A Story
As children, we were told a story about a turtle and a rabbit.
They challenged each other to a race.
This seemed odd since the turtle moved slowly and the rabbit moved fast.
How could they race?
The turtle moved deliberately in a straight line with consistency and a steady pace and constant focus. The ground below him was rich with detail and pattern. He almost saw into the earth, it seemed with the description he gave.
The rabbit on the other hand moved fast in many directions, without particular focus, stopping and restarting multiple times. He moved across a wider territory and saw so much - but without detail or depth.
To our surprise they both finished the race at the same moment.
We always felt like both of them, and wondered if they ever shared their different experiences and what the benefits might have been. Could both be ONE?
Is it possible to go fast in slow motion?
Is it possible to go deep and wide simultaneously?
please write your responses below...
Fast is slow motion is a definite reality. In my experience, it's a time of intense hyper focus, flow as others would call it. Granted, ironically enough, my ADD is both the cause for my inability as well as my hyper focus. It's an extreme that is difficult to manage. Hyper focus, though, is like crack. It's this place where you want to keep going and going. Time is irrelevant, you are so consumed with your work or task, the rest of the world stops. It really is an incredible feeling. However, I have yet to be able to go deep as well as wide, simultaneously. It's not that it is impossible, but in the form of hyper focus that I experience, the one task is your world; it's as if you have blinders on. When I am not in that level of focus, I am very wide. Too wide. Scattered would be more fitting. Like the path of shrapnel from an explosion. The ability to go deep and wide couple potentially be the greatest experience in the world, the ecstasy of concentration.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to go both deep and wide, however, at the same time, i am not sure...
ReplyDeleteThis was something that came up continuously during my studies in Japan. The Sensei taught us that Tea Ceremony was a life long learning process in which one had to go both deep and wide, the diagram which they drew always looked like an inverted pyramid. The beginner begun at the top. As one went deeper into the art of tea ceremony and its associated way of life specialization was inevitable, and welcomed. At the same time everyone new everything about "the basics" How to sit, stand, walk and talk within the tearoom, along with the various formal procedures for making tea and serving it to a guest. On this level the range of knowledge is incredibly wide and varied. However there may only be a couple of elders within Japan who have truly mastered the art of preparing the more esoteric procedures, one being the shaping of ash within the hearth during certain circumstances. Mastery which has taken that individual a lifetime to obtain.
One other thought...
I like the Oil and Mineral exploration model. One which I think pertains to our current role as students. The territory of our chosen field of architecture, is as you know vast. We as students are explorers within this territory looking for pockets of valuable resources. We do this by taking core samples within the field. After analyzing these samples (our education) we are then able to broaden our knowledge within a certain area far below the surface of the profession. The diagram therefor looks like an inverted T.
I think both are possible and both are necessary. However, I don't think it is possible for both at the same time. Time is our constraint. Our choice is how to negotiate with time as our limitation.
ReplyDelete