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Curious Robot Maneuver = The Witness
Scott Adams just coined a psychological method called, Curious Robot Maneuver. Here's how to do it:
"I have found that many bad moods are caused by a feeling of not having control. People can put up with extreme hardship, climbing a mountain for example, if they have the illusion of choosing to do it. But even a little aggravation can make you nuts if you feel you can’t avoid it.
"I have a fix for that loss of control problem. I call it the “curious robot maneuver.” When things are not going your way, sit back and change your frame of mind to one of curiosity. Imagine you have no free will, and you are just a moist robot. Everything you have done and will do is programmed. So there’s no reason to stress over your lack of control in certain situations because you have the same degree of control in ALL situations: none. What you do have is the capacity to watch the show, and marvel as it unfolds. You have front row seats, right behind your own eyeballs, and the theater is surround-sense. You can actually FEEL the action!"
Is it just me, or is this method just a fancy sci-fi version of Witnessing awareness?
I like the robot analogy though. Sometimes I look at my life and wonder whether I have a free will or I'm just being deluded that I'm in control of anything. It's hard to tell the difference. So I just watch, do the serenity prayer, then sleep it off.
October 7, 2007 at 06:08 PM in DIK | Permalink
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Comments
Hello..first time reader to your blog. For the most part I agree, we can avoid bad situations from getting worse by taking "the high road" or be "a robot". Of course if someone is causing me physical harm, all bets are off. I will need something stronger than a serenity prayer to get me through.
Posted by: Dawn71 | Oct 7, 2007 7:08:03 PM
Hello..first time reader to your blog. For the most part I agree, we can avoid bad situations from getting worse by taking "the high road" or be "a robot". Of course if someone is causing me physical harm, all bets are off. I will need something stronger than a serenity prayer to get me through.
Posted by: Dawn71 | Oct 7, 2007 7:09:05 PM
I read Scotts blog this morning and was amazed at how similar this "exercise" was to certain accounts of the enlightened Understanding.
My beliefs about having no free will align with his, although I go further and say that we don't even exist separate from the whole, but that's another matter.
I found it interesting that he stated it as an exercise that could be useful for dealing with problems - with no references to spirituality.
Posted by: Sean | Oct 8, 2007 12:02:09 AM
