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Shoshin – Embracing the Beginner’s Mind
Live Beautifully.
No.059 — Read old posts on Tinyfarmlab.com
Reading Time 4 minutes
When you’re starting out—fresh, wide-eyed, and curious—everything is new.
It’s both exhilarating and terrifying.
There’s freedom in not knowing, and a humility that keeps you hungry for more.
But over time, knowledge becomes a kind of wall.
You start to think you’ve seen it all before. It’s easy to get comfortable and settle into what works, and suddenly the urge to explore and risk begins to fade.
As Shunryu Suzuki writes in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind, there are few.”
It’s a paradox.
The more you learn, the more likely you are to stop learning,
falling into the trap of overestimating what you know.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities;
in the expert’s mind, there are few.
Beginners don’t have rigid beliefs about what works and what doesn’t.
To a beginner, anything is possible.
They experiment.
They’re open to trial and error, finding joy in discovering rather than knowing.
Consider some of the world’s great minds who embraced this philosophy:
Bruce Lee always believed there was more to learn beyond traditional martial arts forms.
Steve Jobs continuously asked, “What’s next?” never settling, always pursuing the unfamiliar.
Leonardo da Vinci maintained his childlike wonder, exploring everything from art to engineering with endless curiosity.
Nature’s Rhythm and the Shoshin Mind
Nature operates in cycles, forever adapting.
It’s a principle that the late Ursula K. Le Guin captures so well in Tales from Earthsea: “What goes too long unchanged destroys itself. The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives.”
What goes too long unchanged destroys itself.
The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives.
Nature doesn’t resist change; it embraces it.
We learn that same lesson every day building with natural materials.
For us, shoshin isn’t just a philosophy; it’s a practice.
Every project is a blank canvas.
The land, the materials, and the local community each play a role in shaping what we create.
When we build with cob and other natural materials, there is no fixed recipe.
Every soil, every site, and every project teaches us something new.
We first observe: the local houses, the craft, the techniques.
We listen to the land, letting the materials reveal what’s possible.
We experiment, adjust, and honor the unique characteristics of each place.
Adopting shoshin is about embracing a willingness to see the world anew every day.
Whether in building, in relationships, or in the daily tasks of life,
the beginner’s mind is what makes growth and beauty possible.
Love,
Raghav and Ansh
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What you can watch - Master Shi Heng Yi – 5 hindrances to self-mastery | Shi Heng YI | TEDxVitosha
“The universal law of being successful and happy at the same time means finding the balance”, says master Yi.
What you can listen to - “Nature as an Architect” presented by Ammar Khammash, Khammash Architects, Jordan
The lecture involved an open talk with the architect and the role nature has played in his architecture projects and art.
What You Can Read - A post by @thewarkitchen
This post talks about how you can be self-sufficient on different sizes of lands.
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