Don't Think. Feel - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Dont Think Feel

When a very wise mentor tries to teach the hero Serious Business and the lessons have a decidedly new-agey feel to them.

"You have to feel the power in yourself - try to see your connection to everything. You shouldn't resist...let the flow go through you and out at the other side. You feel impatience...try to focus on what's really important."

This makes "sense" if the "art" that is taught here is mystical and very much not real. After all, doing awesome stuff surely doesn't feel mundane.

The viewers, however, are too narrow-minded to understand. They say stuff like: "Please, cut it off. I don't want to learn to communicate with the life stream; I want to see the plot happen."

See Ice Cream Koan for pseudo-profound riddles. Your Eyes Can Deceive You is a useless lesson in blind fighting. See Wax On Wax Off for a training that feels like being mocked.

For aesops lashing out against "thinking" in general, see Straw Vulcan and You Fail Logic Forever.

Examples

Anime and Manga

It was a bit like this when Gohan taught Videl to fly in Dragonball Z.
Subverted in Samurai Champloo. An old hermit tries to teach Jin a lesson by using fishing as an example. The lesson: Going with the flow. If you do, the fish will come to you. He then attempts to catch a fish this way and... fails. "Well... Some fish are going to slip by anyway." May be a Double Subversion, as the advice was still useful.
When Rossiu from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann asks Kamina how to move the Gurren, he just answers with "do whatever feels natural!".
Naturally for someone who sees Bruce Lee as his spiritual instructor, Spike offers this sort of instruction to a a very persistent kid that chased him down after an incident on a stellar flight - after he finally broke down from being pestered enough. It included the famous "be like water" Mantra that Bruce espoused when it comes to Martial Arts.

Film

The trope name comes from a quote from the Bruce Lee film Enter The Dragon, where Bruce's character, Lee, would frequently use speeches like this.
Yoda from Star Wars.
- Also used by Obi-Wan Kenobi:
  Obi-Wan: Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.
  Luke: You mean it controls your actions?
  Obi-Wan: Partially. But it also obeys your commands.
  ...
  Obi-Wan: This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct.
  Luke: With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?
  Obi-Wan: Your Eyes Can Deceive You. Don't trust them.
  ...
  Luke: You know, I did feel something. I could almost see the remote.
  Obi-Wan: That's good. You have taken your first step into a larger world.
- ...and by Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace.
  - Using the trope name itself, in fact.
- Parodied, naturally, in Thumb Wars
  Loke: I'm going to trust my feelings and use the power of the thumb!
  Voice of Oobedoob: Use the instrument panel Loke.
  Loke: ...what?
  Voice of Oobedoob: The instrument panel. That's what it's there for. Advanced weaponry designed to hit tiny targets.
Caddyshack had a scene where Chevy Chase goes new-agey about golf, and then successfully hits the ball onto the green while blindfolded. His protege isn't nearly as successful.
In Batman Begins, Ducard lectures Bruce about overcoming his fear and not blaming himself for his parents' death.
- This comes across as more of an inversion, given that he's telling him to approach the situation rationally instead of dwelling on his emotions. Bruce's whole training montage seems to be about taking control of his anger, guilt and fear instead of being driven by them.
The training dojo scene from The Matrix:
Morpheus: "Don't think you are, KNOW you are."
Different variants in Disney Animated Canon film Pocahontas and Disney Animated Non-canon film Pocahontas 2. The point of Grandmother Tree's teachings in Pocahontas (put quite succintly in "Colors of the Wind") was for Pocahontas to get and stay in touch with nature; this is done to Anvilicious extent. Its direct-to-video sequel has, shortly before Pocahontas goes to Europe, Grandmother Tree asking her to get into and stay in touch with her heart—that is, her human nature—and then disappears.
Something similar is used by Ramirez to train Connor MacLeod in the film Highlander, although he's trying to teach him how to feel immortal. As well as a little Wax On Wax Off too.
Star Trek: "Put aside logic. Do what feels right." Notable since it's actually Spock saying this.

Live Action TV

The X Files. Mulder says this while giving Scully a Hands On Approach to baseball. Of course, as he was delivering an Aesop about how you play baseball to forget about all your troubles it was a Justified Trope.

Literature

Played in The Subtle Knife (part 2 of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials). How to open a door between worlds with the Subtle Knife: transfer your mind to the blade's tip, move the blade around feeling the air around you, and as soon as you perceive a notch, cut.
Harry Potter, with Dumbledore and Harry, particularly the last two.
So that's it, just... love?
Yes- just love.
- Not to mention the way that Harry learns about the Deathly Hallows in the first place — through an epiphany where he makes leaps of logic that would make a Vulcan cry.
Subverted in Wee Free Men with some advice given to the main character- "Now...if you trust in yourself...and believe in your dreams...and follow your star...you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy"

Tabletop Games

In the Planescape campaign, the entire faction of the Transcendent Order, also know as the Ciphers, follow this principle in everything. They're consequently called the 'Ciphers' because it's impossible to figure out their rationale — they don't have one since they act on impulse.

Video Games

In Soul Nomad And The World Eaters, Gig uses a speech of this type to get Revya to tap into his power — of course, he's not trying to train the protagonist but to goad Revya to accept his Deal With The Devil, in which case it's doubly important for him that you don't think too much over it.
One of Chie's victory quotes in Persona 4. Given her interest in kung-fu flicks, she's likely quoting Enter the Dragon.
- She also laughs after saying it, perhaps indicating...something?

Web Original

Parodied in the lonelygirl15 video "Mission Alpha":
Spencer: All right, this one is about centering your qi. Now, we're gonna do it like this! Ready? [stands balanced on one leg]
Jonas: I got it. I got it. It's like The Karate Kid. [adopts a one-legged karate pose]
Spencer: No, no! No, no, no, no, no! Not The Karate Kid!
Don't think. Feel and you'll be tanasinn.

Western Animation

Avatar The Last Airbender has many, many of these lessons for whenever someone learns a new bending technique.
- The thing is, for Aang, learning each bending discipline requires a certain amount of letting go of what the previous one taught. Airbending? Go with the flow, let loose. Waterbending? Go with the flow, but never let it control you. Earthbending? Stay in control. Keep aware of everything around you. Firebending? Stay aware of the life and danger of fire - and know when to let loose. They're all more intuitive than not, but each one intuiting a different instinct and acting on that.
Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends parodied it in "The Big Leblooski", when Mac acquired a mentor in bowling who talks like this about feeling the ball instead of knowing it. Turns out "Bowling Paul" only thinks he knows how to bowl, and was feeding Mac a line the whole time.
- Doesn't stop him from scoring a strike though.
Played surprisingly straight on The Simpsons when Lisa is teaching Bart how to play miniature golf using Zen Archery-like methods.

But I Read A Book About It

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