Scott Samuelson: 'Counting Lights'

Philosopher and author Scott Samuelson on the Tao of wrestling and why “Reversal is the movement of the Way.”

Helen Maroulis pinned Canada’s Hannah Taylor in 24 seconds to win bronze in women’s 57kg freestyle wrestling at the Paris Olympics, becoming the first American woman to win three wrestling medals, Aug. 9, 2024. (NBC)

Watching Team USA’s Helen Maroulis pin her opponent in 24 seconds to win bronze at the Paris Olympics brought back a flood of memories for this former wrestler—not one of them pleasant. You see, like Hannah Taylor, Maroulis’s opponent, I know what it’s like to be pinned in less than a minute (34 seconds to be exact). I only wrestled my freshman year in high school, but will never forget the uniquely humiliating feeling my friend Scott Samuelson describes below of being “on your back, arching as hard as you can, and all you can see is the gymnasium lights.” With some help from Laozi and his father/coach, Chris (also a dear friend), Samuelson drew life lessons from the experience, the most important being: “What we think of as weakness is where real strength lies, for every …