The sacred principle at the heart of bourgeois life is private property. Now we know that the bourgeoisie have everything topsy-turvy so the sacred principle at the heart of the spiritual life must be the commons – commonality – what we share, not just with each other but with all of life – what cannot be owned – S P I R I T !

The courage to remain open

Teacher as significant other

In this noisy overcrowded world,
the most precious commodity is
silence.

consistently
vulnerably
patiently
openly

The good teacher doesn't just give you exercises, forms, principles, insights.  She teaches you how to follow your nose.

One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature, one from all.

—Plotinus

Meditation: disappearing into the bigger picture

Back in the late eighties I taught a short introductory course at a classy gym in the Barbican.  I knew they already had judo, karate & taekwondo so I asked the director what they would like from me.  I'd like you to put the art back into martial art,  he replied.  Since then I've always thought of Taiji as an art, and myself as an artist.

not
obsessed
but
possessed

Don’t worry about cool,
make your own uncool.
—Sol LeWitt

Principle: an elemental aspect of a craft or discipline

to be conscious
is to love God

Perhaps the easiest way to become energetic (of energy) is to stand up, raise your heels & bend your knees.  To maintain balance in this posture you need two things: attention & spirit.  When you get these two together then you get energy.

The Daoist Fourfold:

EARTH    HEAVEN    MAN    DAO

Taiji celebrates a conscious working connexion with each element:

EARTH:  gravity, sinking sacrum, bent legs, humility;
HEAVEN:  levity, lifting sternum, light heart, joy;
MAN:  mortality, morality, yielding, spirit;
DAO:  yin/yang, energy, principle, the bigger picture.

This is also prayer.

Consistency is key

Bum-In is one of our treasured principles and one of the easiest to get wrong. It does not mean pulling your tail between your legs like a whipped cur. Imagine the master's hand on your sacrum, heel of the palm just beneath the mingmen (命門) and fingers pointing down the coccyx. The heel of the palm pushes down & forward, driving you deeper into the legs without altering the inclination of the sacrum, and also providing a subtle lift to the thymus (upper sternum). This is the stimulus that moves you forward.

I used to meditate until I learned to stop thinking.
—Agnes Martin

My paintings are about merging, about formlessness
A world without objects, without interruption

The miracle of the figure of eight is that it brings things together and keeps them apart at the same time.

We are born with baggage. The aim of spiritual work is to die lighter than we were at birth.

We've moved from wisdom to knowledge, and now we're moving from knowledge to information, and that information is so partial that we're creating incomplete human beings.

—Vandana Shiva

LET SPIRIT LEAD

A sincere empassioned engagement brings the work alive – spirit takes over. It seems you know what you're doing but far from it. Otherwise you'll soon get bored.    (Artists understand.)

solve et coagula

LIFE FEEDS ON LIFE

When I came across this phrase a lot fell into place. If we want to live a good life – one that generates goodness rather than one that merely consumes goods – then we absolutely need prayer (begging forgiveness), sacrifice (giving what we cannot afford to give), and other daily rituals of humiliation.

beware sclerosis

We're not trying to understand the mystery but deepen it through participation.

A sense of peace – relaxing into space

A sense of destiny – relaxing into time

We're not trying to solve puzzles or discover truths, absolute or otherwise, we're just trying to stay fresh & pliable.  Young at heart.

a presence of mind
a mind that heals
that makes things better
makes things right
energetic – lively
cheerful

From the Chinese perspective, emptiness is not, as one might suppose, something vague or nonexistent – it is dynamic & active. Linked with the idea of vital breaths and with the principle of the alternation of yin & yang, it is the preeminent site of transformation, the place where fullness can attain its whole measure.

—François Cheng

Relax sufficiently for your surfaces to bleed without losing their integrity.

Tropisms
Tendencies
Propensities

When, for whatever reason, I catch sight of myself in a mirror I get the shock of my life. Not because I've aged so much (I have) but because that image is so obviously not me. The creature looking out of those eyes is still the child – eager for, and amazed by, this strange adventure called Life.

My icons do not raise up the blessed savior in elaborate cathedrals. They are constructed concentrations celebrating barren rooms. They bring a limited light.

—Dan Flavin

relaxed yet not relaxed
tense but not tense

The closer we are to the point of failure, the more energy.
The further from that point, the more force.

What distinguishes the good student? They take things to heart. The head only comes in when they get disheartened.

error stems from the imposition of a priori categories

—Roch Charles Smith

The advanced student is often technically no better than many a talented beginner, she's just more full-time.

We subconsciously manipulate our world
to protect our tension (Ego)

Permanent vigil
(or as close as possible)

The poor student maintains a critical distance:
far too fearful to get close

What makes an event an event rather than just another occurrence is the presence of spirit.

Meditation: sitting quietly and letting gravity wash you clean. And what is it that washes away? Tension, self-image, Ego.

Just had one of those "Oh shit! I've been doing it wrong all these years" moments...

There are reveries so deep, reveries which help us descend so deeply within ourselves that they rid us of our history. They liberate us from our name. These solitudes of today return us to the original solitudes.

—Gaston Bachelard

Ego rules empire

I spent 9 years at university, earning various degrees & research posts. I left when I realised that I wasn't going to find wisdom there, only over-specialised experts. Imagine my delight & relief when I encountered my Taiji teacher. Suddenly someone who spoke to my heart rather than my head.

Privilege:
empty over empery
energy over force
fluid over solid
process over state