Thinking is not living.

“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Note: You can listen to a fascinating conversation with Nietzsche at this link.

Robert Pirsig was one of my favorite authors. He wrote two notable novels: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, which is the best-selling philosophy book of all time in the USA, and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. I’ve read both books several times, struggling to see the world through Pirsig’s IQ of 170 eyes. Try as I may, I never fully grasped his theory of reality. But that may have been his ultimate point, or perhaps his ultimate frustration because, ultimately, there’s nothing to grasp.

Reality is paradoxical and dynamic, everything is relative and shifting. Like love, it defies rational analysis. The harder you try to pin it down, the more you choke the life out of it. But that doesn’t stop human beings from trying. For example, check out this Wikipedia page on “happiness.” It’s the result of thousands of edits by thousands of people, and it doesn’t really tell you anything new or useful.

Today, our intellectual obsession is with the brain. Neurons, synapses, the reptilian brain, the amygdala. Dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. Electrochemical signals, the simulation hypothesis, and proximate bayesian inference. It reminds me of my childhood days working at my dad’s service station, handing him tools and listening to him name each part and its function along the way—camshaft, valves, spark plugs, piston rings—the cracks in his hands tattooed with grease.

My dad loved every minute of it, and that’s great, but it didn’t contribute a damn thing to our family road trips (my brother will vouch for the truth of that statement). And it’s the same with all armchair psychologists and philosophers. We listen to another podcast and read another book and, like my dad, we enjoy the intellectual stimulation. We love to take it apart and figure it out, but it really doesn’t do much to enhance our presence in the world.

We imagine otherwise.

We believe it will lead to insights, and then we’ll be able to take action and really live. It’s a seductive illusion. To our minds, it actually feels like living. It’s like playing air guitar with our favorite music blaring. We get an emotional fix and then move on—to another book, another podcast, another talking head, to more thinking. A risk-free, endless debate with ourselves. A subconscious search for reasons, examples and validation to break out of our routines and come alive. To get on a live stage, plug into an amp and play our aching hearts out!

I’ve spent decades wrestling with this particular lesson. My office is overflowing with notes and books and, despite the mental clutter, the answer has finally become clear. Thinking is not living. Yes, it feels strangely similar and that’s the problem. Because that feeling is what has us hooked… on thinking.

Stop fixating on your vehicle, on the mechanics, on your thoughts. It’s time to lower the lift, leave the safe and comforting garage of your mind, and go for a ride! Lower the windows, take a deep, life-affirming breath, step on the accelerator and experience the beauty and mystery of existence!

It doesn’t last forever.

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Stay passionate!