Wake Up Call.

 As each day goes by lately, the more I see, the deeper the pain.

In all honesty it does not just bother me to see people treating each other the way they are, it literally hurts, it hurts to the core of my very being and I cannot really explain why.

I do not even pretend to speculate what it is, nor what is going through people’s heads, but I often know, without words, rhyme, or reason, I know... I know people, often within the first five minutes of meeting them, I can feel what sort of person it is I am dealing with.

One can speculate this might be a side effect of my training, but I have done it my whole life and I have put people before myself long before I began my training.

Seeing the state of things and knowing the outcomes, this is not bragging, this is a warning. Work to better yourselves and overcome this, because there are people out there who feel it deeply, like a wound straight to the heart.

I think of my children, I think of other people’s children, I think of other people themselves, friends, family, people I have not even met; I wonder, how many people actually think of THEM as they are attempting to appear virtuous or resolute with whatever cause they happen to throw themselves behind?

Is it worth it? When all is said and done, do they realize who this will effect and in what way?

Children have already died because of this, people have already died, and what is being sought will cost the lives, livelihood, homes, and security of countless others.

Do they take the time to get to know their names? Do they even care?

Many don’t, most don’t, most just follow the directions of the mob, not even realizing they are following a contrary path to the very things they profess.

In the end, should any of this come to my door, I will have to do what is best for my own family, and I will have to live with the consequences of acting because of the actions of other people forcing me into such a position when all I want to do is live life the way I choose to live it and be left alone.

I have, and will always, stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, but there is a difference in that and what is being played out on the world stage, even the local stage.

This is not a game. People have died. It hurts to see you all act this way, with your opinions, your demonizations, your actions, your violence.

There will always be violence and there will always be a need to face it, why add to that? 

This will be my last post here. I see many in this community, of all communities, acting in this way when we should be leading the way towards something more meaningful and virtuous.

I am not perfect and I have acted in such ways at times, I also do not have even a fraction of the answers, but I do know that I can feel this deeply and it is taking a toll. 

How Do YOU Make This Line Shorter?

 Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, even the next moment is not guaranteed.

‘I will do it tomorrow’ is an empty statement based on the assumption that a person will wake up the following day.

Lack of proper perspective prevents many things and lack of follow-through stops everything in its’ tracks ensuring that nothing ever gets done.

Sensei, in the process of teaching something new, used to say ‘just do it, even if it is wrong, do it without a second thought,’ the correction would soon follow, but the follow-through to the completion of the intent was the most important thing... Never do anything half-assed, never leave anything incomplete.

Be present, fully, in everything that is done and see it through to the end regardless of the difficulty, even in the face of death.

Death is the ultimate certainty for everyone, no matter what you do, you are going to die, so in everything that is done, do it well, to it with your whole being, and do it completely.

This moment, right now, is all that we really have. Yesterday is gone and ‘tomorrow’ is a dream that may or may not be granted.

That line of intent that turns into a strike or something else is here one minute and morphing into something else the next, never static, always dynamic, continuous change, full of little deaths and little births, becoming and ending in the blink of an eye.

Planning for months is useful, but acting as though each day is a gift is where we will find the true power behind all accomplishment.

Even small accomplishments are great accomplishments when followed through to completion. 

Whether a person is performing a sword cut or completing an on the job report, being fully present, they are the same thing. Details and execution along the proper path make all the difference.

Putting something off for tomorrow means that execution has been thwarted today, the task will not be completed... 

Then there is the question ‘can this level of exertion be maintained over the course of months, weeks, or years?’ That question becomes meaningless when we realize that the timeframe may well be unreasonable.

The real power is in maintaining the exertion, the focus, the energy and intent for this moment... Should the next moment come, then maintain it there as well.

Each breath is a gift, the next is never promised.

Projections and Reflections.

These are very interesting times in which we find ourselves.

Civil unrest, global pandemic, very strange occurrences the world over, people all around us are definitely acting in very interesting ways.

Yet, at the same time, if we tune out for even a moment, nothing has really changed at the core. We have just become so engrossed in media and narratives that we have become disconnected from reality and the people around us.

We no longer know what is really going on, truth from falsehood, even right from wrong, we only know what we are told, what we have heard, and our energy is expended to those ends... Not our own.

