Your path lies before you. In each moment it is revealed. There is nowhere to go. There is nothing to do. Sit still and be patient; the secret freedom of your heart's true longing will unravel by itself.
- Jon Bernie
Monday, July 11, 2005
Ten years spent mastering Tai Mai Shu kung fu may keep you fit, flexible, and graceful. But just invest ten minutes reading these four tips and you may well save your life if violence ever does erupt.
These are simple ideas, but not common. They are easily implemented and don't require an arsenal of secret weapons to work. Since most people don't plan to be attacked, these ideas don't occur to them until they are remembering the event later and thinking, "GEE! If only I had ... "
TIP #1 - USE YOUR HEAD
First, stay calm and think as the situation develops. As soon as the adrenaline kicks in, everything will seem to happen in slow motion. If you are calm, if you do not panic, your mind will process thoughts so rapidly that it will seem like you have hours to make a decision about how to react.
Second, the human skull is an awesomely powerful weapon. Bashing your forehead into the goon's nose once is tremendously more effective than slamming your fist into his nose twice.
Similarly, ladies, if you are grabbed, bear-hug style from behind, don't waste your time trying to step on his toes, or elbowing his ribs, or kicking your heel up into his groin. It is highly unlikely any of hose moves will do anything besides anger your attacker.
Instead, start trying to bash his face with the back of your head.
All you have to do is connect once or twice with your attacker's face or collarbone and you have delivered some serious damage.
TIP #2 - ALWAYS HAVE A TOOL HANDY
Always, always, always have something easily and quickly accessible to use as a weapon. Note that I did not say, "have a weapon accessible" which is not always practical or advisable.
I mean, if someone surprises you, there should be something instantly accessible to aid in your defense.
It can be a pen,
a set of keys,
a can of vegetables,
an umbrella --
A N Y T H I N G.
If you remember this one absurdly simple rule about weapons fighting, you will see the potential weapon hidden in virtually everything around you AND be able to use it more effectively:
Anything you find that is hard and fast should be aimed at smashing against something made of bone, and anything with a point to it should be aimed at stabbing into soft tissue.
For example, if you found a blunt stick or a can of vegetables you would target bone: Aim this kind of weapon at the face, the skull, hip, shin, elbow, or kneecap.
However, anything hard or blunt would be less effective to use against, say, an attacker's abdomen.
Conversely, something with a point -- a knife or pen for example -- is much more effective when targeting something soft, like the throat, the eyes, crotch, armpit, or belly. If you do strike at something hard, like the kneecap, chances are the point will bounce off without doing any real damage.
Hard goes to bone, Point goes to soft tissue --
It's as simple as that. Remember this rule, and you will never be without an effective weapon again.
TIP #3 - MOVE ALONG A TRIANGLE (a bit of theory)
There is one tip about self-defense that is so important that entire martial arts systems are based upon it.
The tip? Don't get hit!
I mention that, because moving along a triangle goes a long way toward achieving the goal of not getting hit.
One of the most dangerous mistakes the average person makes during a fight is to move in straight lines. They will move in a straight line, either forward and backward, or side to side.
This is also the mistake that will cause the Tai Mai Shu black belt to get his or her butt whooped in very short order out on the street.
Imagine a vertical dividing line along your body, dividing your body into left and right halves. The aggressor is probably going to attack some point along or around that line: your face, your throat, your heart, your groin.
Moving in a straight line backward or forward will change the distance you are from your attacker, but it does not move your centerline out of the attack path.
Moving laterally (left or right) will change the location of your centerline, but it does not change the distance between you and your attacker.
Your attacker has mentally committed to striking at a particular target. His brain has sent the signal to his fist that your face, your throat, your heart, or your groin (the target he intends to hit) is located at a particular distance out there in a particular direction. When you change the target's coordinates, it spoils the effectiveness of the attack.
Your goal is to move that line of your body out of the path of the attack AND change the distance of the target from your attacker.
Your attacker may be able to recover from a change in target location or a change in target distance alone, but changing both factors is your best bet. Then, even if it does connect, the strength of the attack will be greatly diminished.
