I'm actually still in Tokyo. Even though I told you I was flying home on the 19th, it turns out there's still something I'm meant to see, learn, or do here, because I missed the flight and now I'll be flying home on the 21st.Speaking of things that are meant or not meant to be, let me tell you about my experience with Japanese Geisha. The encounter itself isn't all that interesting, but the circumstances are illustrative of a general pattern in how the universe seems to behave. First, I'll tell you how I DIDN'T meet any Geisha, then I'll tell you how I did. Then I'll relate that to the general pattern.
The usual place to hunt for Geisha is the Gion District in Kyoto. Gion also seems to be where all the good nightlife is in Kyoto, but that's another story. I was in Kyoto, I had just finished seeing the Kinkakuji temple, and I was looking at a nearby Japanese graveyard (Japanese graveyards
are beautiful) when I met a Finnish guy, L (pictured, with the striped shirt). L and myself made friends quickly and resolved to go hunt Geisha together in Gion district.The Geisha area of Gion is a kind of maze of narrow alleys, broken by the occasional Buddhist temple. Apparently, Geisha can be spotted here as they come out and get in taxis to go do their nightly duties. Well, we walked around for a couple hours and even shadowed some taxis, but we didn't spot any of the mysterious white-faced maidens.
Fast forward a week or so. I was staying in a capsule youth hostel (like a capsule hotel, except cheaper) in Asakusa. Asakusa is kind of out in the sticks of Tokyo, way out on the extreme end of the Ginza line (at the opposite end lies Shibuya). It was a weeknight evening and I was taking it easy, just relaxing. I met up with a French tourist, M, and we went to grab beers and talk about travelling. M was waiting for his Japanese girlfriend to call. We threw back a few Asahi beers and I was feeling really relaxed, just a general feeling like everything's alllllright. M's girlfriend called, so we finished our beers and parted ways.
Walking back toward the capsule hostel, I was in a totally blissful, present state, just totally content and expecting nothing. That's when I spotted the Geisha, out in the quiet outskirts of Tokyo, walking along. I caught up with her and started what's probably a pretty standard conversation for her, except coming from a foreigner speaking Japanese probably made it stand out a little. Just saying something like, "Wow, you're a geisha? It's the first time I've seen one!" She stopped and introduced herself and we talked briefly and she handed me her card. Kind of anticlimactic really, but then again it's not like I was out hunting for her. And that brings us to the general pattern.
THE GENERAL PATTERN
Life isn't meant to be hard. Life is meant to be easy, I believe that's a kind of universal law, and we just make it hard because of self-imposed limits, or feelings of unworthiness, and so on. Time and again I've seen that when I strive for something, it eludes me, just out of grasp. But when I just relax, all the best things in life just naturally flow toward me like I'm a magnet for adventure and fun and awesomeness.
When L and me were hunting for Geisha in Kyoto, we were making it harder than it is. Who knows: maybe some Geisha was there, and she peeped out the window, and saw, two obvious Geisha-hunting foreigners, with cameras ready... and maybe she decided to wait a minute for them to pass. I dunno.
You can see the same thing in nightclubs. There'll be guys who are tryyyyyyying sooooo harrrrd to get a bedmate for the night. And it's like the mere act of trying, repels the girls. These are often the same guys who will try to pull some Gollum shit and try to "sneak" into the girls pants. As if everyone in the club can't see straight through them.
When I was a kid, I played some online multiplayer text adventure games, and I wanted sooo badly to become one of the game administrators. I tried sooo hard, and all it accomplished was to push the goal away. The players who did become game administrators, got there by just having lots of fun playing the game.
What's your Geisha? We all have one, I'm sure. For some people, the Geisha is becoming a millionaire. For others, the Geisha is a girlfriend or boyfriend. Andrew Wiles' Geisha was Fermat's Last Theorem, one of the toughest problems in all of mathematics. He had basically no hope of solving it, and put it on the backburners for a long time, until other mathematicians made some giant breakthroughs on the problem. Only then was Wiles able to solve the problem, building upon the work of peers. If he'd tried to solve the problem on his own, he'd've been driven insane long before the other breakthroughs showed up.
Some goals are simple or easy enough that we can just plow our way toward them. Just stack enough widgets, and we get the goal. These smaller goals aren't Geisha. Geisha are the bigger goals, and especially goals which are a little outside our own power. With a goal like that, either you're meant to achieve it, or not. If you are, then it'll come. All you have to do is welcome it. Any more effort, either does nothing, or outright pushes the goal away. If you're not meant to achieve the goal, then again the same strategy applies. Just accept whatever happens. This way if the goal is not Destined To Be, you won't be driven mad in its pursuit.
Here are some other articles I've written. These articles are Geisha tested and approved.
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