One of the most important lessons of riding is that the motorcycle will go where you look. Countless accidents and fatalities can be laid on the doorstep of this simple to understand yet difficult to affect principle: the motorcycle will go where you look.
Our human tendency is to focus on the things that scare us, the people and places and objects from which we perceive threat, rather than those things that liberate us. That kind of threat-based focus can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy:
if we think we are going to run into the wall, our tendency is to stare at the wall, allowing it to fill our consciousness, and we are drawn into it;
if we expect our children to lie to us, we often put them in the position of lying. Instead of saying “Why did you take that toy from your sister?” we say “Did you take that toy from your sister?” Why are we then surprised when the kid seizes the opportunity to tell a lie to try to get out of trouble?
if we think that the world is a corrupt place, then we will see the only the corruption;
if we think that all French folks are rude, then we will re-tell the story of the one obnoxious jerk we met or the perceived slight from someone who simply did not understand what we were asking on our two week vacation instead of the dozens of folks who were kind and helpful.
You go where you look. Certainly I have experienced this more than once in my riding, since it requires incredible discipline NOT to focus on the threat you perceive. For example, a few weeks back a buddy and I were way out in some Arizona desert and got into this nasty, talcum-powder fine dirt that was about six inches deep and allows virtually no traction. I was skidding along when I spotted a rise to my left. So I thought “Nuts with this; I’m going to jump the rise and get on solid ground.” So I fish-tailed left and started the climb … and then looked down. The picture captures the result. I was spitting dust for a week. If I had kept my eye on the horizon, on the solid ground, I would have made the climb. But I looked down at the danger – “OMG!!!” - and sure enough, I looked myself into a crash.
We are living in a time of Civil War, a time when too many folks on both sides of the political spectrum are going where they are looking, and are looking only at the perceived threats. We may be shooting at one another with words rather than guns, but families are divided, sides are being chosen, and propaganda and lies are used to reinforce pre-conceived prejudices. We are going where we are looking.
We expect undocumented workers to commit violent crimes, and use any instance of violence as proof;
We label Conservatives as racist and see every statement of political disagreement as reinforcement;
We label Liberals as socialist and use any argument for government intervention as proof;
We hang on to a single ideology with such might that we refuse to recognize that no one solution fits every problem.
We go where we look and our human tendency is to look at the perceived problem rather than the possible solution. We focus on our fears rather than looking beyond the threat, towards the horizon. It takes incredible discipline to look to the horizon, as it means we must let go of our preconceived notions, release fear’s control, and force ourselves into seeking solution rather than spinning around in problem. To look at the horizon is not easy … but failure to do so leads to dangerous consequences. Just look at the picture of my bike and imagine what I looked like …
You go where you look.
Our human tendency is to focus on the things that scare us, the people and places and objects from which we perceive threat, rather than those things that liberate us. That kind of threat-based focus can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy:
if we think we are going to run into the wall, our tendency is to stare at the wall, allowing it to fill our consciousness, and we are drawn into it;
if we expect our children to lie to us, we often put them in the position of lying. Instead of saying “Why did you take that toy from your sister?” we say “Did you take that toy from your sister?” Why are we then surprised when the kid seizes the opportunity to tell a lie to try to get out of trouble?
if we think that the world is a corrupt place, then we will see the only the corruption;
if we think that all French folks are rude, then we will re-tell the story of the one obnoxious jerk we met or the perceived slight from someone who simply did not understand what we were asking on our two week vacation instead of the dozens of folks who were kind and helpful.
You go where you look. Certainly I have experienced this more than once in my riding, since it requires incredible discipline NOT to focus on the threat you perceive. For example, a few weeks back a buddy and I were way out in some Arizona desert and got into this nasty, talcum-powder fine dirt that was about six inches deep and allows virtually no traction. I was skidding along when I spotted a rise to my left. So I thought “Nuts with this; I’m going to jump the rise and get on solid ground.” So I fish-tailed left and started the climb … and then looked down. The picture captures the result. I was spitting dust for a week. If I had kept my eye on the horizon, on the solid ground, I would have made the climb. But I looked down at the danger – “OMG!!!” - and sure enough, I looked myself into a crash.
We are living in a time of Civil War, a time when too many folks on both sides of the political spectrum are going where they are looking, and are looking only at the perceived threats. We may be shooting at one another with words rather than guns, but families are divided, sides are being chosen, and propaganda and lies are used to reinforce pre-conceived prejudices. We are going where we are looking.
We expect undocumented workers to commit violent crimes, and use any instance of violence as proof;
We label Conservatives as racist and see every statement of political disagreement as reinforcement;
We label Liberals as socialist and use any argument for government intervention as proof;
We hang on to a single ideology with such might that we refuse to recognize that no one solution fits every problem.
We go where we look and our human tendency is to look at the perceived problem rather than the possible solution. We focus on our fears rather than looking beyond the threat, towards the horizon. It takes incredible discipline to look to the horizon, as it means we must let go of our preconceived notions, release fear’s control, and force ourselves into seeking solution rather than spinning around in problem. To look at the horizon is not easy … but failure to do so leads to dangerous consequences. Just look at the picture of my bike and imagine what I looked like …
You go where you look.
I find your last paragraph to be especially insighful. We tend to wed ourselves to our ideas even more stongly than to our spouses. It not only takes an incredible amount of discipline to look at the horizon but a lot of courage as well.
ReplyDeleteMark in Missouri