#90: We’re All Nothing, But Can We Do This With Ease?

Who am I? What is the role I am meant to play? I don’t have the answers, but when I immerse myself in nature, it feels like I am so much closer to them.

Jonathan Kay, the 21st Century Fool, famously said:

«We are all nothing, but can we do this with ease?»

His TEDx talk gives a glimpse into the way he interacts with his audience. I can imagine that he makes most people in the theater uncomfortable. Uncomfortable about what?

What do we have to lose when we behave like a fool?

Today, I took myself the privilege of spending some quality time out there in nature. It turned out that I wasn’t on my own. Two swans, a few ducks, hundreds of busy bees and a total of eight storks had apparently decided to do the same. Although I got pretty close to the two swans, nobody seemed to bother about my presence. It was almost like I was nothing to them.

Had I worn a funny hat and made strange sounds, it wouldn’t have made a difference to them. Most likely, though, I would have experienced it as liberating. I am sure that we look pretty foolish to a swan or a stork even without a funny hat.

So when I sat there in the grass, it felt like nothing. Nobody there to judge me. No expectations. Nothing to justify. Really easy to be nothing when you are out there on your own.

The challenge now is to take that feeling back into what we call civilization or real life. What is it like to feel the same in the context of our family or business relationships? Why don’t we play with the idea that others look at us the way swans, ducks, bees and storks do?

That would make it easy.

But when will we start to play?