The spiritual philosopher, Rupert Spira, spoke on Simon Mundie’s podcast, A New Way of Being, about how Roger Federer could play with almost divine grace and sublime creativity because he was able to silence his mind-chatter and access our limitless shared intelligence. You will have heard this idea spoken about in other contexts as being in flow, being in the zone, or simply as peak performance. All these speak to the same state of being, but Spira’s description goes further than most in that his actually explains where such seemingly out-of-this-world genius comes from.
No sport psychologist can give you the recipe for getting into flow state. Nor can they explain with any clarity why performing at our very best feels utterly effortless. Spira’s explanation of all this is the most convincing I have heard. In fact, the first time I heard it, it resonated so much with my own experience of those magical moments of being in the zone, that I started on a deep dive into the form of philosophy that he was discussing at the time – nondualism. That was 3 years ago, and I am even more interested in it now than I was back then.
So, if there is such a thing as universal intelligence that can give us near superhuman creativity, peace, intuition, joy (and all the things people report as experiencing when they are in flow), why don’t we have access to it all day, every day? As with many things, Albert Einstein points to the answer when he said:
We humans have become so enamoured by our cognitive abilities that we think they are the highest - and sometimes the only – form of understanding the world around us. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, our addiction to thinking is the cause of so much suffering and inhumanity in the world, and yet most people cannot even fathom what the alternative would be.
The fact is that thinking operates like a dam that stops universal mind (or universal intelligence/consciousness) from flowing through us.
When we quiet the rational, thinking mind, it opens the flood gates and allows this intelligence to inhabit and guide us.
Thanks to my good friend, Darragh Power, for bringing this interplay to visual life and help people envisage what I am talking about.
When you are struggling with a problem, or dealing with a stressful situation, most likely you will ruminate on it, consider it from all angles, try and wrangle it into submission or solution. This only serves to keep us trapped in the tiny, cramped space of our narrow minds. If you find the space to step away, let the mental dust settle, and allow pause to your thinking, then you are opening a connection to an altogether different dimension of wisdom. You will find that solutions appear, as if from the depths of your subconscious. This is the source of creativity and genius, but it has nothing to do with your brain or you, personally. When you begin to operate more from a place of peace and trust that the world is as it should be, and less from anxiously grapple towards figuring out your issues one after the next, you start to notice that you actually have everything you need already in you. Much like the athlete who, having trained themselves relentlessly, let’s go of all striving when it comes time to perform and allows what will be to be.
We have become indoctrinated to think that struggle against what is (i.e. perpetual rumination and problem-solving) is noble and effective, whereas sitting quietly and letting the tribulations of life flow over and round you without latching on is new age nonsense. That is an absolute madness of our current predicament as a species.
The opposite is closer to the truth. The constant thinking is hindering us in becoming the best, most authentic versions of ourselves. We should revere the sacred gift of the intuitive mind far more and be vigilant to ensure we balance far better our inner life with both cognitive thought and moments or activities where we connect to purely being in the world, as opposed to interpreting it.
Sport, art, dance, meditation, even washing the dishes can provide us those spaces if we approach them intentionally. As of recently I have been playing with a simple practice that I have called Re-Minding, which I integrate fairly seamlessly in my daily life.
What is your way of opening to the flow of our collective intelligence?
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If you would like to explore more of this way of being, then get in touch.
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