他不是吾。 Ta wa kore ware ni arazu. Simply stated, people do different things.
There are impulses that ought to be ignored, let's call these your automatics, and then there are others that are generated in a different place and should be heeded. "Ah, that hamburger looks delicious, I want it!" "I'm tired of these shoes, I want new ones!" "I need an iPhone." These are your automatics, unintentional, conditioned responses to an environment for which they weren't forged. They're just your body engaging evolutionary survival instincts or reacting to culturally implanted social norms.
Then there are the other ones that surface in your mind from time to time. "Ah, I have to mail that letter." "I haven't spoken with him in a long time, I should write him an email." "this bathroom is pretty dirty, I should clean it." These are impulses that push you towards the things you know deep down you have to do, and if yhou jump on them you will feel great. If you push them away because someone else tells you to do them later, or because you think right now isn't the appropriate time, or just because you're lazy, you will create gap between what your subconscious mind knows you have to do and what your conscious mind will let you do. In those gaps there is a lot of pain and stress. Follow those little blips of inspiration wherever you can, though, and you'll find yourself falling into fewer ravines.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
人人悉道器
Nin-nin kotogotoku, doki-nari. Everyone has a soul to forge, so forge it.
I've been really into some Japanese proverbs recently so I thought I would introduce a few that I found in a book.
Everyone has within them the innate capacity to turn themselves into something amazing. ”人人悉” "Nin-nin kotogotoku," all people with no exceptions. Regardless of who you think you are, where you're from, whatever limitations or disadvantages you think you have, these words are for you because when you clear away all the webs we have culturally, socially, or intellectually strung ourselves up in you find that underneath it all you're still fresh and clean and capable of nearly anything.
”道器” "doki-nari." This is both the thing you can become and the way in which you become it. 道. "Do." this is the way. Everyday we're walking a path towards something, but if you don't know where you're headed you're bound to end up somewhere you don't want to be. If you are aware of the stones beneath your feet and you continue to put one foot in front of the other, no matter how difficult it may seem, slowly, painfully, in fits and starts but eventually you will find yourself somewhere, holding a cup filled to the brim with all of your labor. 器. "Ki." You find yourself at the end of all the steps you've taken, and the form of your vessel is the result of the work you have put into shaping it, nothing more, nothing less.
I've been really into some Japanese proverbs recently so I thought I would introduce a few that I found in a book.
Everyone has within them the innate capacity to turn themselves into something amazing. ”人人悉” "Nin-nin kotogotoku," all people with no exceptions. Regardless of who you think you are, where you're from, whatever limitations or disadvantages you think you have, these words are for you because when you clear away all the webs we have culturally, socially, or intellectually strung ourselves up in you find that underneath it all you're still fresh and clean and capable of nearly anything.
”道器” "doki-nari." This is both the thing you can become and the way in which you become it. 道. "Do." this is the way. Everyday we're walking a path towards something, but if you don't know where you're headed you're bound to end up somewhere you don't want to be. If you are aware of the stones beneath your feet and you continue to put one foot in front of the other, no matter how difficult it may seem, slowly, painfully, in fits and starts but eventually you will find yourself somewhere, holding a cup filled to the brim with all of your labor. 器. "Ki." You find yourself at the end of all the steps you've taken, and the form of your vessel is the result of the work you have put into shaping it, nothing more, nothing less.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
本来無一物; a Proverb
Honrai Mu-Ichi Motsu
Deep down, you are nothing.
It's all in your head.
Everything you know, everything someone's told you, is telling you, all of your evaluations, all of the expectations of and rules you have for your everyday life are learned scaffolding built up over whatever it is deep down that you started with. Those parts are all interchangable; none of them are essential to your existence, no matter how much you've convinced yourself otherwise.
As such, whenever you feel yourself suffocating under the weight of various stresses, if you just remember that it is all removable and what's underneath is still clean and fresh, can't really ever be dirtied, actually, then you can just tear it all down and go back to where you started; having nothing and needing nothing.
Deep down, you are nothing.
It's all in your head.
Everything you know, everything someone's told you, is telling you, all of your evaluations, all of the expectations of and rules you have for your everyday life are learned scaffolding built up over whatever it is deep down that you started with. Those parts are all interchangable; none of them are essential to your existence, no matter how much you've convinced yourself otherwise.
As such, whenever you feel yourself suffocating under the weight of various stresses, if you just remember that it is all removable and what's underneath is still clean and fresh, can't really ever be dirtied, actually, then you can just tear it all down and go back to where you started; having nothing and needing nothing.
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