I've read Ryan's question concerning training, and his dilemma about setting goals. Does it help you or does it box you in? I had pretty much the same problem, as all westerners do, so this is the way I've dealt with it.
It all comes down to one word... Zen.
Stay in the moment. No yesterday, no tomorrow, just now. I don't plan to elaborate the zen doctrine, I'll just give you an example how I put it in works.
Modern society tends to make us robots in a sense that you have to mindlessly follow the instructions it gives you. Basic formula goes something like: go to school then college, get a job, then go after promotion and a bigger paycheck, get your pension and die. Just another rat in a rat race.
My epiphany of some sorts came when I realized that time actually does not exist. It was created by humans who were afraid of the infinity of the universe. If you notice all the different time zones across the globe or how almost every ancient civilization had a different calendar. So giving your training a time limit is pointless.
Like everybody else, I usually had these statements: I'll start on Monday, or on the first day of the upcoming month; by that date I'll be able to do this and that or something like that. It was wrong.
Remember the quote from the Kung fu panda movie? ''Past is history, future is a mystery and today is a gift; that's why it's called present.''
I started training alone without any goals except because I like it and my desire to better myself.
I heard also a great analogy: Imagine you want to build a brick wall. Don't be consumed by the result just concentrate on each brick at the time. Lay each brick as perfectly you can. In the end you will have a perfect wall. It is very difficult for a westerner to understand this because our society forces us to chase for fast and instant results. Every day is a New year's resolution, this moment is all we have and what we can control.
The same goes for training... Let's say you can do 10 push ups. That's it, just do 10. Next day 11 then 12 and so on... If one day you are able to do 150 push ups, does it mean you are finished with you progress? Of course not. It is all about the journey not destination. Sure you should keep track of your improvement, but do not be bound by it.
Just like dancing, move for the sake of moving. You are not going anywhere, just enjoying yourself. You don't ''have to'' do anything.
Alan Watts is a big inspiration for me, you might name him my spiritual guide. This is a short you tube clip of him explaining it all.
Hope it helps!
It all comes down to one word... Zen.
Stay in the moment. No yesterday, no tomorrow, just now. I don't plan to elaborate the zen doctrine, I'll just give you an example how I put it in works.
Modern society tends to make us robots in a sense that you have to mindlessly follow the instructions it gives you. Basic formula goes something like: go to school then college, get a job, then go after promotion and a bigger paycheck, get your pension and die. Just another rat in a rat race.
My epiphany of some sorts came when I realized that time actually does not exist. It was created by humans who were afraid of the infinity of the universe. If you notice all the different time zones across the globe or how almost every ancient civilization had a different calendar. So giving your training a time limit is pointless.
Like everybody else, I usually had these statements: I'll start on Monday, or on the first day of the upcoming month; by that date I'll be able to do this and that or something like that. It was wrong.
Remember the quote from the Kung fu panda movie? ''Past is history, future is a mystery and today is a gift; that's why it's called present.''
I started training alone without any goals except because I like it and my desire to better myself.
I heard also a great analogy: Imagine you want to build a brick wall. Don't be consumed by the result just concentrate on each brick at the time. Lay each brick as perfectly you can. In the end you will have a perfect wall. It is very difficult for a westerner to understand this because our society forces us to chase for fast and instant results. Every day is a New year's resolution, this moment is all we have and what we can control.
The same goes for training... Let's say you can do 10 push ups. That's it, just do 10. Next day 11 then 12 and so on... If one day you are able to do 150 push ups, does it mean you are finished with you progress? Of course not. It is all about the journey not destination. Sure you should keep track of your improvement, but do not be bound by it.
Just like dancing, move for the sake of moving. You are not going anywhere, just enjoying yourself. You don't ''have to'' do anything.
Alan Watts is a big inspiration for me, you might name him my spiritual guide. This is a short you tube clip of him explaining it all.
Hope it helps!
Thanks, Alex... Another great confirmation of a mind issue I should have been on top of from the start. Funny you should mention different calendars in different cultures. I'm actually the caretaker of a really ancient complex of indigenous Blackfoot knowledge known as the Beaver Bundle, which includes the keeping of our traditional lunar and two-season calendar. What is interesting though is that this is not a calendar in the familiar western sense, where you have the future already scheduled out in little boxes. This I am talking about are two sets of sticks that are moved in certain ritual ways to mark the occurrence of events as they happen. It is a 'response' model of time, rather than a schedule of the future. Probably the best way I can explain it is to give a concrete example of this kind of time. Say I want to have berries to eat during the winter, and I can't buy them from a store. The only way I'm going to get them is if, when the berries are ripe, I respond by gathering them and processing them for long-term storage. If I say to myself, "I'm going to go pick berries on July 26th," rather than responding to what is actually happening with the berries themselves, then I may miss their peak ripeness, or I may go too soon, or the birds may beat me to them, etc. Then I have no berries. Western time and scheduling is far too detached from the moment of opportunity, as you note... and that's what that little voice was trying to remind me of
ReplyDeleteThe only cognitive drawback I can see, in terms of adopting a complete 'never mind the future' perspective, is that planning for the future can indeed matter in certain circumstances. Given this, I feel that there still can be a mindfulness of future within Zen, and I would offer as one model of practice that which is lived by beavers. Here in Alberta, the waters ice-over in winter. Beavers must be mindful of this, and prepare for it by stockpiling a cache of food in a deep pool in front of their lodge before the ice comes and blocks off their access to anything that is not already underwater. So, they do prepare. Yet, they do not approach it in the proverbial manner of the so-called 'busy beaver.' I have spent many evenings watching them in the moons leading up to the winter. They will go about their lives much in the manner of your brick-laying example, except that they won't pass a great amount of time in any one brick-laying session. They might swim back and forth to the north side of the pond two or three times to gather bulrush stalks and rabbit willow, which they will submerge in their winter food cache, but then they might wrestle for a little while, or haul a few loads of mud up the side of the lodge to reinforce one of their walls, or they might just float around on the pond surface for the next hour, munching on milfoil. Eventually, they will go get another load or two of the winter food cache materials. It might happen that night, it might not be until the next. But by the time the ice arrives, they always have their cache in place, never fails
I really like the video, by the way... spot on
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it. I didn't mean to say people should not have plans for the future, just don't worry about it too much. I think Tao Te Ching says that you should deal with the big stuff while they are still small, be prepared. Just like the beavers, it's the Nature's way.
ReplyDeleteMS SASHA......IT IS THE TRUTH..........WE MUST LEARN TO STEP OUT OF THE COMMON HERD OR FIND OURSELVES GOING OFF THE CLIFF OURSELVES.
ReplyDeleteFURTHER WE CAN NOT SOAR LIKE EAGLES WHEN OUR COMPANY ARE TURKEYS....
THE EXCITEMENT EXPERIENCED TRAVERSING ROADS OTHERS HAVE PAVED DOES NOT EVEN COMPARE BUT PALES AT OUR MAKING OUR OWN WAY ...WHICH IS WHAT WE ALL OUGHT DO TO REACH OUR HIGHEST HUMAN POTENTIAL AND RECOGNIZE TO NOT EXCLUDE TOTALLY ALL PREVIOUSLY FORGED ROADS IN THE JOURNEYS OTHERS HAVE TAKEN.