Regarding Demons
Dec. 17th, 2005 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grim23Many people are fighting their demons. Queens and Generals and Champions, oh my. People are being consumed by fear and anger and failing to learn or be open. Truth, and denial, and rationalizations abound. Much drama and uneccesary energy is being spent by all sides, and very little communication.
I reread an unwritten chapter of a book written by my former Seneschal, and defensive tactics and maneuvers (the first two battles) seem to be the only pursuit. Anger blinds, and allows the demon to be stronger, and pushes you away from the lesson.
Sigh. My demons? They're still there. Many have been integrated this last month. I have been forced to face much of myself. Dissertation. Money. Academics in general. My failings as a teacher. The resulting Chaos I have allowed to be caused. Relationships. However, I breathe. I learn, I take off my armour and lay down my weapons, and I embrace. I forget, I teach. I try to remember the lessons of the Tao and of my life.
One of my students, unfamiliar with the most difficult fourth battle, wonders if I am familiar with laying down my sword. That student states that, "A warrior's ultimate act is to lay down his sword". Perhaps that student is learning to lay down their sword, and perhaps they are learning their own Demon. Perhaps laying down their sword will help me help them learn, and they will be better perpared for their life. I wonder if other people around me could learn that lesson.
"The hardest thing in the world is to assume the mood of a warrior. It is of no use to be sad and complain and feel justified in doing so, believing that someone is always doing something it us. Nobody is doing anything to anybody, much less to a warrior." Carlos Castaneda
"To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of a warrior's spirit. It takes power to do that." Carlos Castaneda
"There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within." Morihei Ueshiba
I reread an unwritten chapter of a book written by my former Seneschal, and defensive tactics and maneuvers (the first two battles) seem to be the only pursuit. Anger blinds, and allows the demon to be stronger, and pushes you away from the lesson.
Sigh. My demons? They're still there. Many have been integrated this last month. I have been forced to face much of myself. Dissertation. Money. Academics in general. My failings as a teacher. The resulting Chaos I have allowed to be caused. Relationships. However, I breathe. I learn, I take off my armour and lay down my weapons, and I embrace. I forget, I teach. I try to remember the lessons of the Tao and of my life.
One of my students, unfamiliar with the most difficult fourth battle, wonders if I am familiar with laying down my sword. That student states that, "A warrior's ultimate act is to lay down his sword". Perhaps that student is learning to lay down their sword, and perhaps they are learning their own Demon. Perhaps laying down their sword will help me help them learn, and they will be better perpared for their life. I wonder if other people around me could learn that lesson.
"The hardest thing in the world is to assume the mood of a warrior. It is of no use to be sad and complain and feel justified in doing so, believing that someone is always doing something it us. Nobody is doing anything to anybody, much less to a warrior." Carlos Castaneda
"To achieve the mood of a warrior is not a simple matter. It is a revolution. To regard the lion and the water rats and our fellow men as equals is a magnificent act of a warrior's spirit. It takes power to do that." Carlos Castaneda
"There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within." Morihei Ueshiba
no subject
Date: 2005-12-19 10:49 pm (UTC)Nin Po, the Art of Not-Fighting, is for those who prefer not to get addicted to the opiate of fighting. As a Sensei I know says, "any fool can fight, a warrior trains."
I hope you're learning.
Grim