Psychology 712: I have given a lot of thought about this lecture, and I understand it might be controversial. Id like to talk here today about two books that while their subject matter is very different they arrive at very similar points. These books are very important to me. Now, I know I will catch crap from people who say the Bible is the only book in the world and these sorts of things. I am not going to argue with you. You go and take care of your own business, I got this lecture hall. When I was kid, I read everything that was around the house. My dad played baseball all the way through college and I reckon this book was in the house because of him, The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams. I couldnt hit a ball off a tee then, and cant now, but what I learned is to see what is coming at you and to understand what it is. Then, you know how to deal with it. I try to read The Science of Hitting at least once a year not because I want to hit a baseball, I want to keep my mind in a place where I can see what is coming at me. Williams explains, in an odd way if you can look beyond the baseball, a mental way to reach this place. Your eyes are open and you see everything, you are not deceived. The next book Id like to discuss here is one I literally plucked off the bookstore shelf when I was a teenager on a whim. I had no knowledge of the author but I bought it because of the title. This book is called The Way Of Zen and it is by Alan Watts. Mr. Watts, who passed away when I was like 18 months old back in the 70s, spent a lot of time studying eastern religion and philosophy. Watts wrote many books, over 20, and he was all about being a hippie and a lefty nut job in the 1960s. But this book he wrote in 1957 is the most important book he wrote. After World War II was over in 1945, Watts went to Japan to make sense of why Japanese did what they did. I have three copies of this book, but in that first one, it is in my mothers home and owned by her, I have all sorts of lines highlighted and dog eared. I have read this book over and over and over. This book had a very heavy influence on my life. To get to the core of this, is to get to the core of what both Ted Williams and Alan Watts thought. If you accept failure, then you are a failure. If you are able, mentally, to see in your mind, victory...Like the way a Samurai warrior was or the way Ted Williams was........you will find what you want... If you think you cant, you wont....If you think you can, you will.......I dont know about you, but Id rather go out on my feet swinging.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 00:45:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015