See other Biographies & Autobiographies
Recently, I came across the book Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins. The book organizes David Goggins’ life lessons into ten challenges. It’s a self-help, motivational, autobiographical account of how he built himself from being an abused and broken child into a deadly US Navy SEAL—and beyond.
At 90,000 feet, the book tells you to grind. To push harder. To move past your boundaries and limits.
As I was trying to digest and absorb what the book was teaching, my mind wandered to the teachings of Buddhist monks—teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and Ven. Mahindasiri Thero.
Putting a US Navy SEAL and the Buddha side by side was not entirely a concoction of my own mind.
David Goggins himself references a famous Buddhist teaching near the end of the book. It goes like this:
The Buddha famously said that life is suffering. I’m not a Buddhist, but I know what he meant and so do you. To exist in this world, we must contend with humiliation, broken dreams, sadness, and loss. That’s just nature. Each specific life comes with its own personalized portion of pain. It’s coming for you. You can’t stop it. And you know it.
In response, most of us are programmed to seek comfort as a way to numb it all out and cushion the blows. We carve out safe spaces. We consume media that confirms our beliefs, we take up hobbies aligned with our talents, we try to spend as little time as possible doing the tasks we fucking loathe, and that makes us soft. We live a life defined by the limits we imagine and desire for ourselves because it’s comfortable as hell in that box. Not just for us, but for our closest family and friends. The limits we create and accept become the lens through which they see us. Through which they love and appreciate us.
But for some, those limits start to feel like bondage, and when we least expect it, our imagination jumps those walls and hunts down dreams that in the immediate aftermath feel attainable. Because most dreams are. We are inspired to make changes little by little, and it hurts. Breaking the shackles and stretching beyond our own perceived limits takes hard fucking work—oftentimes physical work— and when you put yourself on the line, self doubt and pain will greet you with a stinging combination that will buckle your knees.
And now I find myself comparing and contrasting the approaches of a US Navy SEAL and the Buddha toward suffering.
The key difference lies in how David Goggins approaches suffering versus how a Buddhist monk would.
David Goggins actively pushes himself to the limit and chooses to suffer—because suffering callouses his mind.
A Buddhist monk sees suffering as part and parcel of life. Buddhism teaches us not to run from suffering, but to acknowledge it in the mind for what it is and as it is. It teaches us to sit with suffering, to meditate on it, and to remember that—like everything else—it is temporary.
Interestingly, David Goggins also uses this teaching of impermanence during SEAL training. He reminds himself that the pain is temporary and uses that understanding to push through the most extreme phases of training.
David Goggins teaches exerting control over your life and circumstances. That control is directed outward—toward physical effort, performance, and environment—and inward, toward mental toughness and discipline.
Buddhism, on the other hand, teaches exerting control over the mind itself. Over thoughts, reactions, and perceptions—so that suffering can pass without consuming you.
At a very high level, it feels like David teaches you to “tough it out”, while Buddhism teaches you to “wait it out.”
David Goggins sees suffering as a stepping stone to growth.
Buddhism sees suffering as an inherent attribute of life.
One important distinction between these two approaches emerges when you are imparting lessons about suffering to others—especially when the stakes in the relationship differ.
Buddhism’s way of handling suffering feels more appropriate when the stakes are high—when dealing with friends, family, or people who are vulnerable.
David Goggins’ methods are more suited to environments where the stakes are low or impersonal—places like SEAL training, military schools, or extreme performance settings—contexts very similar to the world David himself comes from.
No comments:
Post a Comment