I reflexively wince when seeing or hearing reference to the
Kentucky State Motto: “Unbridled Spirit”.
Of course, there’s the superficial first inclination – at least in
Kentucky – to conjure images of “unbridled” horses galloping idyllically
through open meadows, running with the wind.
How liberating!
One also might picture the unbridled, unsaddled horses of
Assateague Island, unrestrained by outside forces … except for the forces of nature,
which include changing of the seasons and the reluctant yield of forageable
vegetation.
On the flip side, one of Kentucky’s main sources of revenue
and prime tourism enticements is horse racing, a sport in which the horses are
not only “bridled” – something that can happen only after their “Spirits” have
been broken, but are subjected to constitution-draining workouts hauling 120
lb. jockeys around race tracks beginning at 5 am and getting whipped with a
riding crop to push them to their ultimate limit! Some liberation!
However, in the purest, most abstract sense – like in the
Kentucky State Motto – I’ve found it tough to reconcile “Breaking one’s Spirit”
with anything positive: Taking the “heart and soul” out of a creature seems a
most onerous and despicable act … and anything BUT liberating.
Except that … (and this is the “reflexive” part) … being
driven by a completely “Unbridled Spirit” hardly ever moves one forward,
inevitably gets one into trouble (I’m thinking particularly of my fifth
graders), and misses the mark on “Quality of Life” by a fairly wide
margin.
“Given infinite choice, we will … almost without fail … choose poorly,
choosing that which pleases us over that which is ‘Good’ for us.”
Quartermaster
Fundamentally, an untamed beast is a detriment both to
himself and to his kind and kindred. Even
animals in the wild develop a pack code of conduct.
So how does one “Break the Spirit” of a creature or a person
and, at the same time, declare …
“Everything you deserve is going to take everything you’ve got!”
?
?
The solution I suggest is CHANNELING – a purpose-driven funneling/transformation
of the innate “Wild-Animal Spirit” into a formidable “Force of Destiny”.
Importantly, “Everything you can be” is a completely
different playing field from “Everything you WANT”. It has rules.
It has structure. But, once you
know the rules (and accept them) and can navigate the structure, one can go
great distances unimpeded ... with “Unbridled [Channeled] Spirit”. (See “Finding
Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
The example of horses above is
perhaps most illustrative, but I can’t help think of dog-training school. How many perfectly wonderful animals are
completely out-of-control and unmanageable until they learn, understand, accept
and respect the rules and structure of domestication? And how FEW of them willingly return to the
wild!
“… recently … a dog walked 11 miles from its new home to
return to a former … owner. The feat was especially remarkable because the dog
had been taken to its new location by car and had to find its way back on foot
… Even more impressive was the 2013 tale of the geolocating cat that had been lost and found its way home
after a journey of two months and 200 miles.”
In simpler terms, one can think of harnessing and channeling
the power of a raging river (Colorado) with the building of a massive dam
(Hoover) to provide power for millions of households and businesses across three
states.
Point to Ponder
A kite can only soar
with the wind when it is firmly anchored.
The more complicated question, of course, is HOW do we make
the channeling transition / transformation?
In particular, how do we SELF-actuate / SELF-actualize the “Channeling”
process?
Mechanistically, it may not matter. Many approaches combining both positive and negative
motivational forces may be applied.
However, the surest way to make the channeling transformation happen is
to get the Spirit “Hooked” upon – and firmly anchored to – a grand and
meritorious Dream or Destiny; it will find its own way. Dream BIG!
Quartermaster
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