hollins.
Thanks for joining us today, and let's get right to it.
You've got a roadmap to developing mastery, a structure for how you learn and develop.
Now let's look at the best attitude and state of mind you can adopt to make your use
of that map the best it can be.
The once there was a famous Zen monk who was known to be an expert of the Buddhist text,
the Diamond Sutra.
In fact, he was the only one in his region to even own a copy of this rare and expensive
book, and he carried it with him everywhere he went.
People from far and wide could come to consult with this wise man and benefit from his knowledge
about this important Buddhist text.
He was so good at dispensing wisdom from this book that soon ordinary people in his region
came to understand its contents too.
One day the monk approached a woman in the market who was selling tea and cake.
The monk was hungry and wanted some, but had no money to pay, so he told her,
I'm carrying with me a book of incredible value and power, the Diamond Sutra.
If you give me some of your tea and cake, I'll show this treasure of perfect knowledge.
In fact, the woman was no stranger to the teachings in the Diamond Sutra, and made a
counter-suggestion to the monk.
She said, wise monk, if you only answer me a simple question, I'll give you as much
tea and cake as you want.
The hungry monk agreed.
The woman asked her question, what do you eat cakes with?
With the mind of the past, the mind of the present, or the mind of the future?
The monk thought about this for a while.
He couldn't answer.
He brought out his Diamond Sutra and consulted it.
In fact, he ended up reading it for some time, and soon it was late, and the woman had to
pack up her tea and cake stall for the day.
Turns out you're not so wise after all, she said to the monk.
But what is the answer?
He said as he watched her pack up and leave.
The answer is that you eat cakes with your mouth, she said, and left him hungry.
The moral of this story is clear.
Sometimes we can know so much that our minds are closed to knowing anything else, including
something new and something true.
The paradox of expertise is that when we know, or just think we know, we are immediately
in a smaller, more closed and more limited frame of mind.
The monk had great knowledge, but of one thing.
Everything he encountered was passed through that lens.
Being an expert at the Diamond Sutra made him feel as though he already had the answer.
The clever woman guessed this and challenged him.
Her question was just a nonsense question, but it did reveal that the monk, in all his
wisdom, was unable to see the obvious.
It really is a paradox.
To learn, we approach the unknown with humility, curiosity, and a certain emptiness.
Thus we learn, but once we have learned, our minds close as we become more sure, less inquisitive,
and even arrogant.
Thus we fail to learn.
This is why it's often the case that lauded experts sometimes fail to truly comprehend
paradigm shifting changes in their field.
They're not paying attention.
Instead, some young and inexpert beginner comes in and sees something new, solves the
problem, or identifies the secret that was there all along.
The expert is good at many things, but he's not good at being simple, being obvious, and
most importantly at saying, I don't know.
The great Krishnamurti once said of a beginner's mind,
There's no movement of learning when there is the acquisition of knowledge.
The two are incompatible.
They are contradictory.
The movement of learning implies a state in which the mind has no previous experience
stored up as knowledge.
The mind that is learning is an innocent mind, whereas the mind that is merely acquiring
knowledge is old, stagnant, corrupted by the past.
An innocent mind perceives instantly.
It's learning all the time without accumulating, and such a mind alone is mature.
The term beginner's mind, or shoshin, originates from Japanese Zen Buddhism and refers to
the idea that as we become more knowledgeable about a subject, we may become close-minded
and limit our ability to learn further.
Shrenryu Shizuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, first popularized this concept in the
West, saying, In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts
there are few.
Some years back, geneticists were transfixed with the idea of sequencing the human genome.
The field had been asking some powerful questions for years.
Most genes tell us about how disease develops.
At the time, Bill Clinton called the human genome project the most important, most wondrous
map ever produced by humankind, an achievement somewhat on par with putting a man on the
moon.
This book of life was much hyped, and when it was complete, it was assumed it would revolutionize
the medical field and change humankind's relationship with disease and mortality forevermore.
That didn't happen.
The project cost almost $3 billion, and ultimately revealed that the human genome had about the
same number of genes as a fruit fly or mouse, and three times less than an onion.
Why was the project such a disappointment?
The answers are complicated, but one aspect is that genetic experts were seeing a range
of questions using a very narrow set of assumptions and prior knowledge, their version of the
diamond sutra, so to speak.
