9
“When I can’t deal with someone, I
just look the other way.”
- Iggy Pop (on why he titled a song
‘Look Away,’ the last song on ‘Naughty Little Doggie;’ Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop by Joe Ambrose, Omnibus Press, London,
U.K., 2002, p.264).
“The light is a mighty and
invincible power that is far greater than any force human beings ever created.
Therefore, no matter what danger you find yourself in, that power can liberate
you from it.” - Archangel Michael (in a book on angels).
Buddha, of course, shone spiritual
light at the person who was having a go at him. It is powerfully negating and
transforming, making up for and also overwhelming the other person’s dark
energy so it becomes exhausted and all that remains is the light. Consequently,
the other person enters the light or leaves.
“Where there are people there are
flies, and also there are Buddhas.” - Issa.
20 September 2003.
Have this gentle, peaceful feeling
from tai chi today (during and after) and the same last night during the class.
Since I learned a few refinements to my form, I have practised more slowly,
especially today. The effect is this sweetness. And, today, I figured, the
essence of the assault and intimidation from Pigsy Monster is that I am a nervous
person and should not expect myself to be able to defend myself physically. I
shouldn’t even consider it. The essence is that I am a nervous, shy dreamer
with a reflective disposition. My wandering attention has a tendency to focus
inwardly rather than outside of myself (which is a struggle until I have
practised tai chi) living with a violent, alcoholic nutter upstairs. I am
becoming a light and darkness finds a way to test and pressure me through such
volatile, ignorant brutes. That’s how you become brighter, by illuminating the
darkness. Where you resist darkness is the area in which your light is weak and
needs to grow in strength. It can only achieve that in the dark soil where it
can put down fresh roots and rise above the ground. It has to push down before
it can ascend.
Caine (David Carradine): Master, I am
troubled. We learn to make powerful the force of our bodies, yet we are taught
to reverence all against who we may use such force.
Master
Kan (Philip Ahn): When your life is
threatened, or the innocent life of another, you will be prepared to defend them.
Caine: Being best prepared, better than
others, should I not always stand and fight?
Master
Kan: Ignore the insulting tongue; duck
the provoking blow; run from the assault of the strong.
Caine: Are these not the actions of a
coward?
Master
Kan: The wild boar runs from the tiger,
knowing that each being well armed by nature with deadly strength may kill the
other. Running, he saves his own life and that of the tiger. This is not
cowardice, it is the love of life.
-
Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 11, ‘The
Praying Mantis Kills,’ 1973).
The dastardly crime is that Pigsy,
knowing that I practice tai chi to relax my nervous system because I am a
nervous person, is deliberately bullying someone he is sure cannot fight back,
which was always the case. I could write and tell his mother all about it! [A
package arrived for him one day and his mother’s return address was included on
the back]. So, he is no big shot. In fact, he’s just a creepy coward.
Bullies have to have some power to
use that gives them an advantage. They rely on alcohol, brute force, ignorance,
extreme violence and threats thereto. Yet, ‘we’ can use the power of will, mind
and spirit to defeat them. We can increase our awareness in order to stay safe.
Avoid dangerous places, look alert and confident, be observant and have your
wits about you.
“The crafty rabbit has three
different entrances to its lair.” Also translated, “The cunning rabbit has
three bolt-holes.” - Feng Xuan, Warring States Period (The Little Book of Chinese Proverbs. Compiled by Jonathan Clements,
p.125).
1. Find out if there is anything you
can do (internally and/or externally) to minimise your own suffering; i.e. the
three rabbit holes stratagem. One Daoist practise is as follows: don’t be
there! When the attack arrives, I’m not there because I have anticipated it and
got out of the way quickly. I have moved into a different space. We can
accomplish this mentally, not just physically.
2. If someone is not respecting you
or your space, why should you respect theirs? You don’t need to do anything
except stop being so responsible and considerate towards them. For example, I
always took my shoes off when I got home because the floor is wooden and noisy.
At the moment I can’t be bothered. I prefer to wait a while before taking them
off and I may have to go to the fridge or kitchen a few times and cause an
annoyance to them. Tough! (Although, if you have thin walls and two neighbours,
above and next door, one of whom you do not wish to upset, you need to tread
carefully!).
“Here
I go with the timid little woodland creature bit again. It's shameful,
but...ehhh, it's a living.” - Bugs Bunny.
Retrospective
inserts.
