The real plot was invisible
everything possible
Susan Howe
19 July 2007
Standing firm
The problem with labels like “sticking” and “yielding” is that they give the impression of actually doing something. “Sticking” really is just relaxing into the touch and into the connexion. Neither pulling away from the contact nor listening nervously with an artificially light touch. When you relax into the connexion then your energy streams into its core and root, and you become the connexion in the sense that the connexion becomes your frame of reference and everything else is experienced from its vantage point. The reason a quiet mind is necessary is because a noisy mind is constantly pulling us out of this energetic reality and into its own fearful and disconnected reality. Neither does “yielding” mean withdrawing the point of contact, either by turning or by going back. Withdrawal is retreat. Instead yielding simply means receiving energy without having one's balance or equilibrium compromised. To maintain balance one must effectively give as good as one gets, at each instant. It is not enough to be able to receive and then to give; they must go together. We must practice in such a way that the energy and pressure from the other person drives us into our place of power – coils our spring, so to speak – so that as they apply their energy/pressure they instantly feel it biting back into themselves. This instantaneousness is generated with a clear spirit and has nothing to do with aggression or applying your own energy – it is a fact of the clarity of the connexion, a clarity you can carry with you at all times if you so wish.
18 July 2007
No cry is exultant enough
for my thanks, for my heart that flings open its hinges
and slants my ribs with light
Derek Walcott, from The Bounty
Thanks to Elberry for sending me this. For someone with a poetic sensibility, an image like this can change their life, or at least their day: an internal instruction.
12 July 2007
Poetry
Nice article on Shelley (the poet) in Saturday's Guardian, by Ann Wroe
The complete article is in the Comments.
But for him love was a revolution-weapon: the active principle, as strong as electro-magnetism and, he surmised, the same force, by which the universe worked and by which men would be perfected. The germ of that force - like the tiny, compacted light of the sun and the stars - lay deep in the heart of man.
When men and women faced their oppressors armed with light and love, rather than revenge, they would be unconquerable. And, however crushed by outward chains, they would be free.
Shelley's importance for us, now, is not merely that he is a political poet. It is that he is a transcendent spiritual poet. If our age does not want such a voice, if it prefers to bring him down to a more secular, acceptable and ordinary level, that is a reflection on us, not him. Despite all the advances of his own industrial age, as he wrote in 1821, "we want the creative faculty to imagine that which we know; we want the generous impulse to act that which we imagine; we want the poetry of life."
The complete article is in the Comments.
Absorbing
If you think about it, it is not possible to move forwards confidently, assuredly and relaxedly unless you are able to absorb what it is you are moving into. By absorb I mean bring into and through yourself and into the earth. A sink. Such a process of absorption requires a quiet attentiveness easily disturbed by a noisy mind. A noisy mind is one constantly bringing your past and future into a present that is far happier with neither. If the mind is noisy – thinking – then listening is compromised, and so is connexion. If you are properly absorbing then turning is only ever an afterthought. You do not turn – you are turned. The forward movement or impetus is then directly proportional to what you absorb.
This is especially relevant if you wish to deal with the world as it is rather than as you'd like to make it.
This is especially relevant if you wish to deal with the world as it is rather than as you'd like to make it.
10 July 2007
Trust
Spiritual work is all about stripping away the ego – laying yourself bare before God.
The ego must be replaced by love, and the foundation of love is trust.
You will not have the courage to do the work properly if you cannot trust.
Trust is an aspect of relaxation. Relaxing into relationship.
The constant presence in our life is Earth, and it is the Earth that we must firstly begin to learn to trust and love and connect with before we can do the same, in a strong and meaningful way, with others, including God.
Without the proper presence of Earth in your body and energy, the love you give and offer will be tinged with need and anxiety – will not be freely given – no matter how magnanimous and generous you appear.
This is why we sink and relax in Taiji – to develop a root, a connexion with the eminently neutral Earth, who has no preferences, bias or side, and who is always physically and energetically present, so much so that we forget her, and take her, and our connexion with her, for granted.
Without a good firm connexion with the Earth not only are you not as potent as you could be, but in some fundamental way neither are you trustworthy: others cannot unconditionally relax into you.
The Earth is stronger and more reliable than you can ever be. If you allow her to support you as she wishes to do, then you begin to take on her qualities. Then, and only then, can others let you support them.
This is why a Taiji School must, first and foremost, encourage and admit nothing but trust. No cliquiness, back-biting, gossip, etc.
Not only must everyone in the school trust and love each other, but they must also be honest and open with each other, so that any annoyance, anger, irritation, dislike, mistrust can be aired and dealt with as soon as it arises.
Honesty with yourself is even more important. This means knowing how you feel, and knowing why you do what you do. Your motives should be simple and clear, not only to yourself but also to those with whom you work and share. Naked before God.
Nothing should veil or weigh down the heart.
In this sense, trust means a healthy two way communication – to be totally present and totally involved with the object of trust. No manipulation and no unspoken motives. The only motive is the desire and need to love.
The ego must be replaced by love, and the foundation of love is trust.
You will not have the courage to do the work properly if you cannot trust.
Trust is an aspect of relaxation. Relaxing into relationship.
