If you’re like me, science was your least favorite subject in school (math also, and still sucks). If you thought learning the scientific method was the dumbest part of science, you’re even more like me. Of course I make a hypothesis and test it, blah blah...
If you are truly like me however, your life experience has caused you to come around on science and the scientific method. Like me, you have come to see our lives as one big experiment; an experiment attempting to solve life’s greatest question: Why am I here?
If you are like me, ever in search of this elusive solution, you are using the scientific, or more accurately, The Life Method, everyday.
Contrastingly, if you thought The North Face™ slogan, Never Stop Exploring, was intended exclusively for mountainous terrain, this piece is for you. Those who have stopped trying to see what more this life has to offer, either think they know everything, or have given up trying—I frown upon both.
My story goes something like this:
I was a Personal Trainer with a defunct body. I was aesthetically fit; endowed with “abs” from a regimen of eating mediocrely, lifting weights (with bad form), running, and the benefit of youth. But at age 24, the observance of chronic lower-back and shoulder pain necessitated my first application of The Life Method:
Question: Do I have absolutely no idea what it means to be healthy?
Test: Takes a Pilates class
Observation: Gets shown up by 50 year-old women
Feedback: Not happy about the observation—pretends event never happened
Result: Keeps injuring lower-back
Like any great Scientist who has had their life’s work debunked, I tried my best to bias the results—I wasn’t going down without a fight:
“But, you have a six-pack,” I would lobby. “You must be strong.”
But I wasn’t.
Eventually coming to grips with my weakness was the strongest thing I have ever done.
The early experiments were unpleasant, but as I observed my strength increasing and pain dissipating, I could no longer deny the holes in my prior philosophy. Having tangible evidence to support my hypothesis—that I was weak—gave me a vehicle for growth and a newfound purpose. Most importantly, it became a constant reminder of how wrong I was on something I once thought I had figured out—it rattled my foundation.
If it was possible to be so inept at something I claimed expertise in, was I doing anything right?
Turns out, not really.
Not a day passes that I don’t recognize the paradigmatic shift in my thinking towards health. Observing the contrast has created an appreciation for the unlimited number of paths my mind and body could have taken to bring me to this present point; an appreciation which makes me aware of just how unique I am; helping me find gratitude for everything I have, and nothing I don’t. When you focus your mind on discovering truths about yourself and the universe, there is no room to focus on any bullshit.
To compare, take the guy on your commute to work everyday who is visibly miserable. He definitely thought the scientific method was the dumbest thing he ever learned. He may have taken his job right out of college, and after the real-world-shock finally settled, he accepted his fate—he stopped exploring.
As a result, he’s constantly dissatisfied and worse, he doesn’t have the tools to identify and fix his dissatisfaction. He is incapable of applying The Life Method because years of closed mindedness, in defense of his preconceived notions, have rendered him incapable of even asking the basic question that sparks the process: Does what I’m doing make me happy? An inability to diagnose the source of his unhappiness leads to more unhappiness—ad infinitum.
So, why do I take cold showers?
For the same reason I abandoned my former gym routine. The same reason I began eating one meal a day, fasting for one day a week and for one week semi-annually. It’s the same reason these preferences will change countless times before the day I die.
It may be the same reason you picked up golf as a hobby, or started eating healthy: You observed the action, hypothesized that it could enhance your experience on this planet, and tested to see if that hypothesis was correct. You participated in The Life Method, and adjusted your worldview based on the results.
I never thought I would do Pilates or take cold showers, I just “wasn’t that guy.” But, by being open and honest with myself, my actions have drastically altered to coincide more closely with what I have discovered is my life’s mission: To be the strongest human I can be.
Humility is the acceptance that you actually know nothing. When we allow ourselves this vulnerability, every new discovery is a glimpse into the limitlessness of our potential. When we are able to channel this vastness, something both harrowing and obvious invades our thoughts: Damn, I’m really small.
None of this is possible without creating a rough picture of the person you want to be, and accepting that life works by keeping that image blurry. Our individual search for meaning, just like our understanding of the scientific world, will be incomplete until the day we die—and therein lies the beauty. The journey is about the search, not the destination. Thus, if your focus is on finding truths, rather than proving yourself right, you will be right where you belong the whole time.
Keep experimenting, keep observing and Never Stop Exploring.
