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Writer's pictureBrain Dumps

Principle of least resistance

As I wrote in “The natural flow of energy”, I strongly believe that the outcome is greater when energy flows naturally. I am aware that there seems to be a contradiction with the fact that success comes from hard work and perseverance: some would say this is nothing like a natural flow because it involves some fighting.


The relevant point, however, according to my reasoning, is that in “The natural flow of energy” I also mentioned that “it takes a huge amount of personal work to go peacefully this way“. What I think is a key differentiation here is “awareness” (and here we are again on awareness).


Having self-awareness of where the energy flows better and more naturally has tremendous value because it builds sustainability into the process. When something is sustainable it has more chances of running for a longer time, thus continuously delivering value. Perhaps less intuitive, more solutions are allowed to emerge in case of very complex problems. A “natural flow of energy” is not simple: it takes a lot of work to develop enough awareness so that eventually the natural flow emerges. On the other hand, this work should never resemble a “fight”, especially with oneself, but rather a “peaceful” and ever-dynamic dance, a search for harmonious balance.


There is a principle that seems to emerge from this brain dump, and that is the “Principle of least effort”. As I write this, however, I am not sure that “effort” is the proper word as it might point in the direction of “laziness”, which is not my intention. Although I read on several occasions that many processes - and perhaps evolution as well - can be seen under the lens of energy efficiency, what I mean here is more along the lines of a “Principle of least resistance”, which is the constant search for the path and direction that minimize resistance. This sounds easy at first but, as an example, when it comes to really letting go of something that holds us back, it becomes relatively clear why this is not a simple process.


Interesting coincidence. The night I decided to try to work on this brain dump, I found on YouTube a video from Sabine Hossenfelder where the German theoretical physicist mentions the “Principle of Least Action” [ref]:


δS = 0

Reaching the end of this brain dump, if I had to think about an implementation of such a principle it would be something like the following:


The more I speak, the less I know

I learn through listening, reading and watching, i.e. by receiving energy and information via sensory stimuli.


Picture created by the author using GenAI

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