Moving along an imaginary triangle changes BOTH.
* * *
*
* * *
Imagine standing with both feet on the pointed end of a triangle and facing the bad guy. The other two points of the triangle can either be in front of you or behind you.
Each of the other triangle points are only about one medium-large step away from where you are now. One point is found one step forward and to the left. Then there's another point one step forward and to the right. Behind you one point of the triangle is one step backward and to the left. The other point is one step backward and to the right.
All you have to do is step one foot onto either of the two available triangle points in front of you or behind you. What have you done to the distance to and the location of the attacker's original target?
Bingo! You have changed BOTH your direction, and your distance.
Simply bring your other foot up, and you are now at the starting point of another triangle. Use this concept every time you move and you will continue to confuse your attacker.
TIP #4 - ALWAYS ADVANCE WHEN YOU SHOULD RETREAT
During a fight, as during a game of chess, the experienced player is already planning the second or third move before the first one is ever completed. In fact, many of the experienced fighters' moves are used solely to get the opponent to react in a predetermined manner.
Fight you own instinct and do not back up.
Your instinct is wrong!
For example, imagine I am throwing a flurry of jabs at you. In my mind, I "know" exactly what you are going to do: backpedal to escape my vicious attack.
In fact, I am counting upon you backpedaling into that corner behind you, then I'll pound you into a liquid, right? How surprised am I going to be when you step forward, along your trusty triangle, and not backward?
I would be very surprised because you are not "supposed" to step into a savage attack; You are "supposed" to step away from it.
Look at this scenario. You've just stepped forward along the triangle. While your attacker is busy trying to adjust his thinking to handle this unexpected event you are now inside his defenses. You now have access to his unprotected ribs, armpit, neck, head, abdomen, flank, and knee -- Suddenly YOU have a virtual smorgasbord of targets.
That's when you slip back to using tip #2:
Smash anything HARD against something made of bone,
Strike anything you have with a point at something soft.
All of these tips are simple common sense. If you are smart you'll never have to use them because SMART people never put themselves in situations which may become violent.
As I see it, the goal of your self-defense training is to have the ability to utterly destroy another person, but the foresight to avoid situations where you might have to demonstrate that ability.
These are simple ideas, but not common. They are easily implemented and don't require an arsenal of secret weapons to work. Since most people don't plan to be attacked, these ideas don't occur to them until they are remembering the event later and thinking, "GEE! If only I had ... "
TIP #1 - USE YOUR HEAD
First, stay calm and think as the situation develops. As soon as the adrenaline kicks in, everything will seem to happen in slow motion. If you are calm, if you do not panic, your mind will process thoughts so rapidly that it will seem like you have hours to make a decision about how to react.
Second, the human skull is an awesomely powerful weapon. Bashing your forehead into the goon's nose once is tremendously more effective than slamming your fist into his nose twice.
Similarly, ladies, if you are grabbed, bear-hug style from behind, don't waste your time trying to step on his toes, or elbowing his ribs, or kicking your heel up into his groin. It is highly unlikely any of hose moves will do anything besides anger your attacker.
Instead, start trying to bash his face with the back of your head.
All you have to do is connect once or twice with your attacker's face or collarbone and you have delivered some serious damage.
TIP #2 - ALWAYS HAVE A TOOL HANDY
Always, always, always have something easily and quickly accessible to use as a weapon. Note that I did not say, "have a weapon accessible" which is not always practical or advisable.
I mean, if someone surprises you, there should be something instantly accessible to aid in your defense.
It can be a pen,
a set of keys,
a can of vegetables,
an umbrella --
A N Y T H I N G.
If you remember this one absurdly simple rule about weapons fighting, you will see the potential weapon hidden in virtually everything around you AND be able to use it more effectively:
Anything you find that is hard and fast should be aimed at smashing against something made of bone, and anything with a point to it should be aimed at stabbing into soft tissue.
For example, if you found a blunt stick or a can of vegetables you would target bone: Aim this kind of weapon at the face, the skull, hip, shin, elbow, or kneecap.
