"We must obey the forces we want to command".

This quote from Francis Bacon strikes a very deep chord within me, as it defies our usual train of

thought. We believe that that we have to overcome nature and life in order to conquer them. My first

argument supporting this thesis is that in transforming the world, the forces of nature, in the

extended sense, are matters that cannot be changed and we must , by force, understand them and

learn to use them to our advantage. Simon Bolivar, at the end of his life, seeing how his efforts had

not turned out in the way he expected, said "I have plowed the sea", meaning he had fought against

something greater and more permanent than him, which always erased his efforts.

We cannot overcome the general attitude of people in life; in order to achieve a goal of

transformation, we have to work with the existing attitudes in people and life, and device ways to use

them to benefit our goals.

As an example, mega trends are simplifications of changes or conditions that are easily observed. It

is impossible to counteract them, and we need to follow them if we wish to have a successful

outcome in a project After Facebook exposed people's desire of connection, many ventures followed

this trend, becoming very successful, as Tweeter, Google+, etc. They have worked in the direction of

people's needs instead of trying to overcome them.

My second argument supporting Bacon's statement is in our own transformation; the more we fight

against a non desirable feature of our character, the stronger it becomes. Suzuki said "Instead of

respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to

conquer them.", and here it is where we have problems. Zen teaches us to accept things as they

are, and follow their path to adapt them to our benefit. As an example of this, I procrastinate very

much on my work. Time ago I tried to overcome this by telling myself "I am not a procrastinator".

This did not help to solve the problem. Afterwards, I began accepting myself as a procrastinator, and

setting reminders of my behavior; today I am totally conscious of this feature and the reminders are

useful in getting me to address the work at hand and manage the priorities in an efficient manner. I

obeyed nature instead of fighting her, and now I command her forces in this particular subject.

Quotes:

Simon Bolivar: Wikiquotes http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvar "Bolivar:

American Liberator", Marie Arana,Simon & Schuster, New York, 2013. and other biographies

Shinryu Suzuki:

Wikiquotes http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki,

"Zen Mind, Beginners Mind", Shunryu Suzuki, Weatherhill, New York & Tokyo, 2000