On Meeting Life's Challenges

By Reza Ganjavi

It's important not to meet challenges of life as a problem otherwise the habits associated with solving problems kick in, and prevent a person from meeting the challenge directly.

Humans are educated to be problem solvers. Since an early age life is turned into a problem that changes color into geometry, chemistry, trigonometry, etc., and then love itself becomes a problem as teenage blues, and so on. Most people get used to being in a state of having problems because they're conditioned to solve problems and when there is no problem they make one in order to solve it.

Looking at this from another angle, the human brain is used to being in a state of having problems because of millennia of misery in human history -- world wars, famines, natural disasters, brutalities of dictatorships, etc... So a person is born with a brain that’s inheriting all that.

I disagree with John Locke’s idea of a "blank tablet” (tabula rasa -- a concept that dates back to Aristotle -- that a person is born with a blank mind or “white paper” as Locke says in his book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), and all knowledge is empirical, or a posteriori, epistemologically speaking.

It seems that when a person is born the brain inherits what makes up the human consciousness and all its history, at least in the form of morphic resonance to use Dr. Rupert Sheldrake’s concept, and certain habits (conditionings), one of which seems to be that it is very easy for the brain to fall into a state of having a problem. Another one, related to that, is the habit of the human brain falling in a state of sorrow.

Now meeting challenges in life require a state of mind which is fresh and free because that’s when the mind is most intelligent. Reflecting back on my life as an IT Project Manager, a Business Analyst, Solution Architect, and Software Engineer, my job was mainly problem-solving (and in the case of the PM role, largely facilitating communications).

For example, I’d go to a bank which had reports coded years before that would take 30 minutes to run – and they wanted it to run faster (I rewrote the sorting algorithm and it ended up running in 30 seconds instead). Or I’d have to analyze a business process that was inefficient and “re-engineer” it. Or I’d have to architect a solution to a complex problem. Or manage a team of global resources in 10 different locations and 5 different time zones.

Central to all these was understanding what is, to use the terms the great philosopher J. Krishnamurti uses. To understand a challenge the brain cannot be in a state of having a problem. A “problemed brain” is paralyzed.

Simplicity is a virtue – the most complex problems require a simplistic approach – and by the same token if a simple problem is approached with a complex mindset it becomes complex. So in project management, I’d have to always remind highly complex technical folks to Keep It Simple.

Once in a hairdresser shop in Los Angeles the ladies were chit-chatting and bad-mouthing someone for being simple (vs. supposedly sophisticated). In my book, simplicity is good. Having a mind which can be very quiet yet highly alert and not burdened in a state of having problems, is a virtue.

Another pitfall is that people often don’t go heads on to a problem – they keep dodging it, taking detours, tolerating it, going near it but never straight into its eyes. Or in the words of William J. Locke: "I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things."

In today’s world people’s brains are dominated by the process of thought – which has its right place – but it often creeps into areas it doesn’t belong – like love – and a person ends up being confused and after some years and different relationships and hurts and so on, turns into a psychological monster.

Thought in itself is limited because it’s based on experience and it’s a material process –and experience and matter are always limited – and therefore has a divisive property which is very useful in the development of science for example and in practical technological and mechanical aspects of life. But if that process is applied psychologically and to other challenges of life, it creates conflict – like using a hair brush to brush teeth! I’ve written about this in the other chapters. Also, Jiddu Krishnamurti brilliantly explores this topic in many of his books.

So a wonderful and important learning in life is for a person to learn the limitations of the process of thinking by becoming aware of it. We can use the terms “self-awareness” or “self-knowledge” but it’s very important not to fall into the historical habit of thinking of “self” as a separate entity. Psychologically the self is nothing but a bundle of memories. And the observer is the observed, i.e., when you're jealous for example, you are jealousy.

Also, consciousness is its content. So it's important to look at what one is without separating the seer from the seen: there's just seeing. And that seeing has tremendous power. I've written this extensively elsewhere. The art of observation with a quiet mind is the key to change. Change comes naturally from seeing what one is and not moving away from it by going into what one should be. In that moving from what is to what should be there's conflict, friction, and loss of energy which is required for change -- vs. -- seeing what is and that very understanding bringing its own change.

These concepts are meaningless unless tested in daily life and directly seen. So what I’m saying here are just pointers/suggestions and not a doctrine.

Back to the dream I had before waking up – talking with a friend about meeting the challenges of life with a fresh mind – this has been a key to success for me professionally as well as in my personal life.

The solution is in the understanding of the problem. People who’ve worked for me in complex IT projects know that this approach has been very fruitful. We face numerous problems day in and day out – and we solve them by understanding them. The very understanding reveals the solution.

