Laotze's Dialogues

Author: Laotze De Abreu

  • Soundness of mind inspired by shoes

    We overlook shoes, but they keep us from the unknown hardships of our surroundings, from the unexpected.

    When we stop to consider their function, we can’t help but wonder, where are the shoes for our minds?

    The menace such a garment will shield us from doesn’t scratch at our skin nor cause blisters. The threats are more subtle, which makes them all the more perilous.

    Seemingly mundane object

    We put them on daily without much thinking, and we take them for granted. However, shoes are a way to explore the world without worrying about all the difficulties that lie ahead.

    The antagonist does not matter; spikes, rocks, animals, mud, sand, or water. We are going to be well-protected.

    What madness would be pretending to break every stone, flattening every hill, drying every puddle, to take a stroll.

    What if we apply the concept of a shoe to more abstract foes?

    Mental shoes

    The mind has its perils.

    Fear, anxiety, anger, resentment, rumination, desires, traps naturally created by the world, and the ones we are the very authors of.

    If flattening every hill sounded mad, what could we make of extinguishing every desire? Isn’t it foolish to never feel fright?

    Our answer lies in shoes. Instead of protection from physical harm, mental shoes would make sure that whatever we happen to come across, we surmount it.

    An admirable mind

    The practical equivalent of mental shoes would be a sound mind.

    By no means will such a mind be exempt from defeat, but it is resilient.

    It is prone to sickness, but it is always on the lookout for a cure.

    When drowning, it learns to swim by necessity.

    It will burn alive, but it comes back from the ashes.

    When lost, it knows how to find itself.

    Despite any puddle, hill, rock, or spike, it adapts. We must develop this soundness. Our predictions are as concise as our claims as to where lightning will strike next. We can’t be certain, nor do we have to. The only way is to equip ourselves and learn as we go.

    Being our designers and tailors

    Each of us has a different nature, blessings, and curses.

    To live, we will need different traits. Some of us will have to toughen up, others to become soft. As we lack the option to buy a brand new mind, we will have to be designers of our own, the ones who make the stitches, the ones who say if it’s a right or wrong fit.

    We will draw inspiration from authors, films, people, experiences, stories, and anything else we find meaningful. We have our lifetime to pull ideas from and grow.

    Ultimately, the responsibility of being well-equipped and up to the challenge lies with us.

  • Falling in love with mistakes

    I’d like us to discuss mistakes, which we may regard as common, but also as stepping stones on our path to achieving our goals.

    However, what about those moments when the perceived danger of failing is paralyzing and renders our actions dissonant?

    On those occasions, I admit it is difficult to conceive the idea of falling in love with them.

    Then I’m going to examine our options, facing our tendency toward errors, or ignoring it—the choice, as much as the consequences are ours. As important as such a topic is, we should consider being kinder toward ourselves the times things produce an unintentional result.

    I believe you would agree if I say that errors are necessary, that they represent the foundation of our progress, the building blocks that draw us closer to perfection, even if it is only an ideal.

    So, we learn that if we use too much heat, we will burn the meat; too much water on plants would drown them, too little and they would wither.

    We adjust whatever we happen to be doing.

    Granting we are on the same page regarding errors, I find it troubling that we may not apply such ideas when it comes to things that we care about.

    We may hide them, bury them, try to make them disappear. Like an awful wound, we flinch instinctively at the mere thought of anything touching the cut.

    Then I ask myself, how are we supposed to learn?

    We have options.

    We could avoid such pain by any preferred means, but we would risk falling into the same mistakes again and missing all its beauty when we turn our backs.

    In trying to make the lurking shadows disappear, we would extinguish the light, and everything would be darkness.

    Another option is to have courage. The valor to accept that what is done is done, that there is no way we could have done it differently, and with such a nagging reality accept our proness to mistakes.

    I know that what we have in our hands is a matter of great importance; what we feel when we fail is proof enough of that. But I’d like us to explore the possibility that we may not have to be that severe.

