Flow State: Where East Meets West

_The following is a guest post by Justin Hartfield, author of "The Psychedelic Christian" and "Far From Equilibrium," and host of "The Forward Look" podcast._

Flow State: Where East Meets West

You think flow is about finding balance? Bullshit. It's about dancing on the edge of chaos.

We’ve all heard the term ‘flow state.’ It’s that mythical zone where time evaporates, focus becomes a laser, and you perform at a level that feels superhuman. Athletes find it in the zone, artists chase the muse, and coders, well, they just call it a good day.

For decades, we’ve been fed a pop-psychology narrative about flow, mostly thanks to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his groundbreaking work. He described it as a state of complete absorption, a perfect balance between skill and challenge. And he wasn’t wrong. But he was incomplete.

On the other side of the world, Eastern philosophies like Taoism have been talking about this for centuries. They call it Wu Wei, the effortless action, moving with the current of the universe. The Taoists saw flow not as a psychological trick, but as a fundamental way of being in harmony with the cosmos.

They were both right. And they were both missing the point. They described the what, but they couldn’t explain the why. Why does flow feel so good? Why is it the optimal state of being? The answer doesn’t lie in psychology or spirituality alone. It lies in physics.

The Problem: The Fluffy Lie of "Balance"

You’ve been sold a lie. A comfortable, marketable, and utterly wrong lie. The self-help gurus, the yoga instructors, the mindfulness apps—they all chirp the same tune: "Find your center. Seek balance. Be still."

It sounds nice, doesn't it? A peaceful, balanced life. It’s also a recipe for stagnation, decay, and ultimately, death. Balance is equilibrium. And in the universe, equilibrium is the end of the line. It’s a state of maximum entropy, where nothing happens. A lukewarm, gray soup of nothingness. Is that what you’re aspiring to?

This is where both the Western and Eastern views of flow fall short. Csikszentmihalyi’s model is a useful starting point, but it’s a closed loop. It’s all in your head. The Taoists got closer by looking at the bigger picture, the universal "Way," but their explanations remained shrouded in mysticism. They could feel the river, but they couldn’t map its currents.

To truly understand flow, you have to get your hands dirty with the fundamental laws of the universe. You have to talk about thermodynamics. And to do that, you have to talk about my mentor, the late, great Dr. Bob Melamede.

The Application: Are You a FLP or a BLP?

Exploring the laws of thermodynamics and the insights of Dr. Bob Melamede opened my mind to new perspectives on consciousness and energy. This curiosity led me to reconsider preconceptions I had long held, including my views on substances like cannabis. When I eventually encountered a group of thoughtful, accomplished individuals who used it responsibly, I realized that my fears and judgments had been shaped more by stigma than by experience. Trying it myself, I found that it did not alter my fundamental sense of self or reality as I had expected. Instead, this experience deepened my appreciation for the complexity of consciousness—something far more intricate than any external influence. This shift in understanding, combined with years of dedicated research and personal growth, has allowed me to face challenges with clarity and continue pursuing my goals with renewed vigor.

Encountering that group challenged many of my preconceived notions and sparked a deep curiosity within me. Over the years that followed, through extensive research and personal experience, I gradually transformed my understanding of myself and the world around me. This journey has been filled with both triumphs and setbacks, shaping the perspectives I now share. Reflecting on that path, I realize how much growth came from embracing change—even when it was difficult—and how essential that openness has been to moving forward.

Looking back on my earlier years, I can see how my resistance to change and attachment to old patterns often held me back. I made many decisions driven by ego and fear, which only delayed my growth and progress. Recognizing this was a crucial step in my journey—one that prepared me to understand a fundamental insight that Dr. Bob shared: the world is divided into two kinds of people.

This is the core distinction Dr. Bob taught me. The world is divided into two kinds of people:

• Backward-Looking People (BLPs): They are obsessed with the past. They cling to what’s known, resist change, and desperately try to maintain a state of "balance" that no longer exists. They are fighting a losing battle against the Arrow of Time and the Second Law. They get crushed by the wave.

• Forward-Looking People (FLPs): They embrace the chaos. They see the Arrow of Time as an opportunity. They understand that the only constant is change, and they use the constant flow of energy and information to adapt, grow, and create new things. They learn to surf.

Think about it in your own life. How do you react when your company reorganizes? When a relationship ends? When you face a health crisis? Do you dig in your heels and mourn the past (BLP)? Or do you scan the horizon for the new opportunity, the new path forward (FLP)?

Being a BLP is a recipe for suffering. Being a FLP is the key to a life of purpose, growth, and, yes, flow.

The Takeaway: How to Ride the Wave

So how do you stop being a damn BLP and start surfing? It’s not about a five-step hack you read in a blog post (yes, I get the irony). It’s about a fundamental shift in how you orient yourself to reality itself. It’s about what you choose to see.

1. Embrace Impermanence. Seriously. Meditate on it. Nothing is forever. Your job, your relationships, your beliefs, your body—it’s all a temporary pattern in the universal flow. The more you accept this, the less you’ll suffer when things change, and the quicker you’ll be to adapt.
2. Feed Your ECS. Your endocannabinoid system is your best friend in this chaotic world. Support it. This means a diet rich in healthy fats (especially omega-3s), regular exercise that you actually enjoy, mindfulness practices, and yes, for some, the conscious use of cannabis to stimulate the system. A healthy ECS is a resilient ECS.
3. Seek Productive Discomfort. If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing. You’re stagnating. You have to intentionally put yourself in situations that stretch your abilities. This is the "challenge/skill" balance Csikszentmihalyi talked about, but with a thermodynamic twist. Challenge is the energy input that forces your system to self-organize at a higher level of complexity.
4. Let Go of the Past. This is the hardest one. The Arrow of Time is real. You cannot change what happened. Every ounce of energy you spend regretting, resenting, or re-litigating the past is energy you can’t use to build your future. It’s thermodynamic suicide. Forgive everyone, especially yourself, and turn your damn head forward.

Closing

Look, you can spend your life trying to build a dam to stop the river. You can curse the water, complain about the current, and mourn the spot you used to stand on. Or, you can build a damn raft and learn to navigate. The river doesn’t care. It’s going to flow regardless.

Flow isn’t a hack. It’s a choice. It’s the choice to align yourself with the fundamental forces of creation and destruction that govern everything. It’s the choice to stop fighting reality and start dancing with it.

Stop trying to find balance. Start learning to surf. The wave is coming whether you're ready or not.