However, anything hard or blunt would be less effective to use against, say, an attacker's abdomen.
Conversely, something with a point -- a knife or pen for example -- is much more effective when targeting something soft, like the throat, the eyes, crotch, armpit, or belly. If you do strike at something hard, like the kneecap, chances are the point will bounce off without doing any real damage.
Hard goes to bone, Point goes to soft tissue --
It's as simple as that. Remember this rule, and you will never be without an effective weapon again.
TIP #3 - MOVE ALONG A TRIANGLE (a bit of theory)
There is one tip about self-defense that is so important that entire martial arts systems are based upon it.
The tip? Don't get hit!
I mention that, because moving along a triangle goes a long way toward achieving the goal of not getting hit.
One of the most dangerous mistakes the average person makes during a fight is to move in straight lines. They will move in a straight line, either forward and backward, or side to side.
This is also the mistake that will cause the Tai Mai Shu black belt to get his or her butt whooped in very short order out on the street.
Imagine a vertical dividing line along your body, dividing your body into left and right halves. The aggressor is probably going to attack some point along or around that line: your face, your throat, your heart, your groin.
Moving in a straight line backward or forward will change the distance you are from your attacker, but it does not move your centerline out of the attack path.
Moving laterally (left or right) will change the location of your centerline, but it does not change the distance between you and your attacker.
Your attacker has mentally committed to striking at a particular target. His brain has sent the signal to his fist that your face, your throat, your heart, or your groin (the target he intends to hit) is located at a particular distance out there in a particular direction. When you change the target's coordinates, it spoils the effectiveness of the attack.
Your goal is to move that line of your body out of the path of the attack AND change the distance of the target from your attacker.
Your attacker may be able to recover from a change in target location or a change in target distance alone, but changing both factors is your best bet. Then, even if it does connect, the strength of the attack will be greatly diminished.
Moving along an imaginary triangle changes BOTH.
* * *
*
* * *
Imagine standing with both feet on the pointed end of a triangle and facing the bad guy. The other two points of the triangle can either be in front of you or behind you.
Each of the other triangle points are only about one medium-large step away from where you are now. One point is found one step forward and to the left. Then there's another point one step forward and to the right. Behind you one point of the triangle is one step backward and to the left. The other point is one step backward and to the right.
All you have to do is step one foot onto either of the two available triangle points in front of you or behind you. What have you done to the distance to and the location of the attacker's original target?
Bingo! You have changed BOTH your direction, and your distance.
Simply bring your other foot up, and you are now at the starting point of another triangle. Use this concept every time you move and you will continue to confuse your attacker.
TIP #4 - ALWAYS ADVANCE WHEN YOU SHOULD RETREAT
During a fight, as during a game of chess, the experienced player is already planning the second or third move before the first one is ever completed. In fact, many of the experienced fighters' moves are used solely to get the opponent to react in a predetermined manner.
Fight you own instinct and do not back up.
Your instinct is wrong!
For example, imagine I am throwing a flurry of jabs at you. In my mind, I "know" exactly what you are going to do: backpedal to escape my vicious attack.
In fact, I am counting upon you backpedaling into that corner behind you, then I'll pound you into a liquid, right? How surprised am I going to be when you step forward, along your trusty triangle, and not backward?
I would be very surprised because you are not "supposed" to step into a savage attack; You are "supposed" to step away from it.
Look at this scenario. You've just stepped forward along the triangle. While your attacker is busy trying to adjust his thinking to handle this unexpected event you are now inside his defenses. You now have access to his unprotected ribs, armpit, neck, head, abdomen, flank, and knee -- Suddenly YOU have a virtual smorgasbord of targets.
That's when you slip back to using tip #2:
Smash anything HARD against something made of bone,
Strike anything you have with a point at something soft.
All of these tips are simple common sense. If you are smart you'll never have to use them because SMART people never put themselves in situations which may become violent.
