Taiji attempts to reclaim Paradise.

Ego developed when we lost the Earth.

Our secrets make us who we are.

settle down

on earth

take root

in earth

sprout up

from earth

ora et labora

We are all framed by fear.

The teacher drags you down, lays you low, until well and truly earthed. From there your own efforts bring you up again. Practice, spirit, energy, strength.

the radical thrill of the monk’s gamble

A maturity borne of suffering.

The longer and deeper we venture into the one thing the more all-consuming it becomes. Life is too short for more. Or for less.

One makes an appearance only to be unsettled by the other. The Daoist seesaw.

The Spirit of Practice. Using repetitive action to generate novelty. Without such the work will always be egocentric – a reflection of self.

Why try to extract the self from the other, or the other from the self, if the merging of the two is the secret behind our cooperative nature?

Learn a Form and practice it daily.

The Internal is more container than kernel. An enveloping mist that makes mysterious. If the External is of the senses, especially the eyes, then the Internal is of energy. It is not sensed, in the sense of making sense of, but participated in. And it is not enough to be willing, one must first and foremost be deserving.

Everything starts with enthusiasm.