Awareness

My teacher's most important discovery – the one on which all others hinge – is that the heart is centre, not belly or brain. When the heart is open and foremost then it is not possible to be selfish or self-centred. An open heart naturally reaches out and connects, and its only concern is to feed those connexions – self-concerns evaporate – they are simply not part of a heart-centred existence. Neither is a noisy mind – when the mind chats to itself the heart closes, it's as simple as that. The endless chatter is the essence of selfishness, of drawing in and putting oneself first. The best way to break this most debilitating and difficult of habits is to become more generous with one's heart – put it first instead. The biggest fear for any martial artist is being caught unawares or flinching. Unawares simply means asleep – day-dreaming – and flinching is a fear response that quickly draws in one's connecting threads and closes the heart in self-protection. Not only is the heart the centre of connexion and compassion, it is also the centre of awareness. It's obvious really that the more open and active the heart, the more threads of connexion you will have reaching into the world and hence the greater your awareness of that world. Awareness is an active listening – active yielding – and has little to do with knowledge, especially knowledge that has been learned, either through the medium of language or otherwise. An intensely aware person has an air of innocence and is overwhelmed with feelings of awe and wonder – their awareness gives them power but also makes them vulnerable in the extreme – about as far from the well-educated expert as you can get. I'm spending a lot of time in the hell of London's public transport system at present and it's interesting to observe those around me – often closer than I would normally want. The ones I admire and learn most from are the ones with the courage to remain open. It's easy to spot them because they glow. They are usually either female or children and they are often rather meek and mild – unassuming. They are the real fighters, not the swaggering up-front young men full of attitude and fear. They have to fight all the time the endless barrage and onslaught from their environment constantly coercing them to conform and close off. For me they are the beacons of hope – fellow travellers.