This was a letter I sent to a contact on the subject of self-knowledge today. This contact is involved in the Martial arts and so it includes a general history of them but moves swiftly on to the deeper reasons why people are attracted to both the Martial Arts and Yoga.
Hello again,
Thanks for being so understanding and thank you for opening up to me in your email, very much appreciated. Although we do have a similar interest in self-knowledge, it is clear that our journeys to the realization of TRUTH have been different.
I started in Yoga at the age of 13 when my father started to take me to classes where I also learnt to sit and meditate formally. I have always had an interest in all things spiritual and I have studied "Practical Philosophy" at The London School of Economic Science and at one point I was a member of the Theosophical Society. I studied and applied the work of great teachers within Yoga and Vedanta. I put into practice the words of great men such as Krishnamurti, Barry Long and Maharishi. I have made a private study of Zen and Taoism. I feel very close to these eastern traditions. Here in western society I have always felt like a man out of place in a world where materialism rules the hearts of so many.
I know something of the Martial Arts. I know that man formulated them out of his psyche & deeper mind as a form of protection against his enemies who were attacking the enlightened mind. The skills called the Martial Arts were first created by monks within monasteries at a time when Man was evolving into physical beings out of the light of his spirit. At the beginning the enlightened wo/man did not need to use physical skills to protect him or herself from attack by the unenlightened. He had so much power as an enlightened BEING that nothing more was required, he or she was untouchable. At that point in our early history the enlightened mind was its own protection and could not be attacked or harmed by the un-evolved or unenlightened level of mind. But over time we, mankind, became more entrenched in our physical forms and so we began to lose our spiritual powers of protection. That is how we began to move into the martial art skills such as are taught in the eastern tradition. At the beginning it was a way for the Monks to protect themselves from attack from those seeking worldly gain. Today it is taught as a way for the individual to enter the stillness of their being, to be in the NOW as the REAL "I".
All spiritual teachings are actually a means for us to realise the real "I". Look at the word "realise", can you see the words real and "i" in there? The real "I" is the point of power within each of us, it is what "I" really am when I remove all my conditioning from my psyche and mind. The real "I" is always in a state of complete stillness, its point of focus is in "The Eternal Moment", which is always "Now". Only when the individual man or woman "STILLS" the mind does that individuals mind enter the "NOW" and become the reality of "I". At that point there is a totally different perspective on life, a new level of perception is achieved.
The martial arts and yoga are forms of meditation in "action" or motion. They are a way for each of us to enter our physical bodies with our "attention" or consciousness and then get into the mind and bring it into this moment, the here and NOW through stilling it. The aim is always to realise the Truth or reality of "I" . . the being I truly am. This is of course very difficult to explain to the unenlightened wo/man who very often thinks that what I have been talking about here sounds like nonsense because they are not yet ready to hear the truth or reconnect with the real "I". The awakened mind on the other hand will always connect with the Truth of what I have just written and be ready to discover more.
Thank you for sending me your links, I had a good look at them, they are very interesting. There are so many "ways" that people are using to "re-connect" with the "reality" of their "being" and they are not right or wrong ways, they are different ways. Some are slower than others. Some people are ready "NOW" and others need a longer route to discover the "Truth" of who and what they are, and what they are is the being behind the false conditioning of their personality. The personality is simply a mask of pretence, It is the false I. The real "I" is the being "I" am and have always been.
Remove the false I, your conditioned personality and all that remains is your reality . . the "Being" you really are. The being you really are is in the eternal moment, it is the point of creation, it is perfectly still . . it does NOT even think (only personality thinks). The real "I" is a state of pure and clear "Perception" and so it is said that the enlightened do not think, they perceive, and they do so from a point of perfect stillness of mind. The paradox here is that this point of stillness is moving at incredible speed . . at the speed of NOW, which is instant! Instant intelligence!!
"I" also have to add that it is the "I" in you, the real being that you are and call "I" who is in control of every aspect of your life. It is "I" who creates everything, every experience in my life . . "I" create the seemingly good, bad or indifferent as a means to awakening the spiritual intelligence of the life reading this. Do you see the TRUTH of this?
If you have questions or want to chat some more then please keep in touch,
I hope we can speak soon,
Doug.
