Michael Gerber Quote on Being Gentle With Your Spirit and How To Unite Your Spirit and Mind

“You need to be very gentle with your spirit. It needs to be free, but it also needs you to direct its attention. Too much of one, and not enough of the other, and your spirit will take off like a wild horse. That’s how you need to think of your spirit, like a wild horse. Part of it is there to serve you, and another part to serve itself. The thing you need to learn is which part is which. If you put it behind a fence, you will kill it. But if you leave it to come and go as it pleases, you will never understand it.”

Michael Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited (Page 158)

Beyond the Quote (181/365)

…And it’s not until you understand your spirit that can ever tame and unite forces with it. This is critical to understand because your spirit is one of the most powerful driving forces in your life. It’s only when your actions are backed by the power of your spirit that you can only ever realize your true potential and capability as a human being.

If somebody’s actions aren’t motivated by their spirit, it’s usually pretty obvious and easy to recognize. Their efforts are usually lukewarm, misguided, or lacking authenticity. You see this when somebody is doing work that they dislike doing just for a paycheck. Or when somebody is speaking about something that they don’t believe in or don’t fully understand. The disconnect between their mind and spirit is palpable.

On the flip side, people whose actions ARE motivated by their spirit are the people who are positively contagious to be around and are instantly recognizable. Their efforts are usually passionate, exuberant, and true to who they make themselves out to be. You see this when somebody is engaged in a career that aligns with their mission and beliefs in life. They speak passionately, act whole-heartedly, and prioritize their time and energy to their work. The united force that is their mind and their body is usually pretty electrifying.

So, how do we get there? How do we unite our mind and body and tame our spirit so that it can help us move forward in life? When you consider that your spirit is like a wild horse, you can look more closely at how you might make this happen. First, we want to form an association in the horses mind between us and pleasure. You have to be gentle and you have to be smart. When they see us, we want them to expect positive things. You want to let your spirit know, essentially, that it’s okay to be around the brain and that the brain isn’t going to use and abuse it.

This brings up an important side note before we continue. Many times, especially in today’s world, it’s not even just our minds that our spirit feels resistance and hesitation towards—it’s the minds of all those around us who are telling us how to think! This is why so many kids have incredibly intense feelings of resentment, anger, and confusion towards their parents—because in too many situations, it’s the parent’s minds that are trying to use and abuse the kids’ spirits! When parents force kids to pursue a job or a career that they’re not interested in pursuing, for example, because it’s financially rewarding or “stable” or whatever, the kid’s spirit reacts accordingly! Why wouldn’t it? Try to use and abuse a wild horse and it will run away from you faster than you could ever dream of catching it. This is why passion, excitement, and exuberance can’t be forced—it can only come from within.

During the second phase of training a wild horse, once it has a positive association with humans (you), the animal learns all the fundamental human interaction that is needed for basic horse-keeping. Essentially, once you and the horse are cool and your spirit knows that your brain isn’t going to use or abuse it, you can start doing stuff together. This starts at a very young age and is evident when you see a kid’s curiosity light up. When a child is drawn to a specific task or endeavor or question and gets lost in the act of engagement and exploration, it’s a sure sign that their mind and spirit are playing around and forming a connection. The more this playing, engagement, and nurturing goes on—the stronger the bond becomes. Just like any relationship between horse and human in reality.

This is why you have to be gentle—with your own spirit and with the spirit of others. Because even with years of bonding time, all it takes is one intensely bad experience to scare away someone’s spirit. This is where the caution, “be careful not to break their spirit” comes from and this is why we all should act mindfully towards others—especially those who have or interact with kids regularly. Because when you look around and see the sad and depressing scene of those who seem to lack “spirit”—that’s what you’re seeing. People who, many times through no fault of their own, have had their spirit scared off, abused, or killed. And so they go on droning forward in a lackluster, lukewarm, mind-only existence.

And you and I both know that that is no way to live and nobody should ever have their spirit scared off or taken from them. It’s one of the worst crimes any human can ever commit to another. And so rather than selfishly try to exploit other people’s minds/ spirits for your own benefit, convenience, prestige, or self-interest—nurture other people’s spirits like they were your own. Give them the space and support they need to explore their curiosities, aptitudes, and interests. Because it doesn’t matter how fast you think you can run on your own with just your mind, it is never going to come even close to how fast you can run when you’re on the back of your spirit horse, charging forward at full gallop towards a destination that you are unequivocally lit up by and excited to pursue from the deepest part of your core. It’s not even close. Like, not even kind of. So, be gentle. Take heed. Have patience. And good luck.

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