Mental Gyms

Where are the “mental gyms”? Millions of people are members of Health Clubs. Many of us spend a considerable amount of our personal resources developing and toning muscle mass, myself included. The fact that physical activity improves our general health and quality of living is without question. What about developing “mental mass”? How about flexing those logical faculties? How about toning up those elocution skills? How about building the stamina of our concentration?
 
The benefits are obvious. Our keen discernment enables us to recognize more opportunities to develop our lives. The effective articulation of our thoughts allows us to reach agreements with others. The refinement of our focus enables us to increase our understanding. The more competently we engage ourselves in life, the more effectively we can pursue our interests, negotiate our encounters and find fulfillment in our accomplishments.

Of course schools are “mental gyms”. But once people graduate, mental curiosity often wanes and mental challenges are removed once we are no longer exposed to rigors outside our routines.

Also, schools develop mentality through specific courses of study in established fields. We don’t have “Art History” or “Accounting” regions of the brain. We have visual discernment, reckoning and an orchestration of various mental processes to engage ourselves in such fields. Unless we are planning to join the powerlifting circuit, we don’t go to the gym to lift weights just to develop the strength to lift more weights. We lift weights to develop the strength to pick up partners and improve our general wellbeing.

There is no pill for intelligence. Just as a body builder knows, you can’t simply drink protein shakes and get ripped. You have to work at it. Our processes of thought are strengthened, elaborated and expanded by the demands of our exertions. Why not have personal trainers that will guide us through building up our deduction skills, creative association faculties, and intuitive abilities? So then, not only can we continue bulking our biceps, toning our tummies, and maintaining our cardiovascular health, we will also maintain the spry strength of our minds.

After all, our mentality is directly involved with every part of our life we know.

Pure Dance

At my desk, I had the opportunity this morning to set the brochure for the American Ballet Theater on the shelf above me. The front panel has three still frames from Cunningham’s “Duets”. There is no question about the disciplined strength in the figures, and above the sparkling smiles, there is a fierceness in their eyes, a wild refinement for release and radiance.

Then even with the strength the dancers have developed, there is the delicate extension of their hands and the gracious grazing of the fingertips where the air trembles. To have so much strength and still retain the delicacy of touch is truly exceptional. In fact, there is really no description for it. Referral only diminishes. It is a quality that can only be evinced by its existence. Anything else is incredible.

I am inspired to envision a dancer driven to leap like a lion, yet as George Balanchine instructed to "land like a pussycat".  That combination could be the distillation of one of the most perfect systems of ethics ever devised.

Written in anticipation of the commencement of another glorious dance season.

Nary Ordinary

Before or after noon the other day, I sat in the shade of a high-rise while I waited for my shift to begin and I couldn’t help underhear a conversation from some contractors. They must have been working on one of the surrounding buildings and they were huddled together for lunch boisterously talking about various matters. While I listened, I was astonished at the topic of the conversation. They were debating how the geometrical shapes of sandwiches dictated the manner by which they are eaten. I thought this was perfect. I was imagining them working, performing their tasks within the spaces dictated by the design of the structures, working within cramped confines, managing to accomplish what is often the mechanically miraculous, riveting steel beams, connecting the elaborate circuitry of electrical lines, linking and sealing the pipes so water flows freely from a faucet 200 feet above the ground, assembling and maintaining the man-made mountains. Then all this work is sealed within walls so it isn’t even noticed and the walls are polished with a streamlined finish to avoid the slightest drag in the activities of the offices, conference rooms, convention halls and cafeterias. Their lively debate was an exposition in the essence of orientation and practical application like the spaces stacked in the buildings that climb into the sky.

Letter to an Editor

Warren Buffett recently made a public statement where he expressed his willingness in paying higher taxes. I would like to suggest an alternative. Recognizing that Mr. Buffett is already involved in extensive philanthropic programs, he should consider increasing his commitment to these causes. We all know that taxes support our government which is a social service dedicated to the wellbeing of the population. In addition to providing protection, one of the principle functions of this social service is what Richard Sennett succinctly described in one of his recent books as the “distribution of public resources.” Instead of relying upon a centralized organization to collect, allocate and dispense these resources, perhaps he should consider dispensing the resources more directly to the community.

There is certainly no lack of worthy causes. I would suggest a greater concentration on our educational institutions, including trade schools. As the burden of cost in education is increasingly shouldered by the students, more foundations are needed to assist hard working and worthy students to relieve graduates from staggering debts that may force them to prioritize monetary earnings instead of pursuing and developing the ideas of their spry and youthful minds. Seminars could be established for teachers which would provide supplementary classes during the summer recesses to improve the effectiveness in their instruction, which would provide them with greater gratification in their work while also developing greater intellectual aptitude within their pupils. There is also a need for more technological tools to be installed in schools where students could develop the skills that are directly applicable to the platforms upon which they will pursue their professional lives while also providing a boost to the technological industries.

Having a social organization dedicated to preserve and increase the quality of life for the population is great, but a more promising social evolution is increasing our reliance on our own judgment for one another’s wellbeing. Mr. Buffett certainly would not have amassed his fortune from lack of discretion and foresight. I would suggest he employ his social and economic acumen to support causes in which he recognizes the value for the general population and this would be a far greater service for the public than allowing funds to be squandered within inefficient bureaucracies.

Garrett Buhl Robinson
New York City

A Few Thoughts I Found Insightful

Begin with one of my favorite phrases by the poet Mary Oliver:
"All language is metaphor."

Upon this basis consider this:
Consciousness is metaphorical.

Now consider this:
Unconsciousness is not metaphorical.

A Thought on Jokes

I have often thought of the mobility and durability of jokes. Even before the internet, they would often travel remarkable distances and span extraordinary lengths of time. In the past, I would often imagine them passing between people from bar to bar and from one social gathering to the next. Of course jokes are simply patterns; patterns of words formulated in deliveries and specialized in effectively evoking laughter. In that way, they may be considered types of enzymes that release the tension from our lives and provide a wondrous therapy, not as a tranquilizer, but by inducing mirth and enjoyment.

A Perfect Stranger

During a recent book signing I had a surprising encounter. It was one of those instances when a person approaches out of the blue and directly asks an unexpected question in way that can almost be seen as confrontational. Personally, I find it rather shocking when a complete stranger addresses me directly about something that I could never have expected, especially when that perfect stranger seems every bit convinced that I can magically clarify what appears to be a delusional obsession of his own. I know I am not alone in these odd occurrences. In fact, anyone who lives in a manic urban area can expect such encounters with astonishing regularity while out and about on the streets. I can almost hear someone sarcastically say, “Isn’t the world a wonderful place.”

So you may envision the setting, I was sitting at a table with a small stack of my books that I was hoping people might be stirred with interest to read. However, this being a gathering of a number of writers, and since I was far from being the top of the bill and more of the bottom of the bucket, I spent most of my time offer hearty smiles as a line of browsing eyes casually passed me by. Then suddenly a guy marches directly up to me and demands an answer, “Is this about poker?”

Since the famous card game of poker hadn’t crossed my mind, even in the most whimsically way, while I composed my recent novel, I was inclined to deny any association and offered a sterile response of “Not really.” Perhaps I had thought my answer would be taken as a point of consideration, as if I was saying, “Not really, but you can imagine it to be whatever you want.” In reality though, my statement came out like nothing more than a splattered flat “No.”

Immediately, I realized that I should have considered my answer a little more carefully before reflexively blurting my response. I hadn’t noticed that while the man charged toward my table and as his abrupt question attempted to pin me to the chair, he had also been reaching to pick up one of my books. My negative response abruptly stayed his hand and I watched as he withdrew back into himself.

A shocking thought crossed my mind, “Am I actually turning someone away?” After all, he did approach me and his inquiry was the most attention my book has received the entire day. I may have not considered the card game while I composed the novel, but this doesn’t mean that the contents of my novel and the game of poker are completely unrelated. For one, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a book or a deck of cards, they’re both nothing but ink and paper unless someone’s interested.

Suddenly it struck me that I had just been dealt a card myself and the card was definitely wild. I had to decide whether I was going to leave that wild card a joker or whether I could make it an ace.

Before the man could turn away, I casually tugged his sleeve with a calm statement, “Well, it’s not directly about poker, but in many ways it is very much like it.”

This seemed to have caught his attention and I adjusted myself in the seat to prepare the delivery of my pitch as he sharpened his view by squinting his eyes and squared himself in preparation. “Let’s say you have a regular Saturday night poker game with your buddies. You’ve had this poker game for years. When most every aspect of your life is managed with the greatest sense of responsibility as a devoted husband, a loving father, an upright member of your community, a reliable employee of the business where you have worked for decades, you cherish the chance this game gives you for release as you let the wheels of fortune drive you along for a relaxing and refreshing night each week. And through the years this game has become a refreshment in your regular routine as invaluable as a good night’s sleep.

“Then one week, you and your wife are having an argument. Who knows, maybe there was an eruption of some underlining tension that had been building between you two all week. It’s nothing unusual. We all have times when we’re rubbed the wrong way. It’s no surprise that this rubbing is often done by the person to whom we’re the closest.

“But this Saturday, you’re determined to go to the game and she’s determined to make you feel miserable about it. You two fuss and there seems to be no hope in reaching any resolution. Every word each of you says only aggravates the other more as you two both antagonize some unsettled irritation that mysteriously lurks behind each of our lives at times. Finally, you decide you’ve got to get out of the house, so you walk outside, maybe even slamming the door which makes the tantrum feel all the more foolish. Then you jump in the car and back into the street.

“Of course you feel bad about the spat and you both know each other well enough to suspect she probably feels the same. In your mind you can even see her fiercely fuming and brooding on the couch while you’re gunning the engine down the highway. You both know it’s nothing but a lover’s quarrel but you both feel a little bit alone when you break away like this because these breaks leave you both feeling a little exposed.

“You try shrugging this off though. You know going back home right now would only fill you with a dejected sense of defeat and you convince yourself that you’re still interested in the game. You look forward to losing the sourness that has settled in your mind with the shuffling of the cards and the boisterous camaraderie between your buddies.

“The game doesn’t go as you had hoped though. There doesn’t seem to be a single hand you can win. Most of the time you’re dealt nothing but garbage, then the few times you have a good hand, you only find that someone else has something better.

“Then, when you’re considering dumping another twenty dollars to buy more chips, even though you know you’re just throwing money away at this point, your cell phone rings and it’s a call from home. None of your friends can hear the conversation, but they can tell from the relieved expression on your face that your wife is sweetly coaxing you back home. You may have been losing at cards the entire night, but you realized you still have your treasure and when you walk away from this losing game, you’re returning to the greatest happiness you have ever known.”
I pause for a moment to let the story settle clearly in his mind then add, “I don’t know if you’ve ever had a poker night like that, but if you have, you will love this book.”

And then I quietly think, “Isn’t the world a wonderful place.”

Garrett Buhl Robinson