What if the mind is already burdened with a problem? What has helped me all my life has been writing. Emptying is very important and writing is a great way.

~~~

Some quotes on "problems" from my collection:

“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.” Thomas Edison

“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” Albert Einstein,

“The boss is not here so I don't have any problems.” Hans Ruedi Perreten

"Programmers continue to find a more intricate way of solving a problem that didn't exist before." Dr. Andreas Ludwig

"Looks to have things move forward, delivers, easy to deal with, no hidden agenda, straight shooter (no hidden gun), readable (you know how he feels and why), trustworthy, reliable." Jean Pierre Bouldoires, a top-notch Nestle executive, head of world-wide coffee and adviser to the CEO of Nestle talking about a "non-problem person" and describing me when he said "you're the best consultant I've ever worked with".

“Any problem you can’t solve with a good guitar is either unsolvable or isn’t a problem.” Unknown

"You have to be able to pull the audience from their worries and problems and their rent. We exist by God's grace and the rent will be taken care of," Carlos Santana

"Some people give their problems swimming lessons instead of drowning them." Mark Twain

“Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived.” Joseph Campbell

“Kids like action – it’s adults who have problems with others.” Maria Rinderknech

Marjan: Good one, Reza jan!
Saeedeh: Awesome quotes. Big like
Modified paragraph: So a wonderful and important learning in life is for a person to learn the limitations of the process of thinking by becoming aware of it. We can use the terms “self-awareness” or “self-knowledge” but it’s very important not to fall into the historical habit of thinking of “self” as a separate entity. Psychologically the self is nothing but a bundle of memories. And the observer is the observed, i.e., when you're jealous for example, you are jealousy.

These concepts are meaningless unless tested in daily life and directly seen. So what I’m saying here are just pointers/suggestions and not a doctrine.

Cecilie: Great writing!
Dear Dave Anter -- thanks for the post -- you raise many interesting points. One by one:

<<< You have "used to be in a state"... Due to misery over time you say... And I am guessing you suppose so because we got here... To now. >>>

I suppose so not because we got here, to now. It seems to me the habits of sorrow/misery, being in a state of having a problem are both long-term conditioning and in the case of the latter conditioned by education, upbringing, etc. as well.

<<< But that premise, while certainly effective at etching all over the blank slate >>>

I don’t think I subscribed to that premise you’re proposing – and I don’t believe in the blank slate. Being a computer guy you understand this concept: it’s like a machine that comes loaded with certain DLL’s – not just genetically but via morphic resonance / conditions of the human species / brain.

<<< is so negative about problem-solving it hard for me to accept outright. >>>

Our educational systems are lopsided. They never teach the kid to look within at his or her feelings and thoughts. Of course problem-solving is a great skill – but not at the cost of being lopsided. A whole human can also problem solve – but doesn’t fall for the habit of making things into problems, creating problems!

<<< You suggest when people don't have problems to solve they invent them. >>>

Not everyone. Many, yes.

<<< And the old thought about the limitations of thought... >>>

Wait – that’s the key. Many of the problems are created by thought entering areas it doesn’t belong.

<<< Ok. And K's assertion about not understanding the challenge in certain state of mind... >>>

Not sure what you mean.

<<< It all seems to set up a system. >>>

Not sure what you meant by the K reference – and I don’t see where the system comes in.

<< You set yourself up as having been responsible for systems design and improvement. >>

It’s just a fact.

<<< Your system >>>

I don’t have a system.

<<< Sure sets up the perceptive un-thinker who is free of the little hurts of history to be the hero. >>>

No. I don’t think freedom is a final event, in time – as finality implies time. It’s moment to moment and not an absolute concept. I don’t buy the concept of enlightenment as an absolute, permanent state.

Also no “un-thinker” but rather a person whose mind has learned where thought belongs and not… The hero point I don’t think of.

<<< What if we the living just go about setting up systems to sustain ourselves? What if that's it? Seems simple enough. >>>

There’s a place for technological systems vs. psychological/spiritual. The former is valid. The latter is useless. If you’re talking about sustaining ourselves materially. The issues arise from the psychological self-wanting to sustain itself!

<<< And the mind with all its thought is the facility for this...>>>

Yes, for material systems, yes.

<<< With all the systems for thought collection and organization that go beyond each individual... Like your writing, or your programming code, or your songs... Surely it's a good thing...right? >>>

Yes those are all right place of thought. Problems arise when a person starts brushing their teeth with a hairbrush!

Thanks Dave – excellent points.

Dave Anter Thanks Reza... My wife caught me smiling when I read your reply.
That's a good sign