People often espouse the notion that fight or flight is our instinctual supposition in a state of stress, but no one has yet -at least not in my presence – talked about Fight and Flight as existing in the same state. When we frame the characteristic attributed to “Fight or Flight” the use of the preposition “or” as a choice rather than a relationship that exist in conjunction of the same spectrum. Those that have experienced Fight & Flight in a united state knows of its immense power and debilitating affect. However, those who understand it wield a power like none other. You too can wield this power…. I caution you though, you will need to understand that its mystery is one not to be taken lightly. Do not proceed unless you are comfortable with a state of “I don’t know.” This power cannot be mastered. It can, however, be learned. Once you learn it, you will have no choice but to teach it. And, when you teach it the learning has only just begun. This mystery is the unknown. The unknowable power that you may only know by understanding that you will never understand its mystery.
Okay, Ready to begin?
The concept of Fight or Flight is a belief that you hold. You’re probably asked which you are: In a stressful situation do you run away or do you act and move toward it? Let’s say a dragon is attacking the city. Do you run? Or do you fight the dragon. Whether an individual chooses to run or fight, both individuals are acting with the same purpose and aiming for the same outcome. Both individuals in this scenario want the situation to end. But, there is also a third person. This person confuses us when we see them in movies. The third person is the deer in the headlights not knowing what they should do, so they cower and get killed. This third person’s actions also got the desired result.. The situation ended!
Many of us act as that third person. Though, the scenario we want to change does not end. It drags on and on. Until one day we wake up and say, hey I’m tired of fighting and flying at the same time. So, we choose one. We go somewhere else or we fight the dragon that is terrorizing our world. We know that we have a power unbeknownst to the rest. We know that if we wield it, we will be victorious. We also know that the dragon lives on top of a big mountain. Once we slay the beast, there is an even bigger mountain for us to climb. But, we can’t see that mountain. We wonder if the mountain is somewhere else entirely. Because that bigger mountain is where our intuition tells us to go, we are fighting the boredom of the lower mountain while wanting to fly to find the true mountain.
To conquer the dragon, we must learn when to fight and when to fly otherwise we will get swallowed whole. For some of us fight and flight is a constant game of tug of war. Fighting flight and flying fight. There is no choice. You’ll recall from your elementary math that Zero is not a real number. We are always flying and fighting. And, when you get close to where zero theoretically resides you will find the third person. Fighting to fly. It’s in this third space where we master the art of discernment.
We take flight when we’re open to the possibility of a second mountain beyond the grasp of the dragon. We fight when we’re closed to the possibility that the second mountain doesn’t exist at all. The third person is closed off to the world but open to discovery of a new world. The third person doesn’t always get swallowed. They don’t have to. It may be that the third person who gets swallowed is just experiencing it for the first time. Those who have experienced it, they aren’t caught up in the moment. They are ecstatic to be back in the driver seat in a theoretical state of zero. It’s a white canvas situation for these guys.
These are the guys that scale the mountain. Kill the beast and have a new vantage point for discovery of the second mountain. They are are closed off to the idea that this world cannot ascend above the dragon’s layer. While the dragon was terrorizing the peasants, it may have seemed a mundane existence. Those in power were powerless to their own greed to gain resources they could never utilize in their lifetime all in the name of racing against the clock. It’s inevitable that the dragon will kill you. Most fighters and fliers are content to spend their life playing games and collecting their winnings.
Not the third person. The third person looks for games to introduce that help people fly toward the second mountain and fight to ascend with their loved ones in tow. The third person is given what feels like a curse in the form of a gift. The third person is an explorer. Fighting their urge to fly to somewhere unknown. Flying to fight for what is equally unknown but doing so through the known mundane world occupied by the overseeing dragon.
It takes a village to raise a child. All villagers deserve to get what they want. The dragon believes “people don’t know what they want” and he is therefore safe from any person that would wield the courage to fly up to him and fight. But the third person knows something the dragon does not: “People know what they do not want.” The third person does not want the second mountain to not exist. If the dragon is not slayed, the opportunity to discover the second mountain is threatened. Flying away to discover a second mountain does not guaranty that the village is blessed with a new mountain.
The third person must serve the cause rather than their ego’s desire to be the founder of the second mountain. All that matters is that the second mountain is realized for the good of the village. If one flies away and finds the second mountain but does not return to show the village the way, what is the point?
The power to sit in an unknown state and accept it as now. That is the gift. The present will not last. It will pass, but it can be a gift that keeps on giving. Fight and flight is always a choice until it is not. Learning how to avoid the choice – dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee – is the learning lesson. To go in faith always persisting to reach the second mountain and realizing that you are never alone. Your persistence is in the name of God. Ultimate Reality is not beyond you.
This ultimate reality is the third person’s nature. Because it is their nature, they already exist from the place for which they are trying to return. They access this place in the subconscious of their mind while their consciousness is living in the world that you and I agree is the physical places we observe today. The third person is not from this world. They are from the ultimate reality. Their purpose is to help the world find their way to the ultimate reality.
The third persons only need make one decision: Fight the dragon or hope someone else does while they go chill in the woods.
Some third persons cannot help but fight the desire to fly to the woods. Sometimes they bring the woods to the village. This is problematic. They are caught like a deer without headlights to wake them up. They walk around like cattle, barely awake, playing cow games to fatten them up. The third person must become a GOAT. They must scale that mountain. Time is of the essence, but is no matter. The dragon must be slayed so that the people can find Ultimate Reality.
Be a GOAT. Just Do it. Life’s a mountain. Not a Beach.
Author: Jeff Donnelly
Game Designer. In both business and life, the potential is limited by the number of transactions available. Life is like a game. Jeff designs games that allow people to realize their full potential.