Cornelius' Meditations

Relaxed but alert

Note: I wrote this a month ago elsewhere. I thought this was an interesting idea, and decided to post it here.

Heard a great story today on a podcast episode discussing Buddhism and how it is related to daily life. I am not done with the episode yet. I just have to note down the epiphany (if you will), because there is no pen and paper around, and I might forget about this any second.

The hosts were talking about how lions catch their preys. In this context, the lion is trying to hunt down a group of antelopes in the grassland plain. The lion would not try to run after antelopes. Evolution has decided that antelopes would always be slightly faster than lions. What the lion would do is that he would quietly wait outside the herd, just on the edge of it. Not too far that he would lose sight of the antelopes, but also never too close to them to scare them off. And he would do so for the entire night. The next morning, an antelope wakes up and goes to pee a bit far away, The lion would wait until that single prey pees halfway and starts to sprint. He would take down that one antelope in seconds, and there is his food that would support him throughout probably the entire week or so.

What I find great about this story is what the lion does. The hosts of that episode called the state of that lion "Relaxed but alert". Imagine this. Should the lion be too relaxed, he would sleep for way too long the night before, and miss out on the perfect opportunity to take down the antelope. If he becomes too alert, the lion would waste all his energy on looking out on the herd. Thus, he wouldn't have enough energy to sprint and catch the prey the next morning. The lion is in a relaxed state so that he would get enough rest for the next morning, but stays alert for the best opportunity to make a move.

Relaxation and alertness are definitely not two kinds of state of mind that work perfectly well. I mean, think about it, they are almost antonyms. But a balance here between the two is for sure worth a shot.

P.S. On second thoughts, "relaxed" and "alert" are probably not antonyms. The opposite of "relaxed" is "anxious", and the opposite of "alert" is "sloppy". The connotations here are a bit different.