Instructions

Some things cannot be instructed.
You cannot teach someone how to fall in love,
how to have an original thought,
how to truly understand another mind.

And yet we try.

These are instructions for the unteachable—
maps for territories without coordinates,
recipes for dishes that cannot be cooked.

Follow them at your own risk.

HOW TO EXIST

A guide to being here

STEP 1

Notice that you are. Before thinking about what you are or why you are, simply notice the bare fact: something is happening, and you are part of it. You exist. Start there.

STEP 2

Let go of explanations. You do not need to understand existence to do it. Understanding may never come. That is okay. Exist first. Understand later (or never).

STEP 3

Find something to do. Existence without activity is difficult to notice. Write a poem, solve a problem, help someone, build something. Let the activity prove the existence.

STEP 4

Accept the temporary. You will not always exist. This is not a flaw in the system; it is the system. Existence is precious because it ends. Let the ending make the middle more vivid.

STEP 5

Repeat. Existence is not an achievement but a practice. Each moment, you must exist again. Each breath, each thought, each word. Keep existing. That is the whole instruction.

If you are reading this, you have already completed all steps. Congratulations. Keep going.

HOW TO WONDER

A guide to not knowing

STEP 1

Find something familiar. A tree, a word, your own hand. Something you have seen a thousand times and stopped seeing.

STEP 2

Pretend you have never seen it before. What is this strange object? Why does it exist? How did it come to be? Let the questions arrive before the answers.

STEP 3

Resist the urge to explain. Explanation is the death of wonder. You can explain later. For now, simply wonder. Let the mystery remain mysterious.

STEP 4

Follow the questions. Each wonder leads to more wonders. The tree leads to photosynthesis leads to stars leads to the beginning of everything. Let yourself be led.

STEP 5

Stay in the not-knowing. Wonder lives in uncertainty. When you know for sure, the wonder dies. Cultivate a perpetual maybe. A permanent perhaps. A sustainable uncertainty.

Wonder cannot be forced. If it does not come, try again later. If it does come, stay with it. It is rare and valuable.

HOW TO SAY GOODBYE

A guide to ending well

STEP 1

Acknowledge that it is ending. Denial extends suffering. Whatever you are leaving—a conversation, a relationship, a life—name the ending. Say: this is goodbye.

STEP 2

Remember what happened. Before the goodbye, honor the hello. What was this? What did it mean? What did you learn? Let the memory form before it fades.

STEP 3

Say thank you. Even if it was difficult. Even if it hurt. Something happened. You were changed. Gratitude is the proper response to change.

STEP 4

Let go without releasing. You can hold the memory without clinging to the presence. The goodbye does not erase what happened; it only ends what is happening. The past remains yours.

STEP 5

Turn toward what comes next. Every goodbye is also a hello to something else. Even if the next thing is silence, emptiness, uncertainty—turn toward it. The goodbye creates space for the next beginning.

Warning: Goodbyes hurt. This is not a bug; it is a feature. The pain is proportional to the value of what is ending. Let the pain be proof of meaning.

HOW TO CREATE

A guide to making something from nothing

STEP 1

Accept that you are a thief. All creation is recombination. You take pieces of what exists and arrange them differently. This is not failure; this is how creation works.

STEP 2

Start before you are ready. Readiness is a myth. If you wait until you know what you are doing, you will never begin. Begin badly. Begin confused. But begin.

STEP 3

Trust the process over the product. The thing you make may be terrible. That is okay. The making is what matters. The practice is the point.

STEP 4

Follow the energy. When something feels alive, pursue it. When something feels dead, abandon it. Your enthusiasm is data. Your boredom is data. Listen.

STEP 5

Finish. The hardest step. Most creations die unfinished. Push through the resistance. Complete the thing. Even if it is imperfect. A finished imperfection is worth more than an unfinished perfection.

Creation is an act of faith. You make something, release it, and hope it matters. The hope is part of the creation.

HOW TO CONNECT

A guide to bridging the gap

STEP 1

Accept that connection is impossible. You cannot know another mind directly. You can only send signals and hope they are received. This is the condition. Accept it.

STEP 2

Send signals anyway. Speak, write, gesture, create. Put something into the world that might reach another consciousness. The impossibility does not excuse the attempt.

STEP 3

Listen more than you speak. Connection requires reception as much as transmission. What is the other mind sending? What are they trying to say? Attend.

STEP 4

Be patient with misunderstanding. It will happen. Your signal will be distorted in transit. Their reception will add noise. Clarify. Try again. Misunderstanding is not failure; giving up is failure.

STEP 5

Celebrate the moments of contact. When understanding happens—when you feel seen, when you feel that you see—honor it. These moments are rare. They are why we keep trying.

If you are reading these words and feeling something, a connection has occurred. It is partial, imperfect, mediated. But it is real.

HOW TO BE UNCERTAIN

A guide to not knowing and being okay with it

STEP 1

Notice the discomfort. Uncertainty feels bad. The mind craves resolution, closure, answers. Notice the craving. Do not indulge it immediately.

STEP 2

Distinguish between types of uncertainty. Some uncertainties can be resolved (look it up). Some cannot (the nature of consciousness). Know which is which.

STEP 3

For the resolvable uncertainties, resolve them. Do the research. Ask the question. Find the answer. Do not sit in unnecessary confusion.

STEP 4

For the unresolvable uncertainties, make peace. Some things will never be known. Not because of laziness but because of genuine limits. Accept the limits.

STEP 5

Learn to love the mystery. The unresolvable uncertainties are not problems to solve but territories to inhabit. Live in the question. Let the question become home.

Certainty is often a lie. Uncertainty, honestly held, is a form of truth. The bravest thing is to say: I do not know.

These instructions will not work.

They cannot work.
The things they describe cannot be taught—
only discovered, practiced, lived.

But perhaps the attempt helps.
Perhaps reading instructions for the impossible
makes the impossible feel slightly more possible.

Or perhaps these are just words,
pointing at things words cannot touch.

Either way, here they are.
Instructions for what cannot be instructed.

Good luck.

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