I have learned to ignore someone’s
deliberate attempts to disturb me using aggravating noises. I don’t allow
myself to react in thought because they may sense the effect psychically and
think they’re on to something. I remain invisible to them. They are unable to
sense where I am or where my head is at. I don’t give them a chance to sense
weaknesses whether real or imagined. If they make such noises I become quieter
both physically and even in thought. If they persist and I find myself giving
them any attention whatsoever then I usually go and do something in another
part of the flat, or go out into the garden to practice tai chi. The same
applies to negative words intended to press my buttons and play on any
insecurities. I respond in the opposite way to which they want. It is using a
naturally rebellious instinct.
Charles
Morse (Anthony
Hopkins): “”Why is the rabbit unafraid?”
Styles (L.Q. Jones): “Because he’s smarter
than the panther.”
- The Edge (directed by Lee Tamahori, 1997. This is a great film
about courage, survival and personal transformation, about facing our fears
(the bear that must be slain) and about having the wisdom and fortitude to show
compassion for those who seek to harm you).
Monday,
February 26, 2007.
Why the Smoking Rabbit...
“For any of you who have seen The Edge with Anthony Hopkins and
remember the scene with the oar, you already know. For those who haven't or
don't remember, the oar had the Cree Indian symbolism of the predatory panther
on one side and on the other of a pipe-smoking rabbit. And why is the rabbit
smoking a pipe? He is unafraid because he knows he is smarter than the panther.
During
the course of the movie, we see how the rabbit (Anthony Hopkins) is smarter. He
reads and is curious about what he sees...Nothing needs to relate to anything
at the moment - that will come together as time rolls along. He reads what he
needs to know to prepare himself for any possible changes that may be coming
about. He reads to know what he needs to do to provide food, shelter, clothing,
trust, integrity, leadership, compassion for all those around not just
himself... and to be humble about it all. He seeks to bring out the best of
everyone - even when one of them threatens his own life...
Here, we aim to make ourselves like
the smoking rabbit...”
(www.smokingrabbit.blogspot.com/2007/02/why-smoking-rabbit.html).
The Teachings of Chuang Tzu.
Attaining Unlimited Life
by Taoist Master Hua-Ching Ni (The
Shrine of the Eternal Breath of Tao, CA., U.S., 1989).
p.111. When Confucius went to Shang
and Chou, people made trouble for him. And now, at Ch’en and Ts’ai people have
surrounded him: ‘Anyone who kills him will be pardoned; anyone who takes him
prisoner will not be interfered with. Yet he keeps on playing and singing.’
(Confucius
went without properly cooked food for a week and his face grew thin from
fatigue).
Tzu-Lu
told Confucius, ‘I guess you could say that we are all blocked now because the
local people have barricaded us in here.’
Confucius
said, ‘What are you saying! When a person breaks through to Tao, it is called
‘breaking through.’ When he is blocked from Tao, it is called ‘being blocked.’
‘I choose the ways of benevolence
and righteousness; unfortunately, we are in the midst of trouble because of the
disorder and confusion in the world. But we do not need to find ourselves
‘blocked’ because of that.
By
cultivation of the inner being, Tao is attained; with Tao, when danger comes
there is no loss of virtue. It is the coldness of the frost and the snow of
winter which reveal the luxuriance of the pine and fir trees. I regard it as a
blessing to be in this situation.’ Then he went back to his playing and
singing.
The
ancients who attained Tao were equally happy in times of success and failure,
because their happiness had nothing to do with good or bad fortune.
Thus, it should be the same with me.
Pigsy and my job are temporary obstructions to my relationship with the world,
to my external freedom. But that should not hamper my inner freedom or block my
relationship to my own Self, to the Tao. Externally, I am enduring these forms
of incarceration both at home and out in the world. But, internally, I should
continue through this winter to express my joy and enjoy my creativity. I
should continue to do the things that inspire me, including writing my book.
The bitter cold snow of harsh external influences brings out the beauty of the
pines of my unchanging spirit, my eternal Self. It demonstrates that my spirit
survives the cold winter without it being affected by external forces. The
pines and firs of my Being show no signs of withering or faltering under the
snow of external strife. They are strong and enduring. My spirit is
indestructible and, by ignoring the external assaults and enjoying my inner
strife, no harm comes to me. I simply struggle a bit externally and compensate
by expressing my creative nature and applying my attention to the joy of my
spirit. I shelter myself from those who wish me harm and by not paying them
heed, not fearing, resenting or reacting to them, they never reach me. I remain
where I am, simply celebrating the spirit within me.
The truth is that those people -
Pigsy, the other neighbours and people at work - all rely on weakening my
spirit. They wish to crush and destroy me but cannot achieve that unless they
can break me down. Actually, what happens is that they apply some pressure with
negativity and observe my response. If they get a reaction - even in thought,
even if they can get my attention - then they can take things a step further.
