Josh Waitzkin

This is a really important theme, and it's a gateway into so much. We can explore a lot through this tunnel. When I use this term pre-conscious and post-conscious artist or competitor, it's my own language, so I'll describe what I mean by it. Well, you think about myself in the chess world, right?

Like one discovers an art, one feels a passion for it, one, it's beautiful, it's joyous, it's self-expressive, I love the battle, I'm winning, I'm losing, I'm having fun, I'm just letting it rip, right? There's a naivete to that. There's a freedom, there's a playfulness, right?

Like one discovers an art, one feels a passion for it, one, it's beautiful, it's joyous, it's self-expressive, I love the battle, I'm winning, I'm losing, I'm having fun, I'm just letting it rip, right? There's a naivete to that. There's a freedom, there's a playfulness, right?

Like one discovers an art, one feels a passion for it, one, it's beautiful, it's joyous, it's self-expressive, I love the battle, I'm winning, I'm losing, I'm having fun, I'm just letting it rip, right? There's a naivete to that. There's a freedom, there's a playfulness, right?

There's a lack of complexity, a lack of self-awareness, a lack of awareness of my own mutability, a lack of awareness that I can be shattered or I can die. A lack of awareness of the existential absurdity of the fact that I'm devoting my life to 64 squares and 32 pieces of wood on top of 64 squares. I haven't reflected on the fact that this is ridiculous, right?

There's a lack of complexity, a lack of self-awareness, a lack of awareness of my own mutability, a lack of awareness that I can be shattered or I can die. A lack of awareness of the existential absurdity of the fact that I'm devoting my life to 64 squares and 32 pieces of wood on top of 64 squares. I haven't reflected on the fact that this is ridiculous, right?

There's a lack of complexity, a lack of self-awareness, a lack of awareness of my own mutability, a lack of awareness that I can be shattered or I can die. A lack of awareness of the existential absurdity of the fact that I'm devoting my life to 64 squares and 32 pieces of wood on top of 64 squares. I haven't reflected on the fact that this is ridiculous, right?

Or if you're fighting, like, what am I doing? I'm spending my life in combat. Like, what about love? What about saving the planet? What about everything else? I haven't reflected on the fact that this is just a joke in its absurdity, right? And one's liberated from those kinds of things.

Or if you're fighting, like, what am I doing? I'm spending my life in combat. Like, what about love? What about saving the planet? What about everything else? I haven't reflected on the fact that this is just a joke in its absurdity, right? And one's liberated from those kinds of things.

Or if you're fighting, like, what am I doing? I'm spending my life in combat. Like, what about love? What about saving the planet? What about everything else? I haven't reflected on the fact that this is just a joke in its absurdity, right? And one's liberated from those kinds of things.

And then there comes this moment, and for me it was triggered by the movie, by losing that sense of self-expression, by thinking what would someone else do here instead of what's my freedom, my playfulness tell me to do. It can happen when one has a near-death experience. It can happen when one has one's heart broken. It can happen when one...

And then there comes this moment, and for me it was triggered by the movie, by losing that sense of self-expression, by thinking what would someone else do here instead of what's my freedom, my playfulness tell me to do. It can happen when one has a near-death experience. It can happen when one has one's heart broken. It can happen when one...

And then there comes this moment, and for me it was triggered by the movie, by losing that sense of self-expression, by thinking what would someone else do here instead of what's my freedom, my playfulness tell me to do. It can happen when one has a near-death experience. It can happen when one has one's heart broken. It can happen when one...

starts reading existentialist literature and reflecting on the absurdity of things. Or one has a friend who starts pointing out over and over like, this is fucking ridiculous. You're just playing chess. What are you doing? Right?

starts reading existentialist literature and reflecting on the absurdity of things. Or one has a friend who starts pointing out over and over like, this is fucking ridiculous. You're just playing chess. What are you doing? Right?

starts reading existentialist literature and reflecting on the absurdity of things. Or one has a friend who starts pointing out over and over like, this is fucking ridiculous. You're just playing chess. What are you doing? Right?

Or it can happen when one wins the world championship or the NBA finals, because suddenly the thing that you have oriented yourself around your whole life, the goal you had your whole life, you've now accomplished. And now you're on the other side of it. And so suddenly your world has shifted. The things that motivated you no longer motivate you.

Or it can happen when one wins the world championship or the NBA finals, because suddenly the thing that you have oriented yourself around your whole life, the goal you had your whole life, you've now accomplished. And now you're on the other side of it. And so suddenly your world has shifted. The things that motivated you no longer motivate you.

Or it can happen when one wins the world championship or the NBA finals, because suddenly the thing that you have oriented yourself around your whole life, the goal you had your whole life, you've now accomplished. And now you're on the other side of it. And so suddenly your world has shifted. The things that motivated you no longer motivate you.

The things that felt so important to you now seem somewhat trivial because you've already accomplished that. Like where's the intrinsic motivation? Where's the deep self-expression, right? You think about... Like as we gain complexity in our psychology, and we can gain that complexity in many different ways, we hit this tunnel, right?