What Is A Flow State And How To Experience It?
A commentary on the science of optimal performance
âThe best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times â although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a personâs body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.â â Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The domain of the known
Whenever we get accustomed to our circumstances, our surroundings slowly and steadily lose their intensity and radiance. The buildings no longer catch our attention as we walk through the paths that weâve passed a thousand times before. An eye which got accustomed to the scenery rarely picks up something new, but at times a certain detail sticks out, something that we have not noticed before. This small aspect revitalizes the object that previously seemed mapped out. It invites curiosity back into a previously dulled mind.
When we are in the presence of a known circumstance, our mind (thoughts and emotions) becomes more or less stable. We feel like we are in control, and know what to expect from the given circumstance. Weâve been here hundreds of times, havenât we? As our mind perceives the current situation as something already experienced, a part of memory, something of the old and known, we can call such a place as our explored territory.
As described by Jordan B. Peterson, the author of Maps of Meaning:
The known is explored territory, a place of stability and familiarity; it is the âcity of God,â as profanely realized. It finds metaphorical embodiment in myths and narratives describing the community, the kingdom or the state. (âŚ) The domain of the known is, therefore, the âterritoryâ we inhabit with all those who share our implicit and explicit traditions and beliefs.
Needless to say, the known provides us with a sense of safety and security, both on the physical and psychological fronts. Being the force of cumulative personal and ancestral wisdom, the known is often symbolized as The Great Father, culture, with both its protective and tyrannical aspects,
When we know how to act and we can predict what is to be expected of our actions as a consequence â we are clearly inhabiting the metaphorical or concrete land of the known. Nonetheless, as the once fertile grounds of our mapped territory start getting overused, our minds may become dull, insensitive and bored. Thus, we may start searching for excitement and vitality elsewhere.
This is the exact time when we have to open our eyes to the once familiar, to move our sight from the top layers and start gazing to the depths and the origins. It is the time when we have to leave the comfort of what we perceive as being understand and enter the dark, new, and unpredictable circumstance of the unknown and the unexplored.
The domain of the unknown
Symbolized as the Great Mother, as nature, with both its creative and destructive aspects, it is (as described by Peterson) the source and final resting place of all determinate things. Culture doesnât appear from thin air. It comes from the primordial unpredictability, from chaos, from the nurturing and devouring parts of nature. It springs fourth as a creation of that which can never be grasped with words, nor expressed through formulas: the Dao, God, Nature, Allah, the Void.
Sometimes you donât have to travel far to step into this domain. It is always near us. It is here, lurking beneath the surface of everything, every object, every word, every thought, feeling, or experience that we either had or will ever have. Itâs that which is timeless, speechless, infinitely creative, yet sometimes â frightening and chilling to the very bone.
As knowledge provides us with stability, this predictability is not something infinitely stable and absolute. Things change. A cheating husband or wife might turn the once âknownâ person into someone absolutely an utterly âunknownâ. Our sight can never reach the depths of the otherâs being nor the depth of any other phenomena for that matter. We are always riding on the surface, doing with the information that we have managed to gather in order to transform our surroundings into something inhabitable, something safe and predictable.
Nonetheless, the unknown is not just a source of terror and fright, it is also a source of hope and possibility. It is change, the unseen, the unexpected. In my estimate, life would be no fun if we already knew all that is about to happen. Take away the element of surprise, and all of a sudden the plainness of things slowly but steadily starts to become unbearable.
Still, how we will adapt to the unforeseen and unexpected side of things depends on oneâs personality. Character, competencies, and the willingness to adapt all play a huge role in how we will perceive the destabilizing (or invigorating?) aspects of Being.
We can never avoid the unknown and its infinite play of hide-and-seek, yet, we can learn how to deal with it by training our minds to accept the unpredictability of life as it is. If the formerly rich and well-off merchant Zeno (who later became the founder of the Stoic school of thought) couldnât tolerate the misfortune of the shipwreck in which he had lost all of his fortunes, most probably we would not have such well-educated and interesting people as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.
Zenoâs perception of the unknown and the way that he dealt with something that might have made another person suicidal or helpless shows that we can train ourselves to approach the unknown in a more calm, deliberate, and positive manner than our instincts might otherwise tempt us to.
Flow â the psychology of optimal experience.
Just as culture cannot be truly separated from nature, our past experiences cannot exist independently from the present. Thus, an ideal place for a person to be in, at least metaphorically, is on the thin line stretched between order and chaos, balancing on the razorblade situated between his or her competencies and the challenges that lay upfront.
In popular Chinese thought, this might be represented by the line that separates the Yin and Yang sides of the circle. As in the words of Jordan B. Peterson:
âTo straddle that fundamental duality is to be balanced: to have one foot firmly planted in order and security, and the other in chaos, possibility, growth and adventure. When life suddenly reveals itself as intense, gripping and meaningful; when time passes and youâre so engrossed in what youâre doing you donât noticeâit is there and then that you are located precisely on the border between order and chaos.â
What Peterson is describing seems to closely relate to the works of Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. In his book Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience, Mihaly describes flow as a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.
This sense of absolute focus and immersion can only be achieved when our skills are up to the challenge and our minds are open to experience something new and adapt to it simultaneously.
If the challenge presented to us is too high, we become anxious or worried. If it is too low, we become apathetic or bored. Thus we should always strive to find the optimal balance between the complexity of the task we face and our competence to face it. If you canât swim â donât jump into the ocean or you will drown. On the other hand, if you are an Olympic gold medalist, a race against a novice in the local swimming pool might not be that fun either.
Thus, to experience the richness of being we either have to learn to see through the surface of what we think that we already know (think is the right word here), or up our skills to meet new challenges.
In conclusion
A territory appears as something âknownâ only until something new and novel occurs in it. As we strive for psychophysiological stability and balance, oftentimes we become overly accustomed to what we already seem to know. In the process, we close ourselves off from that which is yet to be explored: the unexpected, deep, and mysterious side of things.
Too much mystery renders us confused and helpless. Excess order leaves us bored and soulless. Thus, the goal is to situate ourselves just on the brink of our understanding and competence, just on the side of our current ability and expertise. Once we push the envelope of our superficial knowledge just a tad bit further, a new and unforeseen world opens up to us. Knowledge is always limited. Knowing (open, direct, and spontaneous perception) is not.
Thus, if too much order blinds us while too much chaos renders us frightened and incapable â every one of us individually has to find a fine balance between these two aspects of being in order to feel alive, motivated and invigorated. That is the Psychology of Optimal Experience. These are The Maps of Our Meaning.
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