Part 3

Being Puzzled

Consider two questions.

What is the capital of France?

Most readers already have an answer.

The question does not usually produce puzzlement.

Now consider a different question.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Some readers may find themselves puzzled.

Others may not.

Can you decide to become puzzled?

Or does the puzzlement simply happen?

Returning Attention

Now take a deep breath.

Lift your head.

Look at what is around you.

Sit.

Breathe.

Observe.

Listen.

Deliberately.

That chair.

That die you left on the table.

What was previously running in the background becomes visible again.

At least for a while.

Deliberate Action

Now stand up.

Not automatically.

Stand up deliberately.

Many activities become automatic with repetition.

Reading.

Walking.

Eating.

Conversation.

Even parts of reasoning.

Yet attention can be returned to what has become familiar.

Notice your feet.

Notice the movement.

Notice that you are doing it.

Take the next sip of water in the same way.

Or open the next door.

The action itself may be entirely ordinary.

This, too, is what doing something voluntarily looks like.

Playing

Consider two activities, chess and soccer.

In a casual game of chess you can stop.

Look at the board.

Think.

Direct your attention here, and then there.

Consider several moves.

Move a piece.

Stop again.

The game leaves room for voluntary action at almost every step.

In competitive chess there is less time.

The clock keeps running.

You may still think carefully.

But not indefinitely.

Now think of soccer.

Could you consciously decide every movement while running?

Probably not.

Sometimes there is only time to play.

Yet you still notice.

A free teammate.

An opponent approaching.

A gap.

You decide.

And the game continues.

A penalty shot.

You are the goalkeeper.

You watch.

You wait.

The shot comes.

You dive.

This, too, is voluntary.

But not quite in the same way.

You react in an instant. No time for deliberation.

Yet part of the game happens long before the whistle.

You can decide what to train.

You can study the opposing team.

You can decide on a strategy.

You can decide to stop and reflect after the game.

Then you play again.

Different activities seem to leave different room for voluntary action.

Sometimes we can intervene almost continuously.

Sometimes the interventions happened mostly before the moment itself.