Forget self and become one with the Tao. We all know this Taoist dictum by heart, and we all know that when we forget self we connect better, with others and with all the energies impinging upon us all the time. That which prevents us forgetting self is generally called fear. Irrational fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of ourselves - fear of being something other than what we think we are. My teacher used to say that everybody thinks they are special, and that this need to be unique and significant is precisely what prevents people from fully realising their potential. He also used to say that most people are special, but never in the way they think they are. He used to have a favourite phrase, "Beyond the imagination". You are far fuller and more real than you could ever imagine. The imagination is very limited, despite what creative people think, and to indulge it will hold you back. Far better to immerse yourself fully into the Natural Process and allow yourself to be an object of creation, than use the mind to order, control and mould your life and environment.
Given that as Tai Chi students we are struggling to confront and eradicate our fears in order to better connect, my teacher argues that it is total foolishness to then take into your body the flesh of animals that have been killed in fear. Also, Charles, who is a vet, has pointed out that when an animal is terrified (which it will be in the abattoir) many hormones are pumped into its blood (on top of the growth hormones and megadoses of anitbiotics injected into the animals by the farmers), none of which are healthy for us, and all of which will work against our efforts to become softer and lighter. In a way, your diet is the easiest thing in your life to change and to tell the truth I don't really understand why people don't. I guess it's just a matter of how far people are prepared to go. Unfortunately, to continually progress at Tai Chi a deepening commitment is required. This deepening must express itself in every aspect of your life and being. This is what internal means. Totality. Becoming. Transformation.
Given that as Tai Chi students we are struggling to confront and eradicate our fears in order to better connect, my teacher argues that it is total foolishness to then take into your body the flesh of animals that have been killed in fear. Also, Charles, who is a vet, has pointed out that when an animal is terrified (which it will be in the abattoir) many hormones are pumped into its blood (on top of the growth hormones and megadoses of anitbiotics injected into the animals by the farmers), none of which are healthy for us, and all of which will work against our efforts to become softer and lighter. In a way, your diet is the easiest thing in your life to change and to tell the truth I don't really understand why people don't. I guess it's just a matter of how far people are prepared to go. Unfortunately, to continually progress at Tai Chi a deepening commitment is required. This deepening must express itself in every aspect of your life and being. This is what internal means. Totality. Becoming. Transformation.
5 comments
I'd go with the meat comment. It definitely has a negative effect on my emotions, usually the following day. However, a few years back when I was extremely run down meat was the only food that enabled me to rebuild my strength. Some people thrive on a vegetarian diet, some people seem to need some meat. Evolution. We have been eating meat for milleniums and can't be expected (as a race) to change overnight.
Thanks Worm, I appreciate you sharing your experiences. See my post of Sat 23 July for reply.
I think I am judging it from an energy viewpoint, not in terms of temporal emotions. Agreed there is a cleansing period when people change from a bad diet. In my last post I was talking about a time when I had been a vegetarian for about six years and I took care over my diet (although maybe not as much as I should). However, physically and emotionally I was taking more out of my body than was going back in. I wasn't able to build myself up with a vegetarian diet but meat did turn me around. When I tried to return to a vegetarian diet I would find my strength draining. It's only now - over 20 years later - that I'm adapting again to a vegetarian diet and finding that I can maintain and improve energy levels. This I put down to having built up a stronger reserve of energy.
On a more general level I think our bodies do become accustomed to existing on particular types of diet, and that is reflected at a genetic level. If we're from a culture that has existed on a diet made up almost entirely of meat (e.g. eskimos) then your body may find it harder to extract the necessary nutrients from vegetables. Take also the example of alcohol. Eastern racial groups have a lower resistence to alcohol because they lack an enyzme that people in western countries have as a result of consuming alcohol for longer.
Almost all the vegans I've known have
had very weak energy. Okay, I know there are exceptions, like you and John Kells, but I'd really question this diet (vegan) without transformational energy practices.
I appreciate everything you're saying and I admit that it all sounds reasonable. I just don't think it a useful or interesting way to think or be. All my life I've striven to be one of the exceptions because my instincts have told me that normality=mediocrity. When I first set eyes on JK I immediately knew that there was a man who thought similarly and who could give me instruction. Since then my life has been a process of getting deeper and deeper into the teaching and the energy. That all-consuming attitude protects and allows me to do things that would weaken or harm others, and become stronger on them. People fail to appreciate this. It is the fundamental principle of the work we do, that when you connect to spirit the rules no longer apply. It is not what you do but the passion with which you do it that is really important. This terrifies most people, they'd rather die than wake up.
"Almost all the vegans I've known have had very weak energy. Okay, I know there are exceptions, like you and John Kells, but I'd really question this diet (vegan) without transformational energy practices."
I agree. I've just returned from London & sat next to a young man on the coach. He was eating a humus salad for lunch. Obviously vegan, he was very well intentioned but so weak (lifting the fork to his mouth seemed an unreasonable effort), no energy to speak of and so of no consequence.
To make a difference in this life you need to be a force to be reckoned with - you need really good, strong energy. A vegan needs to eat huge quantities. We all consume a kilo of tofu each a day here, plus copious quantities of fruit, veg, potatoes, brown rice and quinoa. The difficulty is getting it all down.
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