Life is a Nine-dot Problem
I have immensely enjoyed reading Full Catastrophe Living by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn (b. 1944), a very readable and practical book on mindfulness, published in 1990. I have read the 25th anniversary issue, published in 2013. The more than 600-page book presents the details of an 8-week course known as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) offered through the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts that Kabat-Zinn founded in 1979. It dives deep into explaining the fundamentals of mindfulness in an impeccable scientific manner.
“Catastrophe” in the title of the book does not have the usual meaning of disaster but conveys what Kabat-Zinn calls “the poignant enormity of our life experience.” He explains that he chose this title from the Academy Award-winning 1964 film Hollywood film Zorba the Greek. There is a young Greek young man in the film who seeks guidance from a mysterious elderly man Alexis Zorba, played by Anthony Quinn (1915 –2001). In one scene in the film, the young man asks Zorba if he is married. Zorba says, as if growling, “Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man, so I’m married. Wife, children, house – everything. The full Catastrophe.”
Kabat-Zinn says that every life is a catastrophe – struggle, hardships, uncertainties, failures, betrayals, and wrongs done – and every person on the planet has his or her own unique version. Making the acceptance of this fact the cornerstone of one’s life, according to the book, one must assume full responsibility for whatever has happened and respond rather than run away with excuses and pretend that all is well by living in a bogus manner, a sham of a life. Historically, mindfulness is related to Buddhism, but Kabat-Zinn presents it as “cognitive therapy” providing a powerful theoretical rationale and citing clinical validation over decades of its application.
In Chapter 12 of the book, titled Glimpses of Wholeness, Delusion of Separateness, Kabat-Zinn brings in the famous problem of nine dots. The task is to connect all nine dots by four straight lines without lifting the pencil off the paper. Most people are stuck after drawing three lines. The solution lies in extending the lines beyond the 3×3 matrix. Kabat-Zinn writes, “The problem of the nine dots suggests that we may need to take a broader view of certain problems if we hope to solve them. . . the problem of nine dots teaches us that we may have to expand beyond our habitual, highly conditioned ways of seeing, thinking, and acting in order to solve, resolve, or even dissolve certain kind of problems.”
What a beautiful message from a stunningly simple example! We are all prisoners of our nine dots. Our minds are hardened due to fossil ideas, dogmas, and obsolete definitions, and scales and measures that are no more valid. Who among us is not a puppet of our habits, our hunger, and drives – cravings, likes and dislikes, egocentricities, and so on? Kabat-Zinn writes, “Rather than penetrating through problems to the point where solutions are reached, when we get stuck there is a tendency to make more problems, and to make them worse, also to give up trying to solve them.”
I will now present these nine dots as a universal pattern of the problems in life. The three rows of this 3×3 matrix are – personal, family, and workplace. The three columns under “personal” are health, inner peace, and satisfaction. The three columns under “family” are harmony, happiness, and prosperity. The three columns under “workplace” are name (power), fame (status), and wealth. All of us are stuck in this maze – the moment we connect a few dots, unconnectable dots stare at us.
There are very powerful people with horrible family lives. Very famous people are drowned in addictions and die young, even by suicide. Wealth brings its own collateral damages – from scheming by partners and colleagues to regulatory probes topping the normal business risks, it is common to see wealthy people living tormented lives. So, what the solution to this problem teaches – get out of this prison of “I,” “me,” and “mine” and take a broader view of your life.
We were born in a certain family, grew up in certain circumstances, and got into certain livelihoods; most of us are married, but even those few who remained single are facing Zorba’s full Catastrophe. What is elusive is good health (which my mentor Dr. APJ Kalam would define as sound sleep and regular bowel movement), peace of mind, and your children and mentees flourishing in their lives and careers. You have everything but because these are missing, despair clouds your mind, and your heart slips into melancholy.
Albert Einstein (1879 –1955), whom I consider the greatest visionary of modern times who could see beyond the solar system, beyond gravity, and even beyond the straightness of light rays before anyone. There are three authentic sources of what Einstein said: The World as I see It (1934), Out of My Later Years (covering the years 1934-1950), and Mein Weltbild (1953). Ideas and Opinions, based on Mein Weltbild and other sources, is the most popular book in English. I share two of Einstein’s thoughts here, taken from the book (Three Rivers Press):
The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self. (p. 12)
To see with one’s own eyes, to feel and judge without succumbing to the suggestive power of the fashion of the day, to be able to express what one has seen and felt in a trim sentence or even in a cunningly wrought word—is that not glorious? (p. 17)
So, connect with your real self, feel your emotions, and use your rational mind. Kabat-Zinn writes, “Our real job, with a capital J, is to find our own way.” And your way goes out of the nine dots. You are not the hero in the drama – not even in your family – forget about the community, company, or the world. You are one among the billions – appearing for a brief period of some decades, that too as a work in progress – now wise, now foolish, now brave, and now craven. Like a pendulum, our mind is driving us between likes and dislikes, moving shadows under the sun of a pole that even does not exist.
Look at the people around you, observe them, feel their problems, empathize with their feelings, resonate with their aspirations, and you will find yourself connecting all the dots without even trying. Still doubtful? Observe your breath. Are you exhaling something different than the others around you? Do you drink different water? Eat different food? Have a body with different anatomy and physiology? Know yourself as a dot and ride upon the line.
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A very interesting article indeed! The nine-dot problem is a classic lateral thinking exercise that gained widespread popularity in the 1970’s and 80’s. Who has not indulged with a set of dots arranged in a 3×3 grid and tried to connect all nine dots, without lifting the pencil from the paper, using the fewest possible number of straight lines?
