What if the techniques we come up with on our own are actually in need of correction?

What if there are techniques we should avoid altogether? This is where a ‘jump rope’ — a metaphor for learning, experimentation and evaluation — can be used. We are no longer bound to follow techniques that are handed to us by someone else.

We are now free to create our own version of ‘how to become a better person’ — a jump rope for life. For years, I’ve had a jump rope, with a red center strip on the handle and a “5” stamped on the upper part of the rope. I like to think about this rope as being both physical — representing the way our bodies are intertwined with reality and the world — and also conceptual — representing both the way our minds may be entangled with our actions and the world.

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My jump rope is the very rope that Einstein used to illustrate the path to maturity: First, you need to know the techniques I’ll pass through the center strip. If you put the center strip on your jump rope on the ground, you have access to a host of techniques about how to approach things in life, whether what you’re pursuing is good or bad. In a sense, you could think that you’re learning how to live by seeing how my life is a good jump rope training.

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