Leaping into Nothing

"The only way you know if it's real or not, the only way to prove it, is by actually making the deal. Isn't that how it works?"

"Exactly. Unless you take the leap, you can't prove it. And once you actually make the leap, there's no need to prove it anymore. There's no middle ground. You either take the leap, or you don't. One or the other."

From "Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage"
by Haruki Murakami

***

How many things in life can be known before they are done?

FM - who discovered a deep secret of Nature - was one who came to believe that the unknown is only known by throwing out the known.

How do you throw out the known? What is ‘the leap' that Murakami is writing about?

Actually, you face choices like this every day – although they mostly pass by unnoticed.

Someone asks you: "Will you come with me?"

And inside you are thinking "No," while you smile and nod yes. You go – while inside you experience a tormenting voice crescendoing to a scream - begging for another life, another place, another experience.

But you hold on. You attach. All that is known is loved, all that is unknown is feared. 

Like a sound in a dark room that you cannot recognise, the unknown strikes terror and causes you to flee back into the arms of a restless, dissatisfied life.

Something inside whispers: "Take the leap, take the jump, say NO…"

And still you say yes to the past (and no to your future).

Alexander was faced with this dilemma as he tried to understand how to breathe and speak in an entirely new way. He'd come to understand that his current way - his past habits accumulating into each present moment - was leading him to despair. It was shattering his dream to be an actor, his ability to live the life he wanted.

Posture can do that. It can interrupt a life.

Something as insignificant as a back pain can end up cratering your life: opening up a deep, black hole from which you feel you can never climb out. Death appears as your only escape.

Unless you take the leap. There's hope in that.

But you cannot know - before you take this leap - that it will get you to where you want to go. All you can know is: the past will only lead you back into itself.

Can you trust a leap to nowhere? Can you leap into nothing?

For everyone, your trust will have a different object. It's never one simple thing you must trust; it is ever-changing. 

Alexander expressed his trust this way:

***

"This meant that I must be prepared to carry on with any procedure I had reasoned out as best for my purpose, even though that procedure might feel wrong. In other words, my trust in my reasoning processes to bring me safely to my "end" must be a genuine trust, not a half-trust needing the assurance of feeling right as well."

FM Alexander, Use of the Self: Chapter One "Evolution of a Technique."

***

Every day of our lives, we can find this moment. 

The moment of making a decision against the habit of life. 

Seeking help from ATSuccess is one of those decisions. Until you experience the benefits, it's impossible to know they even exist.

ATSuccess offers you something that you didn't know you needed until you got it, then after you have it, you wonder how you managed without it.

Soon I will be asking you to take the leap. To join an ongoing coaching program that can change the way you teach, communication and navigate the world as an “Alexscovery” Teacher.

STAY TUNED.