Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity

Slingerland explores Asian thought and contemporary science in an attempt to see how spontaneity can improve our lives. Asian thought shows that it can. Contemporary science shows it can. Now, on to share these ideas with the modern world. And that is this book.


Edward Slingerland is a professor of Asian Studies, but do not set this book back on the bookstore shelf because of that; Slingerland is knowledgeable but he also is readable. (Whew!)


I thought I knew a lot about Confucius and Zhuangzi and Wu-Wei, but, it turns out, I really knew only a tiny bit. And I love the idea of spontaneity and I certainly want to be happier.


What did I take away from this book? Here's a nice summary: “You can carve and polish: subject yourself to rigorous, long-term training designed to eventually instill the right dispositions. You can embrace simplicity: actively reject the pursuit of goals, in the hope that the goals will then be obtained by themselves. You can cultivate your sprouts: try to identify incipient tendencies of desirable behavior within you, and then nurture and expand them until they are strong enough to take over. Or you can just go with the flow: forget about trying, forget about not trying, and just let the values that you want to embrace pick you up and carry you along.”


I'm happy I read this first over spring break. The ideas I took away from the book worked nicely into each relaxing day. Now let's see if I can work these into my life when I return to work.