“Looking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct and separate, and piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of that thing”
–Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk
As Managers one learns well to tackle the nitty-gritty of the physical world – what gets measured gets done, you need to strike the right balance on efficiency and effectiveness and the cost of achieving it. Having the right motivations tools including the ‘carrot-and-the stick’ to drive desired outcomes, learn the ability to multitask balancing urgency v/s expediency, ownership v/s delegation.
The dualism is at the heart of the daily grind. You also learn to appreciate F Scott Fitzgerald when he said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” Add to it the consistent ability to learn and adapt to the ever-changing world and looks like you have brought home the bacon.
And yet sometimes success becomes boring and there is a nagging doubt in your mind about your life’s priorities. You don’t offer worry about it – well mostly because you do not have enough time to leave your work and dawdle on metaphysics. But it does ring a bell when one hears about climbing the ladder well but only it being mounted to the wrong wall. Once you reach that zone and have questions that linger, then doing a Vipassanā course may work for you.
At least you should know the essentials – so imagine you leave everything behind to arrive at a camp for 10 days.You follow the simple regimen of getting up early in the morning, doing breathing exercises and meditation, maintaining a silence from your fellow participants, having regular but simple vegetarian meals, getting enough sleep and abstaining from all the vices you can think of. So it goes beyond doing a detox and I am not meaning to be facetious in simplifying the structure.
It can do wonders based on your temperament and involvement. It is possibly the most personal of your learning experiences and thankfully no one can grade and award your medals of excellence Try it out if you can and sort out yourself as a person who knows his mind and priorities.
And then possibly you may smile and love my final quote by Don Marquis that has become the credo of my life – “Ours is a world where people don’t know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it.”
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A Writer's Notebook. 