You round the corner of your garage to go into the backyard and not ten feet away from you is a bear. The bear eyes you as you remain motionless. Your breathing becomes shallow and thoughts start to pinball in your mind: Should I run? But bears are fast runners. Should I pick-up a rock and throw it at him? That would really piss him off! Read more...
Years ago I read a Zen story that struck a chord in me. Occasionally I forget it and act like a jackass. Then I remember it.
I’m sure I don’t have the details properly but I think I have the gist. It goes something like this:
A noted professor of Eastern philosophy and a Zen master meet at the master’s house for a discussion. The professor launches into a polemic showing off his great learning. Whenever the Zen master speaks the professor interrupts him, talks over him, and expresses him opinion. This goes on for a while. Read more...
Discussion is necessary, as it can unleash powerful insights. It can propel one to a greater understanding of what the hell is going on. So is study. I have learned much.
In the Taoist tradition I practice a lot of questions are frowned upon. I once learned a style of Standing Post meditation that entailed different arm positions from the ones I practiced, and different breathing techniques. One inhaled the breath in different percentages in the lungs before exhaling. I asked the master of this style for an explanation. Then I proposed that the differing percentages activated different energy meridians in the body—which lead to various organ systems. Read more...
When I was first divorced I felt bitter. I was renting a tiny brick house that a friend referred to as “The Brick Coffin” because that it what it resembled. I was out on disability, and part of that money went for child support. I was broke and drank heavily on weekends. I practiced my meditation and worked out with weights—mainly because that was always what I’d done. I was not content. Read more...
I was facing my third instance of cancer, my second relapse.
Patience. Forbearance. The qualities one needs to beat recurrent cancer. To survive, I would have to emulate the qualities of the crane I observed in the reeds in the lake behind my house. Wait—be still. Then strike when a fish or frog mistakes a motionless leg for a reed. I had to realize that every time I beat a relapse, I was one step closer to being cured. Read more...
Alexander the Great had inherited his father’s Macedonian kingdom, put down revolts in Greece, and had amassed his army in preparation for an attack on Persia. Seeking spiritual counsel before the war, he traveled to Athens to seek out the advice of the philosopher Diogenes the Cynic, renowned for scouring the streets of Athens at night with a lantern—seeking an honest man. Read more...
“It’s back—in your other hip.”
I heard my oncologist’s words and bit the inside of my cheek. Composure. Had to keep my composure. Read more...
From my middle teens through early twenties I immersed myself in the martial arts, specifically Japanese karate and Korean Tae Kwon Do. These styles are known as “hard styles” as they depend mainly on muscular action and conscious power development through striking practice to deliver their blows. They are good styles for young men with an excess of testosterone coursing through their veins as the workouts are intense. Guys who want to workout hard and “mix it up.” Read more...
It sounds like a sexual allusion, doesn’t it? It’s not.
It refers to the way you deal with fighting cancer. For me, based on my confrontational style of personality and my excessive nature, I attacked the cancer. Both with my attitude, and my approach to fighting it. It comes from playing high school football and training in hard-style karate for many years. Ignore pain and attack your goal. Read more...
To accomplish anything in this life, one has to believe in oneself. That’s something we all know. However, the trend in many popular books on the market (‘The Secret,’ ‘The Answer,’ ‘The Power of Now’) is that all one needs is belief. Then a benevolent universe will reward you with golden opportunities, and you will be able to accomplish anything you desire: discuss quantum physics with Stephen Hawking, do a little “touch up” work on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel—you know, correct his mistakes. Read more...