“You will be alone with the Gods, and the nights will flame with fire.” – Charles Bukowski
Last week, a Path member asked me about “going all in”:
Burning the boats, cutting the ropes, pushing all of your chips into the middle of the table plus the final quarter in your pocket you were saving to call for a ride home afterwards.
That sort of thing.
It’s a romantic notion, and it makes for sparky motivational videos, but I’m not convinced those motivators know what going “all in” actually means.
Here’s why:
Most people try to go “all-in” because they think it will get them better results.
(ie. I’m all-in on basketball so I can play pro someday)
But going all-in means you’re all-in regardless of results.
(ie. I’m all-in on basketball whether I make it to the pros or not)
It’s the difference between the parent who loves and supports and protects their child no matter how bratty they’re being…
vs.
…The husband who “loves” his wife until she lies, cheats, or puts the wrong brand of mayo on his sandwich.
(there is only one true mayo, after all)
To which, you might say:
Why should the husband continue loving his lying, cheating, sandwich-eating wife?
To which, I might reply:
I agree.
Lying and cheating and Miracle Whip could be deal-breakers for me, too.
But that’s the point:
As long as we have deal-breakers, we’re not all-in.
Being all-in means there are no more deal breakers:
No reasons for surrender, no paths of retreat, no quarters in pockets.
All in means all-fxcking-in.
To which, you might say:
Should I go all in?
To which, I might reply:
If you have to ask, you aren’t, which probably means you shouldn’t.
Going all-in isn’t a choice but an imperative; an obsession, a passion, and a love of your craft so consuming you don’t even have time to realize you’ve gone all in until it’s too late, and there’s nothing to do but strap in and ride the rocket ’till it burns out or touches the stars.
Either result, of course, being perfectly okay with you, because it’s not about the rocket.
It’s about the ride.
– T
P.S. Here’s the reply I posted in our Path community:
“All in means you do it regardless of whether you “succeed” or not. I’ve been doing obsessive inner development work for most of my adult life, entirely for free until last year when I began teaching it. There is no end goal to this path for me, no measurable outcome or result I am chasing. I do it because I am deeply moved to do it; I have always done it, and likely will always do it, whether or not I get paid to do it, because the goal for me is simply to do it. The means are the ends.”
I’m considering re-opening The Path to new members next week, so hit reply to let me know if you’re interested.
