Ἐὰν μὴ ἔλπηαι,
ἀνέλπιστον οὐκ ἐξευρήσει,
ἀνεξερεύνητον ἐὸν καὶ ἄπορον.

Whoever cannot seek
the unforeseen
sees nothing,
for the known way
is an impasse.

—Heraclitus

Body as one unit. This is introduced in the first lesson as one of the fundamental principles of Taiji. But really it should be: Mind/body/spirit as one unit. And the point/region about which they unify is the dantian.

Is all you can do is feed all that in
and hope it kindles the spirit.
—Stan Tracey

Energy rising & gathering at the vertex (head top). Imagine you're wearing a wizard's hat or dunce's cap.

(Interestingly the word dunce comes from Duns Scotus (1265-1308) who Hopkins called 'of realty the rarest-veined unraveller.' Scotus's concept of haecceitas – thisness – Hopkins borrowed and called inscape: the idea that spirit (God) is in the details of a natural thing, in what makes it a unique individual rather than what makes it one of a species. Scotus fell out of favour with the later Renaissance humanists, who were heavily into measurement & classification, hence Duns became dunce (Scotus & his followers wore pointed felt caps, believing it would funnel knowledge into the brain). In the 1960s Gilles Deleuze was also influenced by Scotus in developing his philosophy of difference over sameness.)

Silent knowledge. A knowledge that cannot be couched in words and if you try you end up corrupting.

Try to love the questions
far more than the answers

Nature loves to hide. If you look you don't see. If you listen you won't hear. We need a spirit keen enough to snatch glances when we're not looking & catch rumors when we're not listening.

Affirmer, c’est alléger: non pas charger la vie du poids des valeurs supérieures, mais créer de nouvelles valeurs qui sont celles de la vie, qui rendent la vie légère et active.

—Gilles Deleuze

To affirm is to lighten: not by burdening life with the weight of higher values, but by creating new values — values belonging to life itself — that render life light & active.

The phrase no blame (无咎) occurs in the I Ching (易经) 82 times and the phrase no regret (无悔) occurs 43 times. When you inspect the contents of your mind you begin to realise why.

Each one of the principles, if thoroughly investigated, is an avenue into spirit.

I've had the good fortune to have worked with a few wise old women, and something one of them said to me will always stay with me:

When I'm with a person I have no interest in how famous, wealthy, educated or beautiful they are; the only thing that interests me is: are they a good person?

Naturally the head is a space of intense clarity & brightness, ever shining forth in compassion & enthusiasm. But nowadays it is a space of darkness – full of worry, resentment, angst – separation.

A burgeoning heart
(literally: sending out buds)

The teacher sees something special

glimmering beneath your ego

A flourishing heart
(literally: sending out flowers)

DAODEJING   Chapter 41 starts:

上士 闻道 勤而行之
中士 闻道 若存若亡
下士 闻道 大笑之。
不笑不足以为道。

The superior man, upon hearing of the Way, diligently practices it.
The average man, upon hearing of the Way, is uncertain & doubtful.
The inferior man, upon hearing of the Way, laughs loudly at it.
If he did not laugh, it would not be the Way.

(Often translated with good student, mediocre student, poor student.)

Think of the adjectives superior, average, inferior as describing the quality of the person's mind/energy/spirit. The superior man has more enthusiasm & focus that the average, whereas the inferior man just cannot see beyond his selfish concerns.

CONSISTENCY & INTENSITY

We usually focus on what we're doing or where we're going, but God's primary concern is who we're becoming in the process.

—Mark Batterson

Softness transforms force into energy. When the softness is active – a melting softness – we call this yielding.

We all need a teacher – someone who knows us better than we know ourselves.

Allow the practice to transform your mood

Do not be ·shaped by [conformed to; pressed into a mold by] this ·world [age]; instead be ·changed within [transformed] by ·a new way of thinking [or changing the way you think; ^Lthe renewing of your mind].

—Romans 12:2

From The Expanded Bible

(The superscript L indicates a literal translation of the original Greek)

The big breakthrough comes when we relax the mind sufficiently for it to start working for us rather than against.

GRAVITAS
a natural pull into the lower dantian, especially when threatened or alarmed;


LEVITAS
the desire to reach out & touch; the life force (spirit) making itself known
(modeled on gravitas & levity)

likestretchedelastic

Open is broken. There is no breakthrough without breakage.

—Norman O Brown

People express surprise that I no longer listen to music, and then ask why. Well, I've found that the silence music drowns is far more open than the music filling it. Always. And OPEN, more & more, becomes THE word in this work.

THE GOOD STUDENT

• Intelligence to mistrust the rational dualistic mind.
• Courage & vision to persevere through thick & thin.
• Stomach for rigorous discipline & hard work.

head   heart   belly

Always looking to simplify the life