As I see it, the goal of your self-defense training is to have the ability to utterly destroy another person, but the foresight to avoid situations where you might have to demonstrate that ability.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
“There were no more than 12,000 crusaders that, in July 1099 after a three year campaign, got to camp under the walls of Jerusalem. Their emotion in sighting the sacred city changed into surprise when the presiding Muslim garrison declared to be ready fot an armistice. That garrison wasn’t Turkish but Arab, because the previous year Jerusalem had been retaken from the Selgiuchi by the Fatimidi, who had never confronted the Franchi. But they didn’t accept the offer perhaps because they thought a non-violent negotiation would have ruined their triumph. Therefore they demanded unconditional surrender.
The defenders, about 1000 men, resisted for 40 days. Then they surrendered. A witness present, Raimondo de Agiles, famous for his zeal described the scene as they were beheaded, killed by harrow or thrown from the towers. Others were tortured for days and days and then torched. The streets were strewn with heads, chopped hands and feet.”
"Those marvelous things lasted until the total consummation of the 70 000 citizens of Jerusalem, including the Jews, who were crowded and burned inside the synagogues.
Then the crusaders gathered in the grotto of the Santa Sepolcro that had hosted the remains of Christ, who had come into the world to preach “misericordia”, there they cried joyfully feeling worthy of him.”
--From vol. 7, pg. 112 of Storia D’Italia by MontanelliOn the first crusade year 1099
The defenders, about 1000 men, resisted for 40 days. Then they surrendered. A witness present, Raimondo de Agiles, famous for his zeal described the scene as they were beheaded, killed by harrow or thrown from the towers. Others were tortured for days and days and then torched. The streets were strewn with heads, chopped hands and feet.”
"Those marvelous things lasted until the total consummation of the 70 000 citizens of Jerusalem, including the Jews, who were crowded and burned inside the synagogues.
Then the crusaders gathered in the grotto of the Santa Sepolcro that had hosted the remains of Christ, who had come into the world to preach “misericordia”, there they cried joyfully feeling worthy of him.”
--From vol. 7, pg. 112 of Storia D’Italia by MontanelliOn the first crusade year 1099
Sunday, July 03, 2005
1852 Frederick Douglass, a former slave and a leader in the fight against slavery wrote:
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?
I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.
To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.
There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Nutritional Stunner
I was struck by the tight relationship between diabetes and soda drinks described in a recent media report of a medical study. It was found the likelihood of diabetes increased by 73% with the consumption of just one soda drink a day. Apparently this is one study in which products like Coke or Pepsi don’t stand out; the large quantity of various sugars in all soda drinks, including the natural products, levels the playing field in the diabetes game. You may already know diabetes is the fastest growing disease in the country and, in the most pessimistic estimates, will result in 1 out of 2 to 3 persons’ affliction with it in only a few years if the current lifestyle of eating/snacking and exercise continues.
Believe me, you do not want to be in that game. Most who are, die, because they feel so discouraged by the presence and persistence—everywhere in their body—of this disease, that they just don’t take good enough care of themselves to survive. And up until the time they die, the cause labeled “kidney failure” or “heart disease” or “stroke” that is really a side effect of the diabetes, their life turns in its spin offs—surprises of fatigue, difficulties with weight, onsets of metabolically driven depression and, I think for many the most heavy is the feeling they are outside the freedom and sweetness of life looking in. Although all this—and much, much, much more—doesn’t have to be so in diabetes, I can tell you that for every 50 persons I have met with it maybe 1 is flourishing free of this basement description. Develop a love affair with good water and leave sodas with your past!
I was struck by the tight relationship between diabetes and soda drinks described in a recent media report of a medical study. It was found the likelihood of diabetes increased by 73% with the consumption of just one soda drink a day. Apparently this is one study in which products like Coke or Pepsi don’t stand out; the large quantity of various sugars in all soda drinks, including the natural products, levels the playing field in the diabetes game. You may already know diabetes is the fastest growing disease in the country and, in the most pessimistic estimates, will result in 1 out of 2 to 3 persons’ affliction with it in only a few years if the current lifestyle of eating/snacking and exercise continues.
