Trying Not to Try | Ted Slingerland | Talks at Google
This is the third in a series of Talks at Google by current and former fellows of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University. Previous CASBS speakers appearing in the Talks at Google program include Rose McDermott and Eric Klinenberg. Learn more about CASBS at casbs.stanford.edu and follow @CASBSStanford.
Edward Slingerland was a 2015-16 CASBS fellow. He is professor of Asian studies and Canada Research Chair in Chinese Thought and Embodied Cognition at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he also holds adjunct appointments in philosophy and psychology. In February 2017 he was named a UBC Distinguished University Scholar, recognizing distinction in research, teaching, and learning.
Slingerland’s talk is on “Creativity, Trust and the Paradox of Spontaneity,” which draws significantly from his 2014 book Trying not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science and the Power of Spontaneity. It was named by The Guardian as a Best Book of 2014 and chosen by Brain Pickings as Best Book on Psychology/Philosophy for that year. His other books include Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China (2003), What Science Offers the Humanities: Integrating Body & Culture (2008), and the co-edited volume Creating Consilience: Integrating the Sciences and the Humanities (2011).
With the paradox of wu-wei, Chinese thinkers anticipated aspects of modern neuroscience more than two millennia ago. Slingerland discusses wu-wei’s contemporary relevance to creativity, trust, virtue, and the future of human cooperation. Watch as he walks you through his fascinating, ambitious research about body & mind, science & instinct, and how historical knowledge can benefit our present and future in very practical ways.
Пікірлер: 67
This reminds me of Douglas Adam's theory in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that the secret to flying is being able to throw your self at the ground and miss.
@MrMetonicus
2 жыл бұрын
That's not a theory.
The idea that wuwei is the path towards Te, the personal power is a valuable insight for me.Thanks.
I found this very interesting. Read Slingerland's book a few years ago and its excellent. In this talk, he encapsulates a wealth of information covered in the book.
@marklewen9384
3 жыл бұрын
I graduated high school with Ted in 1986. Bright,bright guy..
Meditation can help you to harmonize system 1 and 2
I thought the last question was very good! In my opinion he poorly answered it. Not trying hard and not trying are not the same thing. Example: you are learning how to swim and you are a novice. I would still say Wu Wei is correct: don’t try too hard. Your job is to simply be there and execute. Swim and swim as long as you can and as frequently as you can. But while you are swimming, you don’t wanna be thinking of every little detail of what you are doing. That’s trying too hard. Just swim. Try crawl, brass, swimming on your back, butterfly, try everything. Try swimming fast and see. Swim slow and see. The point is, focus on your actions and your body, not thinking.
@berzubirze
2 жыл бұрын
I learned to swim 2years ago, and it is not just trying to swim and enjoying. Every time you FOCUS on 1 little detail. If you don't focus, you can learn wrong technic and at the end you will have to THINK about correcting it, so at the beginning it is better to THINK and focus to learn, that afterwards you can just enjoy your craft ;)
Excellent presentation and lots of things to ponder from hearing this.
34:18 Doesn't the toolbox analogy just mean Mengzi is correct about the complex balance between Wei and Wu Wei?
Amazing Q&A session
Excellent talk … thanks !
Wonderful talk! Reminds me of Viktor Frankl's Paradoxical Intention.
This is already an ancient old philosophy of the Wuwei just being rewritten
@bingvillamor5810
2 жыл бұрын
The KZread video of the Art of Living Effortlessly by Jason Gregory is a best better version of this talk
Great talk man ❤
so many sports kill this. my son learned to skate and is learning ice hockey simply by doing. i put him into formal lacrosse lessons and he turned off and shut down by week two. he is four. he spent hours upon hours on our outdoor shinny rink with a puck and spent ten minutes on a lacrosse rink with a coach ramming lessons dowm his throat.
@karthikraghunathan4742
3 жыл бұрын
once you realise this, it's hard to miss that almost EVERY social organisation kills the inner ... life is hard
9:00 start
This whole thing presumes that individuals actually exist, but they don't. There is no me, no you, no separate anything. All separation is an illusion. Spontaneity is inescapable, because the one infinite field of reality is inescapable.
Is his name Edward or Ted? Super confused
Anybody how to spell the German word he mentioned, cheers
@MN-yb8un
5 жыл бұрын
Atomwaffensperrvertrag
@StephenGauger
4 жыл бұрын
Schadenfreude-enjoying the misfortune of others
Um, it's Ed, not Ted. Great job.
“People prefer evil spontaneity over no spontaneity.” Hmm... do you want dictators? Because that’s how you get dictators!
@Penthox
3 жыл бұрын
I hope you’re not refeering to trump although he did kind of win on that premise. But he’s clearly not a dictator. I think you could view it as authenticity over non authenticity. Angry resentful leaders have come into power because they would be able to harvest the energies of collective. But that can be done for better or for worse. You could argue that Jesus could do the same because of his authentic nature. What people dont like is politicans that you can tell are personas that arent genuine or authentic, Just mouthpieces of ideology or saying whatever gets them the votes.
@karthikraghunathan4742
7 ай бұрын
the process starts with 'doing the right thing' ,which is given to us, until all spontaneity
Follow the breath.
💘
Technology is not helping our lives.. Says the man talking at Google
Is this technically a Ted talk?
@NIKITKOKIS
5 жыл бұрын
Wait, his name is Edward
@charlesmorris3888
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, but it’s not a TED Talk.
@lani0
3 жыл бұрын
It's an Ed talk
@marklewen9384
3 жыл бұрын
@@NIKITKOKIS I went to High school with him ..EVERYONE called him TED.
@NIKITKOKIS
3 жыл бұрын
@@marklewen9384 amazing
Toddlers are not a model of how we want to behave. Ha, ha, ha!
Yep, watching my hives fade day after day until they completely vanished was such a relief, I went with what I pointed out and within the first 10 days or so the urticaria was barely visible! I just go'ogled the latest by Shane Zormander and after 20 days my skin has never been healthier!
Thats a ted talk
With all due respect, as the chuang tzu say: WEI WU WEI(try not to try)- that is hypocrisy. He does spourt though a pue WU-WEI.
So they can go to the best high school So they can pop ritalin and get into the best college Lol 😂
good talk bad audio
Was that thing about "evil" spontaneity of Trump necessary?? ....Why?
@Frazer777
4 жыл бұрын
Maybe he had to satisfy his employers agenda...
@markbrooks2172
4 жыл бұрын
It was his spontaneity.
@ryokan9120
2 жыл бұрын
I've never known an American president not to have evil spontaneity. Trump was no better or worse than the rest of them.
Well that was all very interesting until the comment about Trump. Unnecessary, personal bias... I'd go as far to say lacking in wu wei as he had obviously tried to cram that point in somewhere somehow in an attempt to fool the audience. Bit like Clinton... .
@jjjjgff7489
2 жыл бұрын
Don't cry He didn't seem biased. Clinton had no charisma lol it was a good comparison
Lost credible after giving his opinion.
@JaysonT1
3 жыл бұрын
I wouldn't go that far but, yes. COMPLETELY unnecessary.
@jjjjgff7489
2 жыл бұрын
Lol with a laugh Lighten up
So they can go to the best high school So they can pop ritalin and get into the best college Lol 😂