Privacy

Privacy

We don’t know the value of privacy until tragedy strikes.  If you have a lot of money, you can protect this money, you can hide this money, you can live as if you don’t have this money.  Nobody knows how much money you have unless you reveal this information.  Those who are wealthy, can still stay safe.  A wealthy person with no name can stay safe. 

But if you have fame, now, no matter if you are wealthy or not, you are at risk.  You can have thousands that love you, but all it takes is one person filled with hate to destroy your future.  All it took was one person to kill John Lennon.  All it took was one person to kill 2pac.  All it took was one person to kill JFK.  All it took was one person to kill MLK.  All it took was one person to kill Malcolm X.  All it takes is one person to burn down your home.  All it takes is one person to destroy your car.  All it takes is one person to take your life.  All it takes is one person to make your life a living nightmare.  All it takes is one person to put your entire life in misery. 

This one person that is full of hate, can just find out where you live, and take away your entire future.  This one person can take the life of your entire family.  This one person can destroy your entire destiny. 

Ask any person who is wealthy and famous if they would rather be wealthy with no fame or wealthy and famous.  A lot of people will answer that they would be content with just the wealth.  With fame, it will bring hate, no matter who you are.  And all it takes is one person full of hate to destroy everything you have worked so hard to build for your entire life.  The president can’t sleep at night without the secret service. 

All celebrities need to go into hiding away from the public.  The public is what is making them rich, but all it takes is one person full of hate to destroy their future, and they know this.  That is why all celebrities stick together and build their own communities; celebrities don’t mingle with the public because they know what can happen.  There is a segregation between those who are famous and those who are ordinary.  But those who are not famous but wealthy, those are the individuals who can truly enjoy life with no restrictions.  Nobody is paying attention, they have bypassed the radar and they are living a life of luxury and bliss. 

Overflowing Energy

Overflowing Energy

When you have overflowing energy, you will find outlets to express this energy.  In the body, you will exercise, you will strength train, you will kick, you will punch, you will run, you will bike, you will swim, you will exert yourself physically.  In love, you will express this energy with intimacy with your lover.  In business, you will find work to make money.  When you make money, you will spend this money.  This money is a symbol of your energy exerted.  What you buy with this money will symbolize the outcome of your exerted energy.  Your home, your bike, your car, your clothes, your furniture, are all examples of symbols of this exerted energy.  When you create children, this is a symbol of your exerted energy.  A man of Gung Fu has an immense of amount of energy that he needs to creatively find ways of exerting for the greater good.  The man of Gung Fu aims to exert his energy towards the development of Body, Mind, Spirit, Love, and Business.  A man of Gung Fu aims to create beauty and head towards luxury.  A beautiful home, a beautiful partner, a beautiful body, a beautiful family, beautiful clothes, beautiful cars, beautiful bikes, a beautiful life.  He wishes to fill his life with beauty. 

Ordinary

Ordinary

I am an ordinary man in meditation.  Like a Buddha who sits under a tree, there is nothing extraordinary, there is nothing to brag about, there is nothing to showcase, there is nothing to highlight.  If you take a picture every day, it will nearly look the same, the body will age, the tree will age, the weather will change, but there is no action, he is just a man sitting in stillness.  The clothes may be different, but the action remains the same, he is in stillness.  There is nothing extraordinary in his stillness. 

I train everyday, I bike everyday, I eat everyday, I sleep everyday, I read everyday, I write everyday.  Everything I do is ordinary.  I do the same exercises over and over; some days I lift more, some days I lift less.  Some days I do more repetitions, some days I do fewer repetitions.  There is nothing extraordinary in what I do, what I do, people have seen before.  It is like watching a man who is sitting, standing, or walking, it is nothing new.  It is nothing to be excited about, nothing to admire, nothing to photograph, nothing to brag about, it is ordinary. 

The difference is the quality from within, the meditativeness from within.  Although I do it everyday, the quality of meditation makes it seem as if it is the first experience.  To me it is not a routine, it cannot be, every moment there is change.  The body and mind cannot be the same moment to moment, every moment the body changes, every moment the mind is changing, until you grasp control of this mind and stop the thoughts.  Every day is a different day; it is impossible for any two days to be exactly the same.  Every day is something new, a new experience. 

