We golf therefore the Dow is This is subtitle where we intuit the Dow. That's why our active hobbies engage us So I start this off with a little quote from Plato his one of his latest works And I think the log is actually I think it's longer than the republic the laws the quote goes lunch live out one stage playing at certain games Sacrifice and singing and dancing. That's actually a quote I found in James Shaw's the unseriousness of human affairs and the planet I quote at least as used by Shaw is There's certain things we do for their own sake not for anything else And that's kind of funny. That's kind of where this article is going or this podcast was going originally But I've kind of veered off taking different angle I think I'll come back to that because there are certain things we do for their own sake And I think golf and hobbies are those those type of things So anyway, do you have an active hobby?
If you do good, you probably intuit the Dow I say active hobby because I'm distinguishing things like gardening golf and cooking active from watching TV and eating and active What I was looking for like the world's most popular hobbies or the most popular hobbies in the United States I got like TV watching and eating It's like two slippies. I didn't think of those as hobbies, but I suppose they are anyway active hobbies require a fair amount of engagement So consider golf an awful disclosure I got into golf briefly even establish a handicap awful But obviously had one getting a handicap requires to be proficient or at least do it enough to get enough scores And if your scores are just too freaking high they don't have anything over 36 So I actually got down to the high 20s, but no matter Think about golf. You need to manipulate the club. You need to understand distance and slope You need to see how distance and slope interact with the different clubs You need to determine to appreciate weather conditions You need to understand a freaking ton of rules as well as golf etiquette You even need a rudimentary knowledge about turf.
You know, you have the rough fairway the apron the greens In short golf entails a lot of calculation measurement and background knowledge Which you must then apply in the physical activity of wielding and instrument in other words, it's involved It's that involvement that helps make it a relaxing pursuit Golf has enough quote-unquote moving parts to engage your attention They're by taking you away from the hustle and stress of everyday life for a few glorious hours And then there's this and if you go to the show notes, you'll see this douche Don't know the massive temper tantrum on the course Actually, it happens all the time so much So if you search golf tantrum and you'll get more videos gifts memes and images than dimples in the case of golf balls Golf isn't serious. That's what makes it relaxing But to be proficient at it, you need to engage it like it's serious Even though it means we run the risk of becoming a that guy and I refer to the temper tantrum dude The doubt and tuition. Okay, go back to the reality spectrum You know the active existence slash dow on the left Which is prior that's a philosophical term prior to essence slash accident Which is prior to being slash substance essence defines being accidents defined substance, you know, they help you They say what those things are But the active existence in doubt is I'm completely different than those things are it's part of the same spectrum, but it's prior to all that So from the out-out us Huxley approach from doors of perception the reality spectrum looks like this active existence door Essence being on the other side or the Dow accident substance or you know the Dow then there's the door accident substance on the other side Everyday life is on the right side of that door And all things on the right side of that door are wrapped in subject object action For instance always has a subject an actor an object the thing acted upon Language to is wrapped in subject object adjectivized nouns verb and verbally On subjects and objects that we can measure judge or count Even our thoughts look at your moment by moment day including the thought parade that marches do it It's all subject object all the freakin time. You're either focused on something or obsessing about yourself or maybe both Now if there is the Dow reality the world of subject object isn't it No matter how you want to find it It ain't part of subject object every piece of evidence for the Dow And this is like the fourth podcast talking about it And I give you links to the show notes if you go back to the show notes of the three previous articles or essays Anyway, every piece of evidence for the Dow is wrapped in non evidence Evidence that there is something that is neither subject nor object that stands quote-unquote beyond On the other side of that door And if there is that Dow reality we have an intuition for it That's crucial if there is that Dow reality beyond subject object We have an intuition for it We want to be in it even if we don't know we want to be in it As a corollary we want to get out of the right two-thirds of the reality spectrum To escape the world of subject object If you live in Detroit you probably dream occasionally about escaping to an exact location like Hawaii But such a trip first requires you to lead Detroit I think this is when active hobby like golf lets us do It helps us leave the world of subject object Even if the hobby requires some up front work in packing up getting on the road dealing with Detroit traffic Golf isn't relaxing for the beginner.
In fact, like anything worth pursuing. It's fraught with frustration and stress The relaxation sets in after golf habits start to form If you're on the T-box checking your grip measuring your distance as you address the ball Wandering if your feet are at shoulder width that ain't relaxation It's one of those things become habitual and that's a crucial concept by what by the way habit Thoroughly believe we can ever will ourselves with anything to do anything because will is basically got knowledge Whereas habit is based on being or the ontological reality of the Dow So everything's got to be habit. That's why virtue and vice have to become habit. Well virtue anyway Anyway, back back to the text It's was those things and the T-box become habitual and the associated thoughts contracted that relaxation starts All the skills and knowledge fall into the background for the proficient golfer He just plays he is engaged in the game He has taken outside of himself suspended as a word between the subject himself and the object the game He has focused on something outside himself.
They're by detaching him from subject But that thing outside of himself the game of golf isn't very important And therefore it's less likely to lead to the attachment stress associated with focusing on something truly serious like our jobs In the words of Jungian Analysts Robin Daniels quote play is an experience of the transitional area between subjective and objective unquote That's in his most excellent book in the Virgin Eye That transitional area is crucial. It lets us out of the subject object takes us out of Detroit When we aren't meshed in subject or object We are lifted out of the right side of the reality spectrum And even though it's not the same thing as opening the door of reality and walking in It's not the same thing as arriving at our hotel in Hawaii It allows us we might say a glimpse over the door Specifically it gives us a glimpse you feel of what it's like not to be trapped solely in the world of essence slash excellence slash being Substance because we are suspended between the right side of the reality spectrum's constitutive parts You know when our plan is in the air after all it feels pretty good even if we're still far away from Hawaii All right, so go back to that temper tantrum on the golf course I don't claim to know why people lose a temper of a golf course But it's obviously wrapped in taking the unserious seriously It came is by definition unserious But then we start to take it seriously and become that guy Every act of hobby runs this risk The gardener frets when his flower bulbs don't come up. That's me by the way right now The fantasy football team owner freaks out when his quarterback takes a knee That mushroom or gets angry when someone gets to our favorite spot first Yeah, despite their promise of frustration and disappointment we pursue active hobbies Sometimes it's always often a great expenditure of money time and energy It makes sense. The dow is the greatest thing even if elusive It makes sense that we spend enormous resources in his pursuit Even if not consciously even if driven only by a vague intuition And even if the pursuit the active hobby is merely the leaving part of the trip We golf and bowl brew beer birdwatch and bake Therefore the dow is