The constant presence in our life is Earth, and it is the Earth that we must firstly begin to learn to trust and love and connect with before we can do the same, in a strong and meaningful way, with others, including God.
Without the proper presence of Earth in your body and energy, the love you give and offer will be tinged with need and anxiety – will not be freely given – no matter how magnanimous and generous you appear.
This is why we sink and relax in Taiji – to develop a root, a connexion with the eminently neutral Earth, who has no preferences, bias or side, and who is always physically and energetically present, so much so that we forget her, and take her, and our connexion with her, for granted.
Without a good firm connexion with the Earth not only are you not as potent as you could be, but in some fundamental way neither are you trustworthy: others cannot unconditionally relax into you.
The Earth is stronger and more reliable than you can ever be. If you allow her to support you as she wishes to do, then you begin to take on her qualities. Then, and only then, can others let you support them.
This is why a Taiji School must, first and foremost, encourage and admit nothing but trust. No cliquiness, back-biting, gossip, etc.
Not only must everyone in the school trust and love each other, but they must also be honest and open with each other, so that any annoyance, anger, irritation, dislike, mistrust can be aired and dealt with as soon as it arises.
Honesty with yourself is even more important. This means knowing how you feel, and knowing why you do what you do. Your motives should be simple and clear, not only to yourself but also to those with whom you work and share. Naked before God.
Nothing should veil or weigh down the heart.
In this sense, trust means a healthy two way communication – to be totally present and totally involved with the object of trust. No manipulation and no unspoken motives. The only motive is the desire and need to love.
Sink
fall or drop to a lower place or level; "He sank to his knees"
pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into Nirvana"
go under, "The raft sank and its occupants drowned"
descend into or as if into some soft substance or place; "He sank into bed"
plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe
dip: appear to move downward; "The setting sun sank below the tree line"
(technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system; "the ocean is a sink for carbon dioxide"
sinkhole: a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof
slump: fall or sink heavily; "My spirits sank"
bury: embed deeply; "She sank her fingers into the soft sand"
pass into a specified state or condition; "He sank into Nirvana"
go under, "The raft sank and its occupants drowned"
descend into or as if into some soft substance or place; "He sank into bed"
plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe
dip: appear to move downward; "The setting sun sank below the tree line"
(technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system; "the ocean is a sink for carbon dioxide"
sinkhole: a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof
slump: fall or sink heavily; "My spirits sank"
bury: embed deeply; "She sank her fingers into the soft sand"
09 July 2007
04 July 2007
Looking beyond
For me the worst sort of emptiness (hardness really) is the refusal to look beyond yourself. Being in the process, rather than locked into a condition, is having it in your heart to look beyond all the time: looking beyond is the process. Of course this looking must spring from a place of power, and it is only by springing (exchanging energy) that we truly dwell. Then our root is the process – the creative process – and not the place. Spirit is released from earth and a peaceful death is possible. Always bringing spirit back to earth (earthing the current) will lead to depression and the inability to work from and with the heart.
Refusing to look beyond is an arrogance: being convinced that the world is as it appears to be, or worse still, as one would like it. People who are fearful, frightened, shy, timid, sensitive, are often so because there is some aspect of looking beyond that they cannot turn off, and so the world that comes in is always slightly too much. For such people there are two therapeutic paths to ease their discomfort. The first is the wrong one: allowing an external agency to convince that the answer is a desensititizing – cutting out the looking beyond (assertiveness training). The second is simply coming to the realisation that wholeness and healing are not only possible but inevitable and, what's more, your birthright. And the only real teacher is life itself, which teaches best when engaged whole-heartedly. Such engagement is possible when you realise you have nothing to lose. Such realisation is possible when spirit and humour (lightness) are allowed in. It is you that allows this.
Refusing to look beyond is an arrogance: being convinced that the world is as it appears to be, or worse still, as one would like it. People who are fearful, frightened, shy, timid, sensitive, are often so because there is some aspect of looking beyond that they cannot turn off, and so the world that comes in is always slightly too much. For such people there are two therapeutic paths to ease their discomfort. The first is the wrong one: allowing an external agency to convince that the answer is a desensititizing – cutting out the looking beyond (assertiveness training). The second is simply coming to the realisation that wholeness and healing are not only possible but inevitable and, what's more, your birthright. And the only real teacher is life itself, which teaches best when engaged whole-heartedly. Such engagement is possible when you realise you have nothing to lose. Such realisation is possible when spirit and humour (lightness) are allowed in. It is you that allows this.
03 July 2007
Heart
If you let it, the stone of the heart will break into a thousand pieces, and from each will seep a rich juice fusing them all into a living organ of softness and love. This seemingly drastic step is necessary for all of us – the hardened heart must break and heal before it can truly love. If there is a fact to the human condition then this is it. This soft heart has the power of malleability, allowing your energy to extend on a limb and a smile to wherever, taking your attention, awareness and affection with it. A heart-centred reality is one of branching pseudopodia, and the beautiful consequence of this – touch.
01 July 2007
Nitsan Michaeli
I have added a page to the taichiheartwork.com website dedicated to Nitsan.
My page has also changed.
My page has also changed.