Follow The White Rabbit
Wandering Wednesdays #1
Every Wednesday I plan to write a short piece on rabbitholes I have explored in the past week and what I learnt. This first edition is about how to get started as a rookie wanderer. Let me introduce my wandering guides.
John Vervaeke is a Canadian cognitive psychologist & philosopher who is now considered one of the most influential thinkers on the topic of wisdom. “I love wisdom. That doesn’t mean I’m wise”.
I stumbled upon him while trying to figure out when to follow the white rabbit - and when to ignore the temptation. In specific domains like investing or in business an ‘expert’ knows exactly the right thing to do at the right time. Vervaeke calls this relevance realization or the ability to ignore vast numbers of options and focus on a small set of potentially fruitful ones. Selective ignorance is another way to think of this - at work we develop the aptitude to screen, to pay attention to a small number of inputs/stimuli and ignore many.
Vervaeke sounded mystical and abstract; when I ‘discovered’ Boyd Varty, a lion tracker (and a great storyteller), I was immediately attracted. I have come across many philosophers & psychologists but no lion trackers before. What an interesting profession, don’t you think?
“I don’t know where I’m going, but I know exactly how to get there.”
Exactly how, I wondered?
“There is information in your life…., you have to teach yourself to attune to it. Things that make you feel expansive, things that make you feel alive…….., noticing what you move towards. Noticing what you’re curious about, noticing the people who energize you, the activities that make you feel more alive.”
I have opened a new page in my journal to make notes on noticing.
I then turned to Calvin & Hobbes who helpfully reminded me “There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
On that note, let me stop. Time to do nothing….for a while.