Stop repeating the same old story. Fold into difference : unfold into reality. Become a Buddha.

"I, for one, would love to be an atheist. But the combination of the verb and the noun, it seems, runs into problems."

Head perceives and makes sense whereas heart transforms.

As the student progresses work becomes more a matter of quality than quantity. For the first thirty years though quantity is paramount. Each hour of practice is like a lottery ticket: the more you buy the greater the chance of winning. In thirty years the working student accrues in excess of ten thousand hours of practice. This should be enough to come to the realisation that reality is not what it seems, that the bourgeois dream is a con, and that the really simple things in life – the tears and laughter – are what matter, not how big and secure is my empire.

"The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression."

With this insight begins the work.

"A slave is someone who sits down, and waits for someone to free them."

We suggest replacing high opinion with real foundation.

The good student works from the heart – for love; the poor student from the head – for gain. The mediocre student lacks the spirit to be either good or bad, and so follows the flock. Baaaaa

Practice helps me see what a snivelling little shit I really am. Indeed a bitter pill. But without it there is no real incentive to change. Even with the best will in the world real change is well-nigh impossible so we need all the help we can get, even if that means learning a few beastly home truths.

Have faith. Don't worry. Just rise to the occasion. This is what occasions are for.

Mastery of an art such as Taiji is the paltry but necessary first step on the path to real mastery, which is always mastery of the self. Self is mastered by cleansing the mind of resentment: a process which takes years to even begin, years of preparation becoming humble enough to see ego for what it is, and then finding an alternative. Resentment is purely optional – it doesn't need to be a permanent fixture defining my character, or lack of it, and will, in time, with work, shake loose and fall away. But such work must be guided by a tough teacher who can see through my whinging – can see potential – a destiny.

Heart cannot be measured or judged by man-made – mind-made – standards. That would assume heart is a subset of mind. Nothing could be further from the truth. Heart does not measure or judge – it does not pull back from reality in order to comment on it.

Picture a child with a red balloon. The balloon is the heart – bright and buoyant; the child is the legs – planted yet playful; his hand is the dantien, clenching the most tenuous of threads. As though life depended upon it, which of course it does.

Working with a student, this morning, whose mind was elsewhere – distracted as usual. I attempted to seduce her into the session by explaining that peace of mind is an absolute requisite for listening to we-don't-know-what. The words appeared to fall on deaf ears, but just as I finished speaking a neighbour's child started practising his trumpet, warming up with the Star Wars theme. At this she grinned and said: "Ah, the Force is with us!" We then had a great session.

"Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows."

Sit, or stand, with vertical spine and peaceful mind, and, in time, you will become aware of Mother Earth hugging you to her breast, and Father Sky calling and drawing your heart upward. It is our fate to be torn – to be caught in the middle – the veritable go-between. And it is our destiny to yield to this fate: to stop resisting (forgetting) and become energised by awareness. Our other deeds, driven by internal or social forces, then acquire, and thereby contribute, a wise grace.

Life is a duration – a progress – a playful journey – to be completed some other time.