As knowledgeable educated experts, they had begun to ask, What gene causes XYZ disease?
And had stopped asking the question they asked when they were beginners, what causes disease
anyway?
Everyone knows that people are more complex than onions, some of them anyway, and so they
were forced to conclude that there was a lot that their book of life didn't cover.
The project wasn't a failure, but it did highlight certain assumptions, the kind of assumptions
that only very educated people held.
Today, biologists are beginning to concede that the development of disease is complex
and down to many interacting variables, genetics being just one of them.
Of course, any woman selling cake in a market could have told them that in the first place.
Embracing a beginner's mind involves more than just being open-minded.
It's a total stance of receptivity, curiosity, ambiguity, even playfulness.
It's having a fundamental respect for reality as it is, before and outside of what you have
already decided about it.
It is a recognition that, paradoxically, knowledge comes from the willingness to embrace total
ignorance, or that too much knowing can actually make a person profoundly unwise.
Developing a beginner's mind means letting go of preconceived notions and expectations
about outcomes, which reduces the risk of stress and disappointment as a nice side effect.
This is akin to meditation, where one approaches each session with openness, avoiding expectations
and judgments.
Everything that has come before is set aside, in order for the present moment, as it is,
to be encountered in an innocent way, new, raw, and fundamentally unknown.
Observing thoughts without comment or judgment and simply letting them go is a central aspect
of this practice.
The principles of a beginner's mind extend beyond meditation into daily life.
By being open, receptive, and curious, we can tap into deeper creativity, flexibility,
and resilience to face challenges more effectively.
It's about being new in each moment and allowing that moment to be free of whatever came before.
It's the place where learning becomes inevitable.
Here's how a beginner's mind can help you in your practice.
Don't assume.
Sometimes you grasp an idea or concept on an intellectual level, and so you content yourself
with the feeling that you know it.
But do you really?
Often we feel as though we have full comprehension of some skill or piece of knowledge, where
as in reality, we are just familiar with it.
To really test if you've actually learned something, try to explain the idea or concept
to someone else out loud.
This will immediately show you where you're making assumptions and taking mental shortcuts.
Have you ever read a book, thought you understood it, and then when someone asked you what it
was about, you drew a blank and couldn't really say?
It's only human to be a little overconfident in your knowledge, especially if it was hard
one, but beware that this can lead to closed-mindedness.
When you try to explain something to someone else, you'll reveal any conceptual or logical
gaps you might have overlooked.
This is especially true if what you know is more akin to an argument or philosophical
position.
It's only when you test drive the argument in real conversation that you can see whether
it holds its own or not.
Get into the habit of asking what you don't know and what you're not thinking of.
Seek out counter-evidence.
As you gather more and more knowledge, you can inadvertently set up a kind of confirmation
bias for yourself, and a filter bubble where you only permit yourself to encounter material
that agrees with what you already know.
This is why old and established companies can sometimes perform so poorly against relative
newcomers to the industry.
They were so busy doing what they'd always done, they weren't paying attention to what
they weren't doing.
Their competitors were, however.
Again, it's only human to want to seek out knowledge that is consistent with what we
already know.
From the moment we're born, we erect frameworks of meaning onto which we graft every new experience.
And that means that even when we see something new, we are already in the process of determining
how it might be just like something we've seen before.
It's the old, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
When you have a certain framework of knowledge and understanding, you mysteriously seem to
encounter problems and situations that perfectly fit that framework.
Assume that confirmation bias will happen by default, unless you consciously choose
to be aware and challenge it.
One excellent way of doing that is to deliberately seek out information that doesn't correspond
to your existing frameworks or confirm your existing conclusions.
You don't need to wait for someone to argue with you, argue with yourself.
Assume the other side has a good point and argue on their behalf.
When you go online to search for information, search for it as someone who has the opposite
of your beliefs or knowledge-based would, then engage with it with as much intellectual
honesty and integrity as you can.
You may find you were totally right, but chances are you'll learn something new.
Reframe knowledge and skill as something malleable.
Here's our old friend again, the growth mindset.
The best attitude is where you understand that intelligence and knowledge are not special
gifts conferred on a lucky few at birth, but rather something you can actively, purposely
grow.
Intelligence and knowledge can be accrued and potentially lost.