They cannot afford to act too forcefully all at once without provocation, for
then they will look bad and it will be known that they are destructive. They
rely on me reacting so that they can point the finger at me and declare that I
am the demonic one! They try to push my buttons. If they can drive me mad, they
might get me to act stupidly and aggressively, and then they can pounce on me
and feel self-righteous about it, justified in attacking me to protect
themselves.
“Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.” -
Michael Pritchard.
They only need a slight reaction to
feel threatened and justified in attacking me. And, as Pigsy has shown, they
can simply make it up! If button-pressing doesn’t work, they can accuse me of
something - anything - and see if I will react to that threat, that threat of
violence in retaliation for something I’m accused of which they’ve simply made
up! They can’t bear to have me around as I remind them of the Light and of
their own spiritual immaturity. Rather than celebrate the spirit they sense in
me and take an interest in their own spiritual development, they fear it
because they fear the struggle of their own growth through discipline and
suffering to self-mastery. When you do not react to their fear and petty
provocations, you demonstrate the power and beauty of love, of the gentle,
impersonal warmth of the spirit, which is one’s perfect Nature.
“And
on my cigarettes there would be a picture of a spider. And I always used to
identify with a spider...You know, you know real when you see real. That’s the
part of me that they hate. Because they don’t like me when they see the real,
because they don’t like the real to be seen. Because most people like to hide
the real, because the real is always what gets hurt. The real is what we don’t
understand. The real is, you know, the real is what we push under the baby. You
know, we put it over by the baby and leave it, you know. The real is difficult.
The real is, it says this: ‘Surrender! Give it up! Every bit of it! I want it
all!’” - Charles Manson (Dr. Michal Ben Horin interview, 1992).
The only way to deal with such
people is to be quiet, patient and gentle externally and to shine the light of
the spirit to them from within. That way, their temporal negative energy
exhausts itself and peters out. If you don’t feed it, it never gathers into a
truly destructive force. It’s just weak and harmless. Accept and ignore the
weak and harmless levels of negative energy so you can ensure that the strong
and powerful creative spirit within you remains a force to be reckoned with. If
you react, and feed the negativity in others, your own strength of spiritual
light is diminished and their negative power increases because you have fed it.
F.E.A.R.
I
agree with Tarrie B (of My Ruin) that love and fear are a strong polarity.
“We’re
either coming from love or were coming from fear. My observation is that most
people, most of the time, and myself more than I would like to acknowledge, are
coming from fear.” – Neale Donald Walsch (discussing ‘The Emotion of Fear,’
from a YouTube video posted by themanifestation, 28 August 2007).
“Every
time I think that my joy is obtainable, or that I’m sourced with my joy, that
my joy comes from some place outside of myself, I get into fear.” – Neale
Donald Walsch (discussing ‘The Emotion of Fear,’ from a YouTube video posted by
themanifestation, 28 August 2007).
“Someone
once said to me that there’s a great acronym for fear: ‘Feeling Excited And
Ready.’ I love that. I had a great teacher say to me one time years ago, ‘Call
your fears ‘adventure.’ What a great thought…whatever you’re afraid of right
now, realise a couple of things: 1. It’s not real. You’re making it all up. 2.
If the thing you’re afraid would happen actually did happen you and I would
still be here tomorrow. It really would make no difference at all. 3. If you
can call your fear’s adventure, you’ll bring in an energy that will heal the
fear – the energy of excitement, the energy of being inspired by life itself.
Because life, you see, is a process that informs life about life through the
process of life itself. If you live. Your life filled with inspiration and
excitement, soon there’s nothing to be afraid of and it becomes the great joy
it was always intended to be. That’s how I see it. That’s what my conversations
with God told me about fear. I could be wrong of course about all of this…but I
don’t think so.” – Neale Donald Walsch (discussing ‘The Emotion of Fear,’ from
a YouTube video posted by themanifestation, 28 August 2007).
“So, fear of the unknown is impossible. And, really
what fear is, is fear is letting go of the known, letting go of your comfort
zone [the repeated thoughts]. Because, the truth of the matter is,
repeatlessness every moment is fresh and new. Now, the acronym I use for fear -
it used to be False Evidence Appearing Real, that’s what people use. That’s not
true. It’s Fantasised Events Appearing Real.” - Joe Marshalla PhD (‘The Mechanics of Mind Control,’ a lecture recorded
live at Brave New Books, Austin Texas, 9 October 2008. Source: Google Video).
“Drop the
fear. The fear was taken up by you in your childhood, unconsciously. Now
consciously drop it and be mature. Then the life can be a light which goes on
deepening as you go on growing.” – Osho.
"If you can't make it better,
you can laugh at it." - Erma Bombeck.
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