Share Long: > ...the idea that we are all transcending all the time. > Somehow that rings true but I never realized it > before. > And everyone meditates, Share - there's probably nobody on the planet who doesn't meditate.
Meditation simply means to 'think things over', and almost everyone thinks and almost everyone pauses at least once or twice a day to take stock of their own mental contents. Meditation is based on thinking, and anyone who thinks, meditates. TM is just like diving, but with the correct angle for greatest efficiency. "Efficiency in general describes the extent to which time, effort or cost is well used for the intended task or purpose." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency All you have to do is sit with your eyes closed and BE: be aware of being aware. It's that simple. According to Shunryu Suzuki, a famous Zen Master, all you have to do is sit - that's it: sitting IS enlightenment. Meditation is just what intelligent people do. LoL! meditation noun 1 to think calm thoughts in order to relax or as a religious activity: Sophie meditates for 20 minutes every day. 2 to think seriously about something for a long time: He meditated on the consequences of his decision. Source: Cambridge University Dictionary: http://tinyurl.com/dz5ut2 > turquoiseb: > > Aikido is an interesting martial art... > > > Aikido is a matter of positioning, placement, and timing; > time is freedom, flexibility, efficiency and initiative. > > Most people, when they think of martial arts think of > physical force and how it might be used to overwhelm > opponents. In meeting the needs of practical people for > a strong system of invincibility, TM is second to none. > > It is a fact that Aikido Masters meditate at least twice > a day. > > With the inner focus of TM it is often possible to avoid > not only violence but the kinds of self-defeat that > arises out of our inability to manage the impact of > stresses such as fatigue, fear, and pain. While you may > never engage someone who intends to harm you physically, > you won't be able to escape the stresses that follow in > the wake of active living. > > Countless generations of martial artists in China, Japan, > and India have been attracted to the concept of energy, > inner stillness, and the certainty that goes with it. > > There have been many who have drawn deep spiritual > lessons from a vocational relationship with danger; > living with the knowledge that one may soon die may well > induce the most profound self-examination of which > humans are capable. > > My late Sensei, Randal Bassett often said: > > "The path to self-power is more than a quest for bodily > survival; it is the quest for identity and authentic > free will." > > To the extent that a man lacks self-power, that is, to > the extent that he cannot dictate the contents of his > own mind, to that extent he will manufacture threats > where none existed. > > Bassett notes that it is rare that human beings are > overwhelmed by hopelessly powerful objective forces, > and that in the vast majority of personal disasters it > is we ourselves who prove to be our own undoing. > > If you are going to achieve consistent, meaningful > results in your quest for self-culture, you are going > to have to cultivate a series of specialized habits, > for habits are the only things you can count on > retaining in the face of strong resistance. > > Get the right mental habits, cultivate physical > culture, and nothing can stop your progress toward > enlightenment. > > The first and most basic of martial arts and Aikido > psychological defenses is meditation, the object of > which is to gain the skill necessary to remain calm > in the face of threat; the result is an ability to > keep attention from being broken in the face of heavy > stress. > > The fundamental goal of such mental technique is to > avoid the kinds of self-defeating actions that tend > to occur once you lose a sharp awareness of essential > objectives, a common pitfall of all high-pressure > situations. > > "We have a way," observed Sensei Bassett, "of not > realizing what is occurring within our own minds in > moments of heavy stress; and this helps to explain > why we so often tend to yield to irrational responses > in the face of threat - responses that a knowledgeable > opponent will use against us." > > In a sense, we all meditate and we are transcending > all the time; we couldn't go through s day without > taking stock of our own mind-content once or twice! > > But, we do this is a random fashion and not all > systematically. Being able to meditate is a matter of > forming a specialized habit, a mental mechanism that > will work for you automatically and dependably even > in adversity. > > Bassett notes: "Nothing is more self-defeating than to > allow vanity to influence one's actions under heavy > pressure, and one of the best ways to check such vanity > is to never compete with anyone but yourself." (Bassett > 1975) > > According to Bassett, the idea that we as humans are > "creatures who consciously control ourselves" is largely > a myth. It might well be argued that we're characterized > as much by our lack of control as by our control. > > Most people are able to exert full conscious control > over their mind content for less than a fraction of a > second during waking hours. In short, active > attention yields to pre-ocupation. > > Difficulties begin when we can't control preoccupation, > even when it is vitally important to do so. And yet, > this is exactly what happens in threatening situations; > at the moment when we need to bring forth our full > conscious attention, and fix its brilliance upon one > point, we have trouble doing so. > > There is nothing surprising in this, if preoccupation > is viewed for what it is: a kind of first cousin of > sleep - sleep being a form of total preoccupation within > the realm of the unconscious. > > Shakya the Muni, a master of the martial arts, and the > founder of the Dhyana School in India, testified countless > times to the difficulty involved in gaining habit-level > skill, or mindfullness. In many respects there is no > greater threat than stress and fatigue, and the resistance > of your own mental inertia and letharge. > > In TM, self-defense, will is considered to be a > manifestation of strength of attention. In thinking that > we possess powers of attention that we don't in fact have, > we tend to overlook the actual mental capabilities that > we command. > > Bodhi Daruma, the founder of the Chan School in China, a > Master who apparently invented the practice of > Kung Fu, in his spare time, was emphatic in warning his > students to avoid reliance upon concepts, mere words, and > speculation. > > It is an almost innate propensity of the human mind to > equate smallness with insignificance. This propensity > induces us to believe that nothing of real value may be > gained from learning to work with spans of attention > whose duration tends to be quite small. > > Thus without realizing it, we come to overlook one of the > most basic principles, namely, that the capacity to exert > absolute attention at critical moments can succeed in > turning even the span of a fraction of a second into an > event of immense personal significance. >
