Effortless Action: The Art of Spontaneity
You’ll often hear athletes and other artists talk about those unique moments when they’re “in the mood.” It is a state of being where you are at one with your surroundings and are single-minded. Achieving this level of synergy with the world around you requires a deep understanding of your body and mind and the microcosm that exists within you. Effortless Action: The Art of Spontaneity outlines the principles of the concept of inaction that can help us all reach this plateau of heightened awareness and presence.
Martial arts embrace these principles in their truest iterations, though they are often tainted with notions of victory and achievement. The ultimate goal is to achieve the art of an easy life without ego. This is not a blatant display of strength, physical strength, and brute force. Instead, it’s about undercutting your own sharpness; that is, softening your personality to gain humility, compassion, respect, and honor.
The movie focuses on the imbalance between our yin and yang. Yin deficiency leads us down the path of stress and anxiety in our constant need to prove ourselves. This film challenges us all to look beyond our intellects, to reconsider our standards of personal success, and to dismantle our foolish desire to control our lives and our time. Discussions about nutrition come into play, especially the role sugar plays in wasting mental energy deep within us.
Filmmaker Jason Gregory advocates a mental detox—freezing one’s mind from all internal and external stimuli—as he discovers in his book Fasting. We must learn to accept the power of laziness.
Essentially, the film argues that the act of “getting in the state” shouldn’t be seen as a fleeting pursuit; it’s actually our natural state. This movie tries to teach us ways to destroy the intellectual and social vices that prevent us from reaching this state of being.
The sequel to the equally fascinating The Art of Ease of Living, Ease of Action: The Art of Spontaneity makes complex concepts accessible to general audiences and provides a collection of lessons and practices that can go a long way toward improving the quality of our lives.
Directed by: Jason Gregory
