Sifting Through the Madness

Peter Ralston says that the four pillars of martial arts should be “honesty, integrity, questioning and not-knowing”.

It’s refreshing?

Good stuff Al. Like most stuff, thinking and reasoning also needs practice. Most people struggle with the idea of “question everything” and some take it so far that they go off in the world of doubt, paranoia and conspiracies.  I guess our minds are trained to look for that silver bullet solution to everything (like the vampire movies, nothing kills the vampire but that magical silver bullet, sorry I digress) hence the confusion and chaos over diet, exercise, supplements etc etc.  We are looking for that magic pill, that magic exercise or that magic diet that will give us the body we all want.  Of course there are those among us who are able to organize and institutionalize this chaos and come up with that coveted magic diet, magic workout and that magic pill and in the process fatten there wallets.  But there are also among us, who dare to say that hey! every thing that you need in terms of diet and exercise doesn’t have to be complicated and convoluted….how dare you, Al.

Don’t want this post to get too long, but I wanted to share a couple of thoughts and ideas that have assisted my evolution into becoming a better thinker or I should say a better human being (work in progress), because that, I think is the ultimate goal.  If you practice and implement this simple formula in your daily life it will pretty soon become part of you and it will eventually become as easy as  breathing.  The simple formula is “Listen, Analyze and the Respond”.  Its very simple but we all struggle with it and we have all heard how important listening is, so the next question is how do you become a better listener? My experience tells me that it all starts with caring, you have to care so much about what is being said that you have to immerse yourself into every word, every sentence, and listen to what you hear not only from your perspective but from the other person’s perspective, once you care enough to listen to what is being said, only then you can completely understand and comprehend what is being said.  And once you do that, only then you can conclude upon a response that is based on logic, reasoning and intuition.

Hey Al, by the way I was on a American Airlines flight the other day and I flipped through their magazine and I saw a picture of a tattooed bald guy doing leg raises on a bar, I was like wait a minute, I’ve seen this guy somewhere before!

Honesty
Honesty is telling the truth, not only to others but to ourselves.
This distinction goes beyond the conventional use of the word to a profound and real experience of being as “rock bottom” honest as we can manage. In this distinction we find that our normal tendency is not one of such powerful honesty — we manipulate our own thinking and feeling, and our experience is so influenced by our beliefs, fears and ambitions that we cannot trust it to represent the “truth” without challenge. We must maintain a diligent probing into the truth of anything that arises — from our ideas on how something works to the nature of relationship and communication. It appears that direct and honest communication leads to powerful interactions and relationships. What is actually occurring is already so, we begin to participate in this when we are honest with ourselves and others.

Not-Knowing and Questioning
Paradox and Confusion are the guardians of the truth.
The truth is often found in unexpected places. How can we experience the truth if we are not open to every possibility? How can we question or wonder without first allowing ourselves an experience of not-knowing? Without the power of questioning, there is only knowing. With only knowing, there is no question and so no growth, no mystery, no learning, no discovery, no insight, and no experience of the authenticity of simply “being.”

Grounded Openness
These are two fundamental principles that we strive to keep in balance.
To be grounded is to be real, to be committed to something, to be clear and standing on solid and authentic insights and effective distinctions.
To be open is to be free, fresh, unstuck, creative, to make breakthroughs, to entertain radical possibilities, to embrace paradox.

The dangers of groundedness without openness tend to be: -an inability to learn -becoming dogmatic or closed-minded -becoming or remaining stuck in a belief system -never challenging one’s own opinions -not being able to detect one’s own lies -having no breakthroughs -no transformation

The dangers of openness without groundedness tend to be: -becoming superficial -being abstract, over-intellectualizing -adopting fantasies or good ideas as if they are true or as if you have experienced them as real -not being able to demonstrate or manifest what you are talking about -not being able to “live” your philosophy -merely believing in things rather than proving them for yourself -getting confused or flighty, having nowhere to stand -not being committed to anything. As you can plainly see, the issue of balancing groundedness with openness comes up in every form and dimension of our living and our pursuits. The purpose for maintaining such a vigil in these distinctions is to empower our investigations in being as real and as far-reaching as possible.Direct and Authentic Experience We are open to the possibility that we can directly experience something.This is the possibility that we can — without belief, knowledge, conjecture, interpretation, or hearsay — experience the truth of something, beyond subjectivity. Consistent with our commitment to become directly conscious of whatever is true, we do our best to have the most authentic and genuine experience that we can for ourselves — as opposed to merely believing something or having an idea that it “may” or even “must” be some way. Since openness and questioning are always at hand in any true inquiry, this distinction represents a “direction” in which to go rather than a “place” at which to stop. However, it also suggests that we are standing at the furthest point possible in our experience at this time, in other words, the most honest and authentic experience we can have in this moment.It’s important to remember that none of this is meant to be presented as factual to be believed or not. The purpose here is to offer directions and possibilities for your own exploration and investigation. Remember, the pursuit is to question and discover for yourself what is actually so in the matter.

Here’s a basic tenet of fitness enthusiasts that I used to follow blindly:  I used heed the warnings of various athletic authorities never to exercise right after eating.  However, I eventually observed that in elementary schools, children play at recess right after lunch with few if any ill effects. I started to realize that anytime I had forgotten the rule and exercised on a full stomach I was fine.  Then, I realized that some students had P.E. scheduled after lunch, and I didn’t hear about kids being sent to the health room.  Eventually, I no longer paid attention to the rule. Now, I am ready for action whether or not I have eaten.  I even swim with a full stomach which would have been a definite no-no to the coaches.  Maybe I might refrain from eating corn-dogs and milkshakes right before getting on a fun-house ride at the fair, but otherwise, I don’t notice any stomach upset, nor any decrease in strength by doing exercise after eating a healthful meal.  I found out that it is up to us to confirm by our observation and experience what is true for ourselves.

Thanks for sharing, Sundar!

Thanks, John!