What this means is that one day, when you learn something valuable or bank a skill,
you are not finished.
You cannot sit down and say that from here on out, you know and understand, and that's
that.
If you do so, you shut yourself off from the true source of growth and learning.
In the same vein, don't look at eminent and accomplished experts and assume that they
are wise and superior and all-knowing while you are not and never can be.
True, there is such a thing as talent in this world, but it matters less than you think.
Invite awe.
Little children know nothing, and the world is beautiful for them.
They are astonished by everything.
Any event is a source of wonder and amazement for them, and any path of exploration is taken
to be as worthy as any other.
They are playful, curious, and unassuming.
They do not grab hold of knowledge and understanding as something they own.
They are simply awash in the wonder of being alive in this incredible universe, and their
joy is what's in the front of their mind, not their pride or vanity at having figured
something out.
There's a reason the old professor archetype is usually someone who is jaded and cynical.
This dry, tired person has seen it all and is singularly unimpressed.
They show them a beautiful flower and they say, ah, yes, campanula rotundifolia, very
common.
Instead, cultivate awe, which is a kind of respectful humility in the face of the grandeur
of nature.
Seek out and immerse yourself in wonder and not in the smugness that comes with believing
you've found some conceptual container to keep that wonder in.
Gaze up at the night sky, listen to stirring music that makes language look about a thousand
times too small, or simply play.
There are so many things to learn.
Don't allow most of them to be hidden from you because you were convinced you'd already
mastered the curriculum.
Play from versus toward motivation.
Naturally you reach a point at which playing peters out and you're no longer, shall we
say, in awe of your daily practice session.
Frankly, you're facing a session that proves to be a bit of a grind.
What now?
Beginner's mind is great, but it's not enough on its own.
You also need, drumroll, motivation.
But motivation is one of those words most of us use without really understanding what
we're talking about.
People say, follow your passion, but they also say, just do it.
Which is the right way?
There are two main types of motivation, away from motivation and toward motivation.
Away from motivation involves avoiding something undesirable, while toward motivation revolves
around striving toward a goal.
Both types can be beneficial, but an imbalance can lead to issues.
There are a few questions emerging here.
Is one style more appropriate to the particular task you're doing?
Is one style preferable to you personally?
Is one style more fitting for the stage of development you're at?
We are all different, and we're all motivated by different things and in different ways.
Your motivation style reflects your own character and personality, but also your unique goals
and priorities.
Even then, what motivates you in one sphere or stage of life may no longer motivate you
as you change and develop, or the context changes.
Consider this example.
Jenny is morbidly obese, and doctors have warned her that she won't be able to undergo
the life-saving operation she needs unless she loses drastic amounts of weight.
Without the operation, her chances of survival are slim.
That's one hell of a motivation.
Jenny is experiencing very stark away-from motivation.
Losing weight will allow her to get away from the very real threat of dying.
So because her life depended on it, literally, Jenny lost the weight, she got the operation,
her life continued.
Then she started piling weight back on again.
Somehow losing weight now is harder than it was before.
Her motivation has changed.
Her mean mother says to her, come on, you don't want to end up back there again, do you?
But somehow this focus on the negative just doesn't motivate Jenny any more.
In fact, it stresses and depresses her.
One day Jenny bumps into an old friend at the local swimming pool.
Her friend has been on a massive fitness kick and now looks like a million bucks.
Jenny can't deny it, she's jealous.
All at once she finds herself with a new goal, I want to look that good.
The very next day she signs up at a gym, something she never thought she would do.
Now this is not to say that either of Jenny's motivations are good or bad, rather what works
is liable to change over time.
If we want to be effective, we have to notice what works for us and why.
Toward motivation focuses on positive aspirations, like looking smoke and hot in a bikini.
It would be a mistake to think that this is a better form of motivation, however.
It's not.
Whether you avoid something you don't want or move toward something you do is irrelevant,
if ultimately you're motivating yourself in the way you want to be motivated.
Humans are generally more motivated to move away from negative outcomes than toward positive
ones.
This fear of loss often leads to conservative decision making and a preference for maintaining
the status quo rather than taking risks to advance.
There's nothing really wrong with acting to avoid an unwanted future outcome, and it's
an appropriate motivation when it comes to something like using contraception or taking
out travel insurance.
