Spritual Survival in a Temporal World; Chapter 12

In this chapter we will conclude our commentary on the martial arts, for the moment, by discussing elements that are not usually mentioned when considering the subject. As I have stated, the martial arts is not only about personal protection concerning possible physical altercations. For me that is a secondary consideration and is generally handled without contact. The acquisition of defense techniques also brings an increased harmony to our various bodies. It brings greater mental and emotional balance. It brings physical conditioning. It brings a new vibrational aura. It brings heightened awareness of one’s environment and place in it. It improves the state of one’s health and it reshapes the kind and quality of the circumstances that we encounter by changing who we are in the mix.

I want to provide you with some new possibilities that will make martial arts training a part of everything you do in every day. I speak now, not only of the martial arts but also of a new approach to all of the chores and recreations that you engage in every day. Let us use the discipline of T’ai Chi as a template for this. This discipline and the others can be applied to the most mundane of our actions and duties. I use it when washing the dishes. I use it when performing bodywork on people. I use it when gardening and in whatever I may be employed at.

In my mind when I am faced with tensions due to elemental conflicts; emotional pressures, moving through external conditions such as crowds and traffic, I use these disciplines to ease my passage and they keep me aware of my place in the action of the world around me.

Many people have exercise routines and machines that they use to perform exercises. People go to the gym and to swimming pools, running tracks, game courts and what have you. I have found that the house you live in can be a gym or a game court. Standing in a door way I can find a complete workout without leaving the doorway. Put yourself in a doorway and see if you can discover some of the possibilities for stretching and resistance. Think about the various positions where you can stretch and find resistance in so many different ways. You can push and pull. You can drop to your heels and perform similar actions that are like the same actions performed standing and half squatting but with very different demands made on the same muscles. Limbs can move outside of the central point of the doorway. Single limbs can be activated. Every muscle in the body can be worked even without the doorway by the use of dynamic tension as well as stretching and bending.

You can use a wall for a variety of actions. You can use a stairway for all sorts of things. I keep finding new possibilities. I do these things through the course of my day a few minutes at a time or right within other actions that I am engaged in.

For me, the martial arts are not about physical contact resolution with an opponent. My opponent is myself. Properly understood, one should never find themselves in a combat situation with another person. The conflict should be resolved ‘before’ any combat ever becomes necessary. It should be resolved without the potential opponent even being aware that there is a situation.

The proper mental state for the resolution of conflict with the world can be found in the understanding of what Lao Tzu had to say in “The Way of Life”. There are many translations of this book. I recommend the Witter Bynner translation. It is head and tails above any other. Years ago I used to read the book over and over while tripping on LSD. I sought to imprint it upon my mind. I pressed it into my subconscious which would then work upon its deep meanings and later send a series of new understandings up to my conscious mind. I am not recommending this to anyone else and it is unlikely that the pure item can be found in these times. I also took much larger amounts than is presently available in single doses and the world is not what it was on the planes where these activities once happened for me. It is not necessary for anyone to play with chemicals to realize these things.

The martial arts should be looked at as yoga. They are yoga inasmuch as one practices them with the same mindset they would bring to yoga. Like yoga, the intention should be to make the mind one-pointed. Meditation has this intention. It is about centering. Proper diet also intends centering as its goal. Combining all of these practices with this intention makes each of these disciplines stronger in the way that several people can move a large object with far more ease than a single person.

This is not a simple world any more. There are far more people in the world. There is far more traffic in the world. There is far more pollution in the world. There is far more conflict and stress in the world. There is far more confusion and distraction in the world. There is far more pressure in the world. There is far more uncertainty, suffering and fear in the world. There is more distrust and more reason for it in these days. The force of materialism is far more pervasive and heavy.

It makes more sense to have a variety of weapons with which to defend yourself. I am not talking about clubs and guns and knives. I am talking about disciplines that compliment each other. It is far more effective to make certain disciplines a part of your everyday operations. Why should you be content with going to church once a week when you can be in your temple all of the time? What is the difference between practicing something once a week and practicing it in the course of everything you do? The basic acts of eating and excreting are taking place on several levels all of the time. Your mental and emotional bodies are engaged in these activities every bit as much as your stomach is.

The action of sex is taking place all of the time whether you know it or not. Why do you think it is called ‘verbal intercourse’? Why do you think it is called ‘social intercourse’? We are having sex on a number of levels all through the day. We are often having bad sex because it is aggressive, or indifferent. We don’t engage consciously. We eat without being completely involved. We eat shit. We watch shit. We read shit. We talk shit. We think and feel shit. We consume what we should be eliminating. Look at the world around you. Look at people in crowds. Look at the casual entertainments of the time. Look at the way the world has been engineered to create stress instead of processing it with the ease that is possible.

An important part of the practice of any discipline is to not be engaged in it for show. We do things as performance art for the purpose of impressing the world around us. We’re only into things for the cachet we can get from impressing people with our limited understanding of these things. We do things for image and everyone is competing with everyone else in their attempts to look impressive to others. Practicing certain things in secret will impress the entities that are most in a position to help you. I’m not suggesting that you always eat and exercise and behave in a private manner. That’s not possible. I’m talking about what goes on in your heart and mind concerning the things that you do.

We’ll move on to something new next time we show up here. I’ve no idea what that will be. As you may notice, there is someone who is engaged in down-rating these posts. It doesn’t matter to me as it has nothing to do with anything but whatever their problem may be. Certain forces have attacked my web site and my blogs. It amuses me that they would go through so much trouble. I don’t even think about it. I just continue. We are bound to encounter resistance from the world but it doesn’t have to mean anything at all. Here is yet another situation in which to practice a discipline. Watch how you are put into certain states of potential stress and pressure every day. Watch what you do and learn as you go.

I Need More Light