Believe me, you do not want to be in that game. Most who are, die, because they feel so discouraged by the presence and persistence—everywhere in their body—of this disease, that they just don’t take good enough care of themselves to survive. And up until the time they die, the cause labeled “kidney failure” or “heart disease” or “stroke” that is really a side effect of the diabetes, their life turns in its spin offs—surprises of fatigue, difficulties with weight, onsets of metabolically driven depression and, I think for many the most heavy is the feeling they are outside the freedom and sweetness of life looking in. Although all this—and much, much, much more—doesn’t have to be so in diabetes, I can tell you that for every 50 persons I have met with it maybe 1 is flourishing free of this basement description. Develop a love affair with good water and leave sodas with your past!
Matt.13
[44] Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field;
the which when a man hath found,
he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath,
and buyeth that field.
[44] Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field;
the which when a man hath found,
he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath,
and buyeth that field.
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.
~ W. H. Auden ~
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.
~ W. H. Auden ~
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
about Giannfranco Pace (Chen taiji master from Italy)
"Then In December I had the opportunity to do a one-day workshop with Master Gianfranco Pace, a visiting Chen-style master from Italy who came to demonstrate and work with people. He had a rare touch that really reminded me of Sifu Chung, an ability to absorb any energy directed at him without giving way, the power to move you effortlessly. He was remarkable.I never went back.During the workshop I just kept putting myself in his shoes, imagining myself with the kind of power he had, and realizing that I did not want to spend years of my life learning how to injure people. Which is what it amounts to. The skill with which that man could hurt others effortlessly was astonishing, and frightening."
-David
"Then In December I had the opportunity to do a one-day workshop with Master Gianfranco Pace, a visiting Chen-style master from Italy who came to demonstrate and work with people. He had a rare touch that really reminded me of Sifu Chung, an ability to absorb any energy directed at him without giving way, the power to move you effortlessly. He was remarkable.I never went back.During the workshop I just kept putting myself in his shoes, imagining myself with the kind of power he had, and realizing that I did not want to spend years of my life learning how to injure people. Which is what it amounts to. The skill with which that man could hurt others effortlessly was astonishing, and frightening."
-David
Monday, June 27, 2005
"The greatest example of softness I've ever seen in Chen Style was demonstrated by Feng Zhiqiang, a famous student of Chen Fake. In 1982, Feng demonstrated his art with other Taiji masters outside of Shanghai in Jading. Feng's power was unbelievably concealed within the softness and resiliency of his joints. When he moved, the ground shook with what seemed like both primary and secondary seismic waves. (He gathered energy and used circulation not emission.) His body appeared to me to be as soft as jelly on the outside and as hard as a diamond on the inside. However, when a Chen family member, who also demonstrated in Jading that year moved, you it could see the force move and easily observe its origins. A definite difference in level and skill could be deduced. Feng Zhiqiang went on to demonstrate push hands and a variety of techniques with such deftness and softness, the power in what he did was clear. The reputation of Chen Style was enormously enhanced among the Taijiquan masters that were there for the demonstration. The one thing that is easy for the initiated to see is Feng's ability to extend and collapse his joints, especially the elbow, without the opponent being able to sense or detect Feng's sophisticated force. (This would not be the case if Feng moved from the waist first and shook in the way that some so-called master Chen Stylists do.)"
Monday, June 20, 2005
Turner had been meditating, by his own estimation, since he was three years old and had always felt isolated from others and unsure of his place in the world because of his inward-directed and deeply spiritual nature. In the presence of Nomura Roshi, who had just arrived from Japan the day before, Turner received instant confirmation of his own experience and promptly accepted him as his teacher. "After being initiated into the way of zazen [meditation] by the Master," he writes, "I continued to practice martial arts and do shikantaza [formless meditation] as if there were no relationship between the two. Imagine how surprised I was when one day as I sat in meditation there was a melting away of barriers, a blaze of light, and I immediately understood the secret of self-defense from the inside out. There was no mystery. When I arose from my seat, I felt as if everything was clear to me." With virtually no formal training in the martial arts, the youthful Vernon Turner had apparently—in "a blaze of light"—become a master.