The enduring aspect of the puzzle is that it highlights the way our minds tend to impose unnecessary limitations upon methods of attacking problems. Clearly, this solution requires one to “think outside” the “box” that is formed by the nine dots but if we are to fully embrace the idea of “outside the box” thinking, why stop there? We can roll the paper as a cylinder and draw just one line, connecting all the dots!
Interesting analogy between a nine dot problem and the problems in life, Prof Tiwariji !
Your suggestion of identifying oneself as a dot and ride upon the line is inspiring !!
Thank You, Professor Arun Tiwari.
Life as a Nine-Dot Problem – once solved as a mathematical trick suddenly turned into a beautiful and usable paradigm. One has to find their way, contextualising and weaving the great works that your blog does is however helpful.’ Your last para that sums up the narrative makes the reader understand and take practical action.
Infact we are prisoners of our own likes and dislikes. The forgetfulness of momentum of our existence and failure to resonate within and elements of life outside creates a shell that makes one’s existence miserable. The simple ruth for a happy life is to be what you are and accepting people and events as they are and not brooding over what went wrong. This is thread of healthy, JOYOUS and purposeful existence.
Indeed 9 dots problem is rampened in our day to day life. Much exposure to diffent facets of life, different people, different cultures would make a huge difference to solve the problem. It is so well written, sometimes appears a route to innovation in the scientific arena. Thanks Prof tiwari ji for such a mindful Blog.
Dear Sir, Thank you for sharing a nice blog on 9 dots, reminded me your one of the best lecture of OB, a slide was on Who Am I, in that you had explained the idea of Body, mind and Soul. This is 1 level above of that lecture.
Trying to follow-up the idea of 9 dots but found it hard to implement as the feeling of ‘I’ is very strong. Regards.
Conquer your mind and you conquer the universe…….
Humans as rightly quoted by you of Kabat-Zin are in perpetual Catastrophe. Overcome, and you are a super human being. Easy said than done, isn’t it. If it was so simple life would be that elusive heaven which one lingers for through his or her life. Having said that, if one still is able to assume responsibility of even fifty percent of the wrong doings done, one would indeed be on cloud nine, thrilled to achieve some peace in this disturbed world.
The explanation rendered by you of the Nine dot puzzle made an interesting read. It sure is a beautiful message from a simple example. One needs to come out of the cocoon one lives in, do something out of the box and bingo! There lies the solution. Let’s not be prisoners of our mind – what a beautiful line it is. Mind is and remains conditioned to what we have seen, observed and get used to right from childhood to adulthood and beyond. We revolve and think around the same. Cross the bridge and there lies a universe much green and much satisfying.
Get out of this prison of “I,” “me,” and “mine” and take a broader view of your life – this indeed sets the mind ringing. My suggestion – Better sit in a room with no disturbance and trespassing, sip from your desired cup of tea or coffee, and brood over how we can get out of this prison of I, me and mine.
By the time you finish your steaming cup, realization will flicker – I, me and mine is passe, get liberated from self. What primarily is important is your health. A healthy body has a healthy mind to value self and will not be carried away by the fashion of the day. One needs to chart one’s own way and I do agree one needs to stretch beyond nine dots.
The way beyond will be self leading the moment we start understanding people around. Yes! You would be connecting the dots and come out of the maze – a winner.
Sir, thank you for this very interesting and insightful article. We grew up in life believing that knowledge is the main resource that a person to bear on problem of life. But as you so simply brought out in the blog prior knowledge also produces unconscious biases that might influence perception and/or encoding of a problem. In general, prior knowledge can be helpful and productive when reasoning or solving a problem. However, when a problem solver faces a very unfamiliar or novel type of problem, there is no guarantee that prior knowledge will be relevant or helpful.
Unless we emerge out of self-created barriers of turning on a non- dot point, i.e., ending one line and beginning a new line in a space between dots; crossing lines, i.e., drawing lines that intersect and cross; and picking up interior dots, i.e., drawing lines that cross dots that are in the interior of the nine-dot and its variants, we cannot solve this problem. May take is that to succeed in life, we must de-activate or relax the constraints imposed by the automatically activated but unhelpful knowledge – auspicious days and times, reliance on opinion of our friends, as two examples. Actually, we must examine all our prior concepts, principles, skills, or dispositions that are embedded into our style of doing work.
A good read that brings to light a simple lesson of how so often we limit ourselves within boundaries that don’t even exist. This blog is a kind reminder that prevents many from going deeper into the abyss.
Giving, receiving, listening, sharing or caring with all our heart requires a lot of effort. It is easy to love the loveable or those who are just like us. But when we wish to follow the golden rule, we ought to work hard to think beyond the superficial walls that divide us.
May we always carry with us the toolbox containing the 9NV to seal the frissons of hostility.
Bhaisaab, this is Really a most useful paradigm for an enjoyable life!
It says, Keep the senses at bay. As much as possible, by cultivating our higher value driven mind.
The mind has a lower as well as higher dimension.
The lower is animalistic. No wonder as we ARE animalistic.
But as humans we have the gift of imagination. That can both torment us through our imaginative fears, but can fly us upwards into the higher dimensions and allow us to paint a future.
Dogs and cats and even apes cannot do this. Human beings are special beings, and God our maker has given us this gift of imagination. It can take us up, or it can take us down.
The best path is the middle path as the wise have said again and again.
Grihastha se hi Moksha ka raasta nikalta hai.
The travails of running a household. And it’s required discipline. All Lead us on the upward path.
If we meet a Teacher.
The teacher is needed to do Mindfulness!!
Best regards,
Dear Prof Tiwari
How so nicely you have put the message on “nine dots” into practical living. Thank you!
Looks like those of us in our latter years are as reflective of our lives as your piece has well captured …
Thanks for sharing your mind with us.