    What if we approach this more like a playground, than a battlefield?

    When thrust with an imaginary sword, grunt, go to the ground, and make your best performance. When the game is off, you can get up unharmed. I know that it may seem like a real wound, but the more we practice the easier it gets to perform, and the less scary to be wrong.

    The ideal we should strive for would be falling in love with our errors.

    They are the very reason for our growth, someday they will be the source of laughter and joy, a way to give an example to someone very dear to us, they may take us to places we never imagined, and they may yield results we never conceived.

    The mistakes, and more importantly what we do with them, are part of who we are. Thus, I’d like us to get to work.

    Do it.

    Do it more.

    Do it better.

    Fail.

    Fail better.

  • The subtle restrictions we seldom think of

    We seldom think about all the restrictions we live with.

    “How does one obtain such freedom?” was the inquiry that has persisted since I happened to come across Aurora’s video “Cure for Me“.

    What stands out is the remarkable display of unrestricted personality; the dance, masks, use of color, especially the eccentric mannerisms.

    There is certain lightness in her being, therefore the eagerness to comprehend thoroughly the source.

    How much would we benefit from more expression, from the abolition of constraints we are unaware of, our crafts by fresh and bold perspectives? However, would we be better without any weight?

    Answering the question

    The lightness we seek to grasp is not concerned with the imitation of a flashy and extravagant personality, but with finding our unique self.

    Contrary to coating ourselves with more, such expressiveness will come from stripping ourselves from the restrictions built by time, the world, memories, choices, experiences, and ourselves.

    Our role should be that of a stone sculptor rather than a painter. Instead of taking a blank canvas and applying color after color, we must chisel and shape the rock according to the vision we have.

    Letting go, rather than holding on.

    Where do we end, and the rest begin?

    In this act of unloading, we encounter a peculiar question.

    How do we know the part of the stone that we should carve?

    What part of ourselves is ‘authentic’?

    What must we remove?

    What must remain?

    Restrictions

    Consider restrictions as the glass that provides shape and structure to water. They incline us toward a particular behavior and way of being.

    Some are given, others self-imposed.

    Some conventions are favorable, others detrimental.

    The latter may make us withered and negate the space for ideas to thrive. Constraints affect our results, in the same way a tree would bend its form if encountered with an obstacle while growing.

    Here is when boldness is necessary because restrictions are not set in stone. We need to defy established ideas and concepts. The amount of audacity is something we must learn to adjust.

    However, being chained up would prove as impractical as being so light that we can’t walk on the floor.

    Pick wisely your restrictions

    We are sculptors, by no means do we want to be left with a bunch of debris, nor with a solid and unrefined block of stone.

    We, as much as our crafts, can relish the fresh perspectives and unheard-of ideas, likewise, we can find useful the order, procedures, structures, and conventions.

    We all need to agree on some things;

    letters to convey words,

    words for paragraphs,

    paragraphs for essays,

    and essays to convey ideas,

    even if such a task may prove harder than it seems despite agreeing on meaning.

    Some restrictions will enhance, rather than diminish, as long as we know what we desire. Therefore, renewing our goals and clear judgment play a crucial aspect in the matter.

    Our intuition, taste, standards, experiences, and choices are examples of elements that give shape to what we do, and make it unique.

    However, their application, or absence, should be a deliberate decision.

    Consider the shape you want to create

    You have in front of you a stone block.

    Would you leave it intact, raw, and natural?

    Would it serve better as debris for construction material?

    Should we leap and decide to unveil a shape out of it?

    As happens with ourselves, our craft, and such block, our intent is what represents a compass in a sea of endless options.

    We must ponder on the existence of our restrictions, choices, memories, experiences, and environment. Once we are conscious of their presence, of their weight, it falls into our reach

    to defy them,

    to allow them,

    to play with them to obtain a shape and charm we envisioned in our mind,

    and then obtain lightness.