"I had once talked to Billy Conn, the boxer, about professionals versus amateurs - specifically street fighters. One had always heard rumors of champions being taken out by back-alley fighters. Conn was scornful. "Aw, it's like hitting a girl," he said. "They're nothing."
- George Plimpton"Shadow Box"
- George Plimpton"Shadow Box"
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Those of use who think that death is an evil are in error . . . . Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that death is a good, for one of two things:--either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. . . . Now if death is like this, I say that to die is gain; for eternity is then only a single night. But if death is a journey to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead are, what good, O my friends and judges, can be greater than this? . . . What would not a man give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer? Nay, if this be true, let me die again and again. . . . Above all, I shall be able to continue my search into true and false knowledge; as in this world, so also in that; I shall find out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise, and is not. . . .
-Socrates
-Socrates
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
You Are That Which Never Moves
One day Bhagavan was looking at me intently and said: "It looks as if you are still hankering after meditation."
I replied: "What have I got except endless work in the kitchen?"
Bhagavan said with deep feeling:
"Your hands may do the work but your mind can remain still. You are that which never moves. Realize that and you will find that work is not a strain.
But as long as you think that you are the body and that the work is done by you, you will feel your life to be an endless toil.
In fact it is the mind that toils, not the body. Even if your body keeps quiet, will your mind keep quiet too? Even in sleep the mind is busy with its dreams."
I replied : "Yes, Swami, it is as natural for you to know that you are not your body as it is for us to think that we are the body....Why can't I remember always that I am not the body?"
"Because you haven't had enough of it."
He smiled.
One day Bhagavan was looking at me intently and said: "It looks as if you are still hankering after meditation."
I replied: "What have I got except endless work in the kitchen?"
Bhagavan said with deep feeling:
"Your hands may do the work but your mind can remain still. You are that which never moves. Realize that and you will find that work is not a strain.
But as long as you think that you are the body and that the work is done by you, you will feel your life to be an endless toil.
In fact it is the mind that toils, not the body. Even if your body keeps quiet, will your mind keep quiet too? Even in sleep the mind is busy with its dreams."
I replied : "Yes, Swami, it is as natural for you to know that you are not your body as it is for us to think that we are the body....Why can't I remember always that I am not the body?"
"Because you haven't had enough of it."
He smiled.
"Witnesses reported seeing the Daudi's mother carry him outside to a nearby bench, where paramedics were able to briefly revive him. But the child died about 5 p.m. at Celebration Hospital. "
Here's the kicker... He would likely have been fine to stay with his mom after being revived. But I bet they rushed him to the Hospital and promptly needled him up and started pumping crap into him. Every time I see someone admitted to the medical industry they do this. Stick needles in them and pump them up with crap.
Here, have a little trauma with your trauma...
[Listserv comment about 4 year old child who died after Disney Epcot Center space ride]
Here's the kicker... He would likely have been fine to stay with his mom after being revived. But I bet they rushed him to the Hospital and promptly needled him up and started pumping crap into him. Every time I see someone admitted to the medical industry they do this. Stick needles in them and pump them up with crap.
Here, have a little trauma with your trauma...
[Listserv comment about 4 year old child who died after Disney Epcot Center space ride]
Friday, June 10, 2005
When people of this age think about knowledge worth saving, they usually think about belief in the Cartesian mechanical philosophy, that dead matter is the basis of reality, and about techniques for rebuilding and using machines that dominate and separate us from other life.
I'd like that knowledge to die forever, but I don't think it works that way. Humans or any other hyper-malleable animal will always be tempted by the Black Arts, by techniques that trade subtle harm for flashy good and feed back into themselves, seducing us into power, corruption, and blindness.Our descendants will need the intellectual artifacts to avoid this -- artifacts we have barely started to develop even as the Great Bad Example begins to fall.