This is the heart of the problems we face today... 

Not who is oppressed or who is not, nor the color of a person’s skin.

Yes, there are things wrong with the world, no one is perfect, injustice should be corrected, but that never begins with forcing others to change... That is tyranny... Fighting injustice with injustice only breeds more injustice.

Refusing dialogue does nothing to advance a cause or change a mind, it simply dehumanizes a person in order to justify actions that a person would not ordinarily condone, let alone participate.

No, true change begins with the one thing we all have control over, ourselves.

Can we be better today than we were yesterday? Are we making that choice each day? The mass mind and its’ ideology, whether left or right, would have us overlook that simple fact... With all the cookie cutter ideas infecting the mind turning each of us into chattering automatons incapable of individual thought or feeling, we have effectively given up our most powerful tools... The Mind and Spirit themselves.

There is a Zen story that illustrates the path to discovering the true self as attempting to polish a tile into a mirror.

Can it be done? Does it even matter? It does, but not when one identifies with all the things that cover the self, the real self, allowing actions from a confused stance to move forth as though they were wise.

Ideas are addicting, ideas can behave like a virus, good ideas bring about good things, bad ideas bring about bad things... This would be common sense, but it seems it is not so common these days.

To judge someone because of a set of talking points and the color of their skin, whether white, black, or brown, or even their sexual orientation, this would obviously seem like a very bad idea, but it is happening, it is driving some very destructive behaviors and very deep divisions... Why? Is it truly the case that the white straight male you have known your whole life is suddenly a bigot because they are white and straight? Have they said or done anything remotely racist because they happen to disagree with certain things? Are they suddenly different, or is it just the idea that tells a person they are suddenly evil and inhuman?

What do you actually believe? What do you actually think? Shedding all the media infused BS, what remains?

Is living life how you are told to live it enough? Is it truly worth it? Are you living the way you truly want to live and doing the things you are drawn to do? Do you even know what you are drawn to do anymore?

In the Dojo we are supposed to leave all the baggage at the door as we bow to enter, showing respect to the Dojo and all our brothers and sisters within.

We forget that worldly self for a bit in order to do battle with the things that hide the real self beneath the surface, to shake away the sediment, to look away from the reflection in order to see the actual source.

We walk away changed each time, hopefully a bit more humble with a little bit of wisdom... Better people all around.

We might go to seek some direction, to seek some clarity, to seek a better lifestyle, health on whatever level, to seek connection, to feel some sense of accomplishment.

Whatever the case, it all comes from within and it is all the result of breaking down old paradigms in an effort to grow.

On the flip side, we count on our Brothers and Sisters to hold us accountable and keep us on point while they count on us to do the same for them.

At the end of the day we learn to judge based on something even deeper than character, something that words cannot quite describe or even allude to at times.

We get to know them, we get to know ourselves, we take the steps on the journey hand in hand.

It does not matter if that other person is Gay or Straight, Non-Binary or Transgender, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Arabic, Male or Female... They will put you to the ground if you are not on point and they expect you to do the same with them and shake hands, laugh, and smile when it is done for the day and they will have your back, just as you will have theirs.

Maybe that is an idyllic sort of thing on my part, but it has been my experience in most cases.

Some have drifted over the years, but if they needed me in whatever capacity they should know I would be there in a heartbeat. 

To me they are family and at the end of the day I don’t care what beliefs they hold or don’t hold.

This is how it should be for those of us that enter the Dojo and it should carry over into every aspect of our lives.... It would be nice if that were the way of the world, but one step at a time and we can only start here, now, within ourselves.

Love thy neighbor, wise words, love thy enemy, even wiser... Wiser still, don’t hold anyone as an enemy, but a Teacher.

A Teacher to mirror yourself as, being human, we tend to project what is within upon others... Often what we judge and find wanting in another is actually something we either do not recognize, or refuse to recognize, within ourselves... There is where the work needs to be done.

We forget this stuff as we sit on our high horses screaming from our pedestals as if we were holier, wiser, and more virtuous than everyone else.

We forget to work on ourselves, especially now with the ideas that permeate (infect) our ‘culture.’ 

The mantra upon the lips of the masses speaks about how others must change in order to suite our needs and feelings.

How times have changed...