All Ways

WAY 112 / 03 CHANGE

Permanent link

Start with a clean slate

Leaving the previous material behind can restore your contact with the question.

When

The existing sketches and revisions keep pulling every new attempt back toward the same form.

The Way

A clean slate changes the conditions of attention. It does not erase what you learned; it removes the obligation to preserve the form that carried the learning.

Try

Archive the current version. Start again on a blank surface without consulting it for one full pass.

Notice

What returns because it matters, and what disappears because it was only inherited?

Reference quote and source
“Empty your mind and become formless and shapeless, like water. When you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup; into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash—be water, my friend.”
Related: change the room
{
  "id": "start-with-a-clean-slate",
  "number": "112",
  "edition": "Change",
  "title": "Start with a clean slate",
  "standfirst": "Leaving the previous material behind can restore your contact with the question.",
  "when": "The existing sketches and revisions keep pulling every new attempt back toward the same form.",
  "way": "A clean slate changes the conditions of attention. It does not erase what you learned; it removes the obligation to preserve the form that carried the learning.",
  "tryThis": "Archive the current version. Start again on a blank surface without consulting it for one full pass.",
  "notice": "What returns because it matters, and what disappears because it was only inherited?",
  "person": "Bruce Lee",
  "source": "The Contemporary Blueprint archive",
  "quote": "Empty your mind and become formless and shapeless, like water. When you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup; into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash—be water, my friend.",
  "sourceUrl": "https://youtu.be/uk1lzkH-e4U",
  "contexts": [
    "change",
    "stuck",
    "decide"
  ],
  "free": true,
  "related": [
    "change-the-room",
    "begin-with-a-testable-question",
    "return-to-the-seed"
  ],
  "sourceArchive": "The Contemporary Blueprint",
  "referenceKind": "quotation",
  "referenceExcerpt": "Empty your mind and become formless and shapeless, like water. When you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup; into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash—be water, my friend."
}

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