Plus, before they learn to regulate themselves and act with enough foresight in the future,
the only way their parents can get them to do something is to use this kind of motivation.
However, the only thing this type of motivation can do for you is help you avoid that outcome.
That's it.
In saying what you don't want, you are no closer to identifying or moving toward what
you do want.
Jenny was motivated to lose enough weight so she could get her operation, but no more
than that.
The doctors didn't tell her she needed to be a fitness model, only that she needed to
drop enough weight so that the surgery wouldn't be too risky.
That's the problem with this kind of motivation.
It will motivate you only just enough to avoid the bad thing.
It cannot make you excellent.
Running away from something works, but it fundamentally contradicts the way that natural
talents practice.
Blue practice effectively and achieve a degree of excellence are seldom motivated by their
desire to escape something.
Rather, they have a keen vision of what they're moving toward, and they focus on developing
skills that push them beyond their current abilities.
Their actions are aspirational, hopeful, and future-oriented.
Use a bunch of weight or you'll die, lends itself well to away from motivation.
But it's not the kind of thing that will help you become a concert pianist, pass the
bar exam, or become an accomplished trapeze artist.
For that, you need a vision.
Make your goals positive.
Not positive in content, but grammatically positive, i.e.
State what you don't want, state what you do want.
What are you building, striving for, wanting?
When setting great goals, use positive toward wording instead of negative away from wording.
For example, instead of saying your goal is to not mess up my speech, reframe it to deliver
my speech with confidence.
Those your goals may naturally be more focused on specific problems you have in life.
But even still, try not to focus on the problem and how much you don't like it, but on the
alternative situation you're trying to create.
Mix it up.
Use both forms of motivation in how you achieve your goal.
A little stick, a little carrot.
Away from motivation can serve as an initial catalyst for action, initiating the journey
toward the goal, however, to maintain momentum and prevent stagnation.
A strong toward motivation may come in handy.
Likewise, you might use a future positive orientation to identify the long-range goals
you want, but use more away from motivation in the day to day.
For example, you ultimately want to pass the bar exam because you have ambitions for
your career and the work you want to do in the world, but day to day you might work through
your to-do list with nothing more to motivate you than the fact that your partner will hassle
you if you don't, or you'll feel guilty if you procrastinate.
There may be one or two course modules you hate, and even though they're not really
necessary, you have no choice but to do them, they're part of your broader goal, but the
real reason you do them is basically because that broader goal is essentially held hostage.
Pass these boring modules, or else you'll jeopardize the thing you really care about.
Another example?
You may be genuinely motivated to build a new business, but that doesn't mean you really
care about, say, setting up your taxes or hiring an accountant.
You'll do it, but to be honest, your motivation is mostly wanting to avoid getting in trouble.
Set interim goals.
Break down your main goal into smaller, manageable interim goals.
Each step toward the goal provides a sense of accomplishment and positive reinforcement.
Building interim goals helps maintain motivation and prevents becoming overwhelmed by the larger
end goal.
To really make the concept of interim goals work for you, however, you have to think of
each mini-goal in terms of motivation.
Deliberately pause after each advance you make and do two things.
One, zoom out and check to see how far you've come, where you are now on your map, and whether
you need to make any adjustments.
Two, celebrate.
Really notice that you have moved one notch further to what you want, or even one notch
further away from what you don't want, and let that sink in.
Sometimes the idea of baby steps can feel intimidating.
It's hard enough having one goal now, you're asking me to have twelve?
One important part of using interim goals, however, is to cut down on overwhelm and bootstrap
your motivation onto a goal that's a little closer and easier to see.
Use broad vision to map out a path, then put your head down and tackle those tasks one
at a time.
When you're doing a task, all you have to do is think about that task.
That's all, nothing else.
You don't have to think about the next task in line, or the one after that, just this one.
When you've completed it, pause to check where you are, adjust if necessary, celebrate, then
dive back in and do the next task.
This way you'll get the best of both.
A big picture vision to keep you going, but also a small enough vision to stop you from
getting overwhelmed.
And that's all for today on The Science of Self.
Remember, a beginner's mind allows you to approach challenges and experiences with a
fresh curiosity.
Thanks for joining us today.
If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review and share it with a friend who might also
benefit from cultivating a beginner's mind.
We'll see you next Friday.