In 200 years, when they are brushing seeds into baskets with their fingers, and a stranger appears with a new threshing machine that will do the same thing with less time and effort, they will need to say something smarter than "the Gods forbid it" or "that is not our Way." They will need the knowledge to say something like:
"Your machine requires the seed to be planted alone and not interspersed with perennials that maintain nitrogen and mineral balance in the soil. And from where will the metal come, and how many trees must be cut down and burned to melt and shape it? And since we cannot build the machine, shall we be dependent on the machine-builders, and give them a portion of our food, which we now keep all for ourselves? Do you not know, clever stranger, that when any biomass is removed from the land, and not recycled back into it, the soil is weakened? And what could we do with our "saved" time, that would be more valuable and pleasurable than gathering the seed by hand, touching and knowing every stalk and every inch of the land that feeds us? Shall we become allies of cold metal that cuts without feeling, turning our hands and eyes to the study of machines and numbers until, severed from the Earth, we nearly destroy it as our ancestors did, making depleted uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls and cadmium batteries that even now make the old cities unfit for living? Go back to your people, and tell them, if they come to conquer us with their machines, we will fight them in ways the Arawaks and Seminoles and Lakota and Hopi and Nez Perce never imagined, because we understand your world better than you do yourself. Tell your people to come to learn."
I'd like that knowledge to die forever, but I don't think it works that way. Humans or any other hyper-malleable animal will always be tempted by the Black Arts, by techniques that trade subtle harm for flashy good and feed back into themselves, seducing us into power, corruption, and blindness.Our descendants will need the intellectual artifacts to avoid this -- artifacts we have barely started to develop even as the Great Bad Example begins to fall.
In 200 years, when they are brushing seeds into baskets with their fingers, and a stranger appears with a new threshing machine that will do the same thing with less time and effort, they will need to say something smarter than "the Gods forbid it" or "that is not our Way." They will need the knowledge to say something like:
"Your machine requires the seed to be planted alone and not interspersed with perennials that maintain nitrogen and mineral balance in the soil. And from where will the metal come, and how many trees must be cut down and burned to melt and shape it? And since we cannot build the machine, shall we be dependent on the machine-builders, and give them a portion of our food, which we now keep all for ourselves? Do you not know, clever stranger, that when any biomass is removed from the land, and not recycled back into it, the soil is weakened? And what could we do with our "saved" time, that would be more valuable and pleasurable than gathering the seed by hand, touching and knowing every stalk and every inch of the land that feeds us? Shall we become allies of cold metal that cuts without feeling, turning our hands and eyes to the study of machines and numbers until, severed from the Earth, we nearly destroy it as our ancestors did, making depleted uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls and cadmium batteries that even now make the old cities unfit for living? Go back to your people, and tell them, if they come to conquer us with their machines, we will fight them in ways the Arawaks and Seminoles and Lakota and Hopi and Nez Perce never imagined, because we understand your world better than you do yourself. Tell your people to come to learn."
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Ultimate Ki workout set:
1. Nishino Breathing Method - 1 or 2 reps.
2. CXW style of 1-hand basic Silk Reeling - few minutes each side
3. Systema drill: pushup start position (fully "up"), static hold for 5 minutes.
4. TienShanPai/Shaolin: lunge-step gentle bounces, 30 each side.
5. Silk Reeling low circular sidekicks: a few each side.
6. Wall handstand static hold: 10 or so breaths.
Optional if time permits:
Ravi Singh's 'navel power' - 1st half of the set (about 1 dozen exercises, minus Singh's chants and meditations)
1. Nishino Breathing Method - 1 or 2 reps.
2. CXW style of 1-hand basic Silk Reeling - few minutes each side
3. Systema drill: pushup start position (fully "up"), static hold for 5 minutes.
4. TienShanPai/Shaolin: lunge-step gentle bounces, 30 each side.
5. Silk Reeling low circular sidekicks: a few each side.
6. Wall handstand static hold: 10 or so breaths.
Optional if time permits:
Ravi Singh's 'navel power' - 1st half of the set (about 1 dozen exercises, minus Singh's chants and meditations)
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