Edward Slingerland - Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity

Edward Slingerland is one of the worlds leading comparative philosophers and the foremost advocate of bridging the gulf between cognitive science and the humanities. In Trying Not to Try, he reminds us that philosophy truly is a way of life, that classical Chinese philosophy offers deep insights into human flourishing, and that this classical Chinese wisdom anticipates in compelling ways what the best contemporary cognitive science teaches. This is a landmark bookclear, sparkling, and humane.

Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy at Duke University and author of The Bodhisattvas Brain

A fascinating read. With state-of-the art science and interesting stories, Slingerland provides key insights from the East and West for achieving happiness and well-being.

Sian Beilock, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and author of Choke

Through a combination of hard science and ancient philosophy, Trying Not to Try has convinced me that my usual approach to lifesmashing through walls and grinding out painful victoriesisnt all its cracked up to be. Sometimes trying hard is overrated. Slingerland has written a charming, intellectually rigorous book that can help all of us improve our lives.

Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal

Slingerlands book exemplifies the very principles it elucidates. Although the material is sophisticated, we effortlessly glide through a highly original integration of ancient wisdom and modern science toward a deep understanding of how one can simultaneously set a course in life and live spontaneously.

Jonathan Schooler, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara

This wonderful book not only shows us how to live a more satisfying life, it helps explain why social life is even possible: spontaneity, Slingerland argues, is the key to trust and, ultimately, the evolution of cooperation. A thought-provoking book by a truly gifted writer.

Harvey Whitehouse, Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford

I tried hard to avoid reading this bookjust too much to do. But I lost control, dipped in, and was swept along by apparently effortless prose describing the contrast between Confucianism and Taoism, and its relevance to our modern lives, including the good evolutionary reasons why commitment is usually more successful than manipulation. This is the perfect book club book.

Randolph Nesse, Arizona State University Center for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health; author of Why We Get Sick

A remarkable time-traveling synthesis that shows how classic Chinese philosophers anticipated contemporary brain science and also looked beyond it, offering sage advice about how to live lives that flow. We meet Confucius, Daoists, the first Zen master, a sixth-century hippie, and other ancient Eastern educators, whose ideas have never been rendered more relevant to our times.

Jesse Prinz, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Committee for Interdisciplinary Science Studies at the City University of New York

Copyright 2014 by Edward Slingerland

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Sports Illustrated for permission to reprint How It Feels To Be on Fire edited by Kostya Kennedy, February 21, 2005. Copyright 2005 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Sports Illustrated.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Slingerland, Edward G. (Edward Gilman)
Trying not to try : the art and science of spontaneity / Edward Slingerland.
First Edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Philosophy, Chinese. 2. Spontaneity (Philosophy). 3. Nothing (Philosophy).
4. Struggle. I. Title.
B126.S6453 2014
181.11dc23

2013023431

ISBN 978-0-7704-3761-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-7704-3762-6

Jacket design by Oliver Munday

v3.1

T HERE IS A WONDERFUL GAME AT MY LOCAL SCIENCE MUSEUM called Mindball. Two players sit at opposite ends of a long table. Each wears a headband equipped with electrodes, designed to pick up general patterns of electrical activity on the surface of the brain. Between the players is a metal ball. The goal is to mentally push this ball all the way to the other end of the table, and the player who does so first wins. The motive forcemeasured by each players electrodes, and conveyed to the ball by a magnet hidden underneath the tableis the combination of alpha and theta waves produced by the brain when its relaxed: the more alpha and theta waves you produce, the more force you mentally exert on the ball. Essentially, Mindball is a contest of who can be the most calm. Its fun to watch. The players visibly struggle to relax, closing their eyes, breathing deeply, adopting vaguely yogic postures. The panic they begin to feel as the ball approaches their end of the table is usually balanced out by the overeagerness of their opponent, both players alternately losing their cool as the big metal ball rolls back and forth. You couldnt wish for a better, more condensed illustration of how difficult it is to try not to try.

In our culture, the benefit of not trying too hardof going with the flow or being in the zonehas long been appreciated by artists. The jazz great Charlie Parker is said to have advised aspiring musicians, Dont play the saxophone. Let it play you. This same openness is also crucial in acting and other performing arts, which fundamentally rely on spontaneity and seemingly effortless responsiveness. A stand-up comedian who is not in the zone is not funny, and an actor who is not fully inhabiting his or her role comes across as wooden and fake. Explaining how to prepare for a role, the actor Michael Caine cautions that simply memorizing the script and trying to act it out step by step will never work; when it comes time for your line, the only way to bring it off authentically is to not try to remember it. You must be able to stand there not thinking of that line. You take it off the other actors face. He is presumably new-minting the dialogue as if he himself just thought of it by listening and watching, as if it were all new to him, too. Otherwise, for your next line, youre not listening and not free to respond naturally, to act spontaneously.