Back in the 1970s Shunryu Suzuki, then Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, wrote a classic of Zen and world literature called Zen Mind, Beginners’ Mind. The proposition was that “experts” have closed minds with few possibilities, while “beginners” have open minds with many possibilities. Therefore it’s better to be a beginner than an expert.

Well, it’s a wonderful book, full of wisdom and great writing. But is it true? In our society, experts are the ones who make the money. And money is the measure of success or failure. Beginners : students, interns, rookies, greenhorns, apprentices, newbies, long tail bloggers … are the ones we pass over in silence.

What Suzuki was really getting at is that beginners view everything as if it were new, fresh, and deeply interesting. Their consciousness is focused ferociously on the matter in hand, like a child with a new toy. They get more out of every experience because they are fully present to it ~ the essence of Zen.

Experts, by contrast, take a rather jaded, “seen it all before” view of the same events. Their minds are turning to “more important” matters like their diary for the coming week, upcoming meetings, papers to be written and presented, dinner parties to attend, boards to chair …

Suzuki felt that “attention” is the most important aspect of any person’s life. Attend fully to the matter in hand and you are fully alive. Split your mind by putting some things on autopilot and you’re not present to the moment, so partially dead. Marriages often suffer from this tendency and don’t last long once the robot takes over.

Interestingly, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Corp, is now saying much the same thing. In an inspiring speech at Stanford University he outlined his philosophy by telling three stories, ending with the thought : “Stay hungry, stay foolish”.

I’ve read Suzuki’s book a number of times in the past few years and I’m always amazed at the influence his simple message continues to have at the highest level of thought, especially among experts. They should know, after all, whether they’re happy, and connected to the inner core of life.

Suzuki’s thought, though refreshingly simple, comes down from Dogen, a 13th-century Japanese master who founded Soto Zen in Japan. His concept of “being-time” has influenced many modern-day thinkers, and bears some resemblance to Einstein’s relativity theory, as well as Quantum physics. The ideas are well assimilated by Suzuki and worn lightly in his message. A book for anyone who values getting the most out of each moment of their lives.