Patterns

This is the blog you can summarize as "the one that ((actually) compares life to a Rubik's Cube.


I'm not really going to dissect the thought, but I think it's worth noting. After all, I was able to solve the Rubik's cube for the first time last night... with help.

Anyway, my entire life I have thought of the rubik's cube as this incredibly difficult thing that is as much chance as anything, and the overwhelming task of solving it is mostly just sticking with it till you get it right.

That's really how I've looked at life, too. You just have to buckle down and apply yourself to the task, get incredibly overwhelmed, frustrated, depressed, become hopeful, disappointed, step back and ascertain, reattempt, fail... repeat if necessary.

The thing is, with a Rubik's Cube, there's a pattern. and while you may expierience some frustration and disappointment at times, know things will change, know you have the power to change it, that damned yellow and green that is totally out of place will end up situated where it belongs if you adhere to the pattern. Eventually your frustration will give way to confidence as you jumble the blocks repeatedly and become familiar with them.

There are patterns to life. Learning the pattern is the tough part. Not knowing the patterns make things immensely more difficult, you rely on yourself in all your ignorance to be able to happen upon solutions, you end up backtracking and losing focus, maybe eventually giving up.

There are people around you who know the patterns. Find someone with the solutions and just listen and observe and try it out yourself. you'll get stuck, just relax and seek advice.

A normal (3×3×3) Rubik's Cube can have (8! × 3⁸⁻¹) × (12! × 2¹²⁻¹)/2 = 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different positions, or permutations. (this is a figure taken from the Wikipedia page for Rubik's Cube - Permutations.)

I don't recommend letting someone else execute the patterns, you'll NEVER learn that way.