10-29-2016, 12:00 AM
serloco,
Interesting points you raise. It reminds me of a line from the Hagakure:
"Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead."
To give you a small peek into my world, I am a veteran with two deployments to Afghanistan. I've been reading the Hagakure almost as a religious text for over 15 years, and the concept of facing death and keeping him as a companion is not lost on me. There is another line that will lead to my next point...
"It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this."
I have no desire to use intent to bring more into my life, I find it already full. There are still wants and "needs" here and there, but I pay them no mind. When death comes, and the dream is over, all that will matter to me is how well I lived my life. Money and power won't bring that level of satisfaction, only living within my own sense of impeccability has a chance of letting me pass with a happy heart.
Power can be a confusing subject. Power, to me, isn't the simple parlor tricks that so many of us take pride in. Power isn't dominion over our fellow men. Power is wisdom, dominion over ourselves. Predicting the future or crushing the bones of my enemy does not make me strong. Being able to choose to withdraw from my emotions and make a clear choice makes me strong. I no longer have interest in grand displays of power over others, or impressing people with my feats. That road is a dead end.
You only submit your power to another when you buy into their version of the dream. When their ideas become yours, when your truth becomes a forgotten shadow, that is when you become lost. Making a man a slave with chains and bars does not mean you have defeated him, does not mean you have stolen his power. Only by stealing his heart and his mind can you do that. I personally have no desire to live that sort of life, on either end of the chain.
Interesting points you raise. It reminds me of a line from the Hagakure:
"Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead."
To give you a small peek into my world, I am a veteran with two deployments to Afghanistan. I've been reading the Hagakure almost as a religious text for over 15 years, and the concept of facing death and keeping him as a companion is not lost on me. There is another line that will lead to my next point...
"It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this."
I have no desire to use intent to bring more into my life, I find it already full. There are still wants and "needs" here and there, but I pay them no mind. When death comes, and the dream is over, all that will matter to me is how well I lived my life. Money and power won't bring that level of satisfaction, only living within my own sense of impeccability has a chance of letting me pass with a happy heart.
Power can be a confusing subject. Power, to me, isn't the simple parlor tricks that so many of us take pride in. Power isