{"id":4519,"date":"2015-04-08T14:44:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T18:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/?p=4519"},"modified":"2015-04-09T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T15:50:54","slug":"the-quest-for-wu-wei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/2015\/04\/08\/the-quest-for-wu-wei\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quest for Wu-Wei"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the core office is situated on a college campus, we have, ever so often, heard variations of this unfortunate conversation:<\/p>\n

Timmy: “How’d you do on the paper, Josh?”<\/p>\n

Josh: “I did alright. You?”<\/p>\n

Timmy: “Oh you know, just a 98. I’m surprised though. I started the book yesterday, watched TV until 1am. Wrote it mostly this morning, and turned it in right at 12pm when it was due.”<\/p>\n

Josh: [Deflates and looks with chagrin at his perfectly decent, stressed- over- for-a-week-paper, which received an 83%] <\/em><\/i>“Oh. Cool. I like, I … hey is that a man walking a miniature pig down Comm Ave? Let’s say hello!”<\/p>\n

Timmy, who put in no apparent effort towards his schoolwork, obtained stellar results. Josh, who tried hard, did only so-so. How annoying.<\/p>\n

In a piece<\/a> in the New York Times<\/em>, author John Tierney defines the Chinese terminology for this paradox–“wu wei,” or “effortless action:”<\/p>\n

“Pronounced ‘ooo-way,’ it has similarities to the concept of flow, that state of effortless performance sought by athletes, but it applies to a lot more than sports. Wu wei is integral to romance, religion, politics, and commerce. It’s why some leaders have charisma and why business executives insist on a drunken dinner before sealing a deal.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The real question is how does one achieve this sense of “wu-wei?” Is it, as Confucius suggested, through the disciplined practice of virtue? Or is it, as the Tao suggests, through accepting the world as it is, and going with the flow?<\/p>\n

Perhaps the answer lies in the words of a wise, somewhat green Jedi, who said: “Do or do not do. There is no try.”<\/p>\n

\"yoda\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the core office is situated on a college campus, we have, ever so often, heard variations of this unfortunate conversation: Timmy: “How’d you do on the paper, Josh?” Josh: “I did alright. You?” Timmy: “Oh you know, just a 98. I’m surprised though. I started the book yesterday, watched TV until 1am. Wrote it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1284,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4519"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4534,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519\/revisions\/4534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}