blackfence

How do you understand the relationships between these terms? Which of these terms expresses that state where one is performing at an incredibly high level -- and yet it's effortless? And what do you think it takes to get to that state?

So why does getting in the zone happen to athletes, performers, and other creative types -- often people who have never heard of dropping identification? There is a large psychological literature on certain conditions that seem to foster flow -- challenges poised at the right level to push someone's skills, but not too much. Clear goals and feedback. And so on. And being in the zone does seem to require prior training in the skill. It's not as if someone who's never played the piano, and who is not worrying about the past/future, suddenly can come up and play a Beethoven piano sonata without hesitation.

Very interesting! Do you think wu wei leads to a state of flow/the zone, though? How, to you, does one enter the zone? And how does it happen by chance? It seems to me that most well-trained athletes, performers, and so on all try to minimize excessive movements. The philosopher William James talked about how when a child first learns to play the piano, he plays with his whole body. Eventually, learned to use less and less of it, and then finally just the hands. And presumably a trained pianist uses just the parts of the hands that are most relevant for the musical passage. And again, how does samadhi relate to flow? Do you think one who attains samadhi gains automatic flow in everything?

Hello there -- very pleased to see this forum, as I am very intrigued by Taoist ideas and texts. Looking forward to following the discussion and posting some of my own questions and thoughts.