Thousands of these dimensions exist running across and alongside each other. Sometimes a big, clear opposition can contain within it another, subtler one, the operation of which may slip by unnoticed. Saying 'yes' versus saying 'no' to things holds within it the dimension which stretches between Adventure (by which I mean the attitude of enthusiasm for new opportunities and experiences) and Focus (which, as Steve Jobs famously said, is about saying 'No').
Recognising that direct tension exists between Focus and Adventure isn't easy, because so many adventure stories feature a rugged and focused hero who appears to collapse the dimension down to a single point. This (generally male) character is not distracted by physical discomfort, not disheartened by difficulty and remains fixed in his purpose. He is supremely focused on achieving his aims and we admire him for it.
Confusingly he seems terribly adventurous as he penetrates jungles, navigates oceans, and scales mountains, but of course he is not. He has adventures, sure, but they serve to conceal from the reader the relative poverty of his inner life, which is hyper-focused on his objective (finding treasure, escaping from baddies, you know the kind of thing). In the jungle our hero doesn't really notice the plants, except as obstacles, or sources of food, shelter or poison, and on the ocean he doesn't think about the life in the waters below, unless one of them sends up waving tentacles to pluck him from his raft.
Adventure stories follow our hero's focus, because focus provides a plot line, onto which can be threaded a bunch of adventurous exploits. The writer and the reader both savour this adventurous window-dressing more fully than our hero. We mull over his escape from the giant octopus when it's over, but he's busy tackling the next part of his 'adventure'. How could you even tell a story about someone who is not focused on an aim, who explores any opportunities which come their way? Their plot is continually being drawn off in tangents. It's all trailers and no movie.
I like watching trailers, but I have experience of seeing movies which helps me imagine the kind of experience the trailer is trailing. If you've never seen a movie, a trailer can't tell you what it's like, to park your body in the dark for 100 minutes while your mind visits a bright imaginary world.
We love adventure, we intrinsically say 'yes' to new things. We are curious, exploring monkeys and we are drawn to what we get offered by adverts, pinterest, facebook. It's addictive - you get a little imaginative rush from each new idea. I spend probably too much time pinning things that inspire me - new techniques to try, new ideas to mull over, new places I might explore. But although Adventure beckons, it's only a starting point. To actually have the adventure takes focus.
If I'm going to decoupage that chair, I need to stop pinning, gather materials and devote several hours to the project, over a period of a few days, until it's finished. Otherwise I just have a big mess. Or an item on a To Do list which never gets done. More often than not, I stay where I am, comfortably imagining trailers of a life I'm not actually living.
Recognising that direct tension exists between Focus and Adventure isn't easy, because so many adventure stories feature a rugged and focused hero who appears to collapse the dimension down to a single point. This (generally male) character is not distracted by physical discomfort, not disheartened by difficulty and remains fixed in his purpose. He is supremely focused on achieving his aims and we admire him for it.
Confusingly he seems terribly adventurous as he penetrates jungles, navigates oceans, and scales mountains, but of course he is not. He has adventures, sure, but they serve to conceal from the reader the relative poverty of his inner life, which is hyper-focused on his objective (finding treasure, escaping from baddies, you know the kind of thing). In the jungle our hero doesn't really notice the plants, except as obstacles, or sources of food, shelter or poison, and on the ocean he doesn't think about the life in the waters below, unless one of them sends up waving tentacles to pluck him from his raft.
Adventure stories follow our hero's focus, because focus provides a plot line, onto which can be threaded a bunch of adventurous exploits. The writer and the reader both savour this adventurous window-dressing more fully than our hero. We mull over his escape from the giant octopus when it's over, but he's busy tackling the next part of his 'adventure'. How could you even tell a story about someone who is not focused on an aim, who explores any opportunities which come their way? Their plot is continually being drawn off in tangents. It's all trailers and no movie.
I like watching trailers, but I have experience of seeing movies which helps me imagine the kind of experience the trailer is trailing. If you've never seen a movie, a trailer can't tell you what it's like, to park your body in the dark for 100 minutes while your mind visits a bright imaginary world.
We love adventure, we intrinsically say 'yes' to new things. We are curious, exploring monkeys and we are drawn to what we get offered by adverts, pinterest, facebook. It's addictive - you get a little imaginative rush from each new idea. I spend probably too much time pinning things that inspire me - new techniques to try, new ideas to mull over, new places I might explore. But although Adventure beckons, it's only a starting point. To actually have the adventure takes focus.
If I'm going to decoupage that chair, I need to stop pinning, gather materials and devote several hours to the project, over a period of a few days, until it's finished. Otherwise I just have a big mess. Or an item on a To Do list which never gets done. More often than not, I stay where I am, comfortably imagining trailers of a life I'm not actually living.
So, now I know that 'saying yes to life' is not actually an absolute good. Indeed, it's not even possible. There's too much life: saying yes to any of it involves a massive amount of saying no, something which never makes it into the fancy quote jpegs. But Focus-No is the necessary setting for the gem of Adventure-Yes, and if we neglect it the meaning of our adventures falls away.
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