Explaining a quote about relationshipsfrom @thejaunt_

Transcript

This is why you shouldn't worry about people cheating, but also why more broadly you shouldn't try to control your partner. This is a quote from Shunryu Suzuki, and he says, even though you try to put people under control, it is impossible. You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous, then they will be in control in a wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control them. So it is with people. First, let them do what they want and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them. Just watch them without trying to control them. And I just wanna add one clarification there. When he says encourage these people to be mischievous, I think he's kind of exaggerating there because I've read a decent amount of his stuff and, like, his lectures and whatnot, and he uses hyperbole or exaggerations and things like that to get, like, a bit of a shock factor. Hyperbole or exaggerations and things like that to better, like, a bit of a shock better. But he's not saying, oh, tell your girlfriend to download Tinder. He's more saying, like, that is the degree to which you should relinquish control over her. And as far as controlling her goes, give her the open meadow. Sorry to compare her to account. Give her the open meadow, and, she'll feel like she's not under your control, and yet in some weird way, she might be.