DANCING
WITH THE MUSE
In order to be a successful practitioner, one must put
in, as the translation goes, time and effort (kung fu). Go ahead now
and examine what motivates you. Look at why you practice and how you
go about getting the energy and dedication it takes to go on, even at
time when you feel little "gain".
Who, what and where is your muse? What are your internal
motivators? How careful are you in taking on external motivators? When
are you hitching a ride on the cart and when are you being dragged along
behind the horse? How safe is it to make yourself dependent upon an
external muse?
The Stoic way of thinking encourages us to set up goals,
emulate, and embrace people who exhibit what we hope to become, to have
an ideal in mind and work towards becoming. Being honest about your
capabilities and being well disciplined were important to the Stoic
way of life. Stoicism is well elucidated in the works of Epictetus.
The Indian spiritual teacher, Krishnamurti, would disagree
with the way of the Stoic. He felt that when one sets up a discrepancy
between "what is" and "what a thing should be," an ideal, that life
becomes a psychological battlefield, full of land mines in the form
of contradiction. One could as well live their life with the intention
of doing good and being at peace, and never live that way in the present,
which is the only place to act. With comparison, of what is and what
should be there is no peace, only greed, fear, anger, hate, insecurity
and jealousy. Trying to be like someone else or trying to be your ideal
self leads only to confusion and conflict. Immediate self-acceptance
is the key to real change because without conflict there is abundant
energy that can be used in the moment to become what you already are.
So, who is right, Krish or Epi? Again the question is
who is right for you and under what circumstances? Keep practicing in
whatever way you can. I am going to be asking about a good time to be
offering the Integrated Basics Class. All of you will be invited and
also brand new people so we can have a lot to learn from each other.
Hope you are all thinking about your representative object. Nothing
rancid please, thank God Tom Green isn't a student.
