As I begin teaching myself the left hand form, after all
these years, I find that I am still a beginner.
The Time Traveler
In order to teach, the teacher appears and demonstrates, but
then must leave in order for the student to inhabit the body and copy the
mirror image of the teacher’s form from memory. This is necessary because, like
the proverbial time traveler, it seems that I cannot inhabit the same time and
space twice at the same time. That is, I cannot meet myself.
It seems that the student is required both to carry the
memory of the teachers’ performance, and to actively translate that performance
into one’s own moves. This feels entirely new to the student. This is a truly
miraculous exhibition of one’s ability to concentrate and to hold the memory of
the complex movements clearly in one’s mind, performing them, as it were, from
that memory, clearly held, at the same time.
Like anything new, this gets easier with practice. But it
seems incredibly difficult at the start, and requires some faith in the process
to even begin.
Enough, or More?
If you ask people “What do you want?”, Some would say “I
want enough to have a good life.”. Others would always say “More.” no matter
how much they have.
The Dalai Lama told us that we should always be satisfied
with our material wealth, and never be satisfied with our spiritual growth.
A Letter about
Terrorism (Paris)
November 15th, 2015
Hey D,
Not much I can say about Paris. There are crazy people
everywhere, and my way to make things better is to just try to be, and help
others to be, more sane. This hopefully balances things a little more.
There is already more than enough hatred and anger in the world,
and I hope that if we can reduce that, things will get better.
The details
beyond that are up to each individual to see their own part. Some may see
opportunity to actively fight terrorism and they should do that. For most of
us, in our everyday life we may be able to fight the causes of such extremism
by creating good will and a better future for all without the need to destroy
lives, which seems a terrible waste.
I have recently read 'Dance of the Furies', by Michael S.
Neiberg, about Europe and the outbreak of World War I. It consists of the first
hand accounts, letters, and diaries of ordinary people who wrote about what was
happening then. It seems that in every country, including Germany, most of the
people were convinced by the powerful that they were being attacked and
threatened by others, and had no recourse but to fight.
I see some scary
parallels today. These terrorists obviously believe lies about us. Certainly
there are more humane options than terrorism and maybe perhaps there is a way
to help all people to see more of the humanity in others and to see these other
options.
It's certainly not easy or always even possible. Many may never
even want to give up their anger and hatred. But much progress has been made in
places like Ireland, for example, where many thought things could never change.
These are just musings about possibilities, and maybe very
unrealistic, but the alternatives might be very bleak.
Best Wishes to All,
Daniel