The lifestyle of a Martial Artist to me is similar to a basketball player.  A basketball player can play thousands of games, and every single game will be different, there will never be two games that are exactly the same.  The game is not extraordinarily exciting, like watching a magician of whom you expect to see a different magic trick every single time, no, the game is very basic, so basic that you rarely even see any extraordinary slam dunks like the ones you see in the slam dunk contests.  You simply see shots being made, people dribbling and passing the ball, every game is 48 minutes long.  The difference in games are minor, one day he scores more, another day he scores less.  One day he gets more steals and rebounds, another day he gets less.  Day in and day out, he is playing the game.

But imagine this game when there is no such thing as winning or losing.  Imagine this game where there is nobody playing but yourself.  Imagine this game that lasts not just for a few years or a few decades but for your entire life.  This is what Martial Art is to me, you simply train in meditation for life.  You don’t train to win or lose; you simply train in meditation, in awareness.  The training is simply the active expression of Buddha’s sitting meditation under the Bodhi tree.  It is nothing special; it is very ordinary, nothing extraordinary.  It’s the same thing over and over.  People will just walk on by, not even taking a second glance because it is nothing new and exciting.  Like the crashing waves against the shore, like the flying birds in the sky, like the fish swimming in the ocean, it takes a man of meditation to appreciate its ordinary beauty.   

Too Many Relationships

Too Many Relationships

The more relationships you have, the more difficult it will be to maintain happiness within all these relationships.  If there are 50 people you love, it will be very difficult to maintain that love for all 50 individuals.  The more people you love, the more it increases the chances of pain and suffering.  If there are only 5 individuals of whom you love, it will be easier to manage.  If you try too hard to maintain too many relationships, a majority of them are bound to fail, and this will cause much pain and suffering. 

Think about all the different loving relationships that we have.  Our mother, father, brothers, sisters, cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, friends, students, disciples,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      etc.

The problem is that you don’t even get along with your own brother and then you try to seek out a new friendship with a stranger.  The problem is that you don’t even get along with your own father and then you go seeking out for a father figure.  Without a strong foundation of love, all relationships are bound to fail.

If we don’t work on strengthening the relationships that really matter then what we are doing is just trying to build a house with a deck of cards, there is no foundation, we think we have built one house to move onto the next and then all of a sudden the wind blows over the cards and we have to start all over. 

If we use bricks to build the house, the house will last, then when the house is finished we can work on building the next house.  But what is important is the quality, not the quantity.  It is better to have one real friend than 50 friends all disguised as enemies. A real friend does not come by often, you may be lucky to find one every 10 years.  Through the test of time you will be able to determine the real from the false.  When enough time has passed, the real friend becomes family.  Family is the foundation of love.  Without love in the family, you will be wandering aimlessly destroying every relationship you encounter.  The lesson is to fix the foundation before seeking to build.

Do not have a child with a woman where the love is not strong.  Do not decide to have a 2^nd child, when there is no love for the first.  You have not learned to develop a solid foundation with anyone, so any relationship you seek to build is bound to destruct until you learn to break the cycle by refocusing on the relationships that are truly important rather than running away from them in which to seek out new ones to build which will also eventually destruct. – SFL May 30 2015

You Are Not My Father!

You Are Not My Father!

You hear this statement repeated a lot by young children and young adults.  What I see is that if the child will not listen to the father, and he will not listen to an authority figure because this person is not his father either, then whom will this child listen to? 

This child does not wish to listen to the teacher.

This child does not wish to listen to the judge. 

This child does not wish to listen to the Police Officer.

This child does not wish to listen to the psychologist.

This child does not wish to listen to the friend.

This child has no respect for his father, so he has no respect for any authority; he has no respect for anyone.  He is childishly rebellious to everyone.  He is not rebelling out of wisdom, he is not a Jesus, he is not a Socrates, he is not a Lao-tzu, he is not an Osho.  He is an immature child that is rebelling all authority with no inner light of his own.  I see this problem in a lot of Americans.  I see this problem in a lot of people in this culture because many homes are broken.  Many fathers are simply not around, and those who are around are not properly disciplining their children.  This creates a world with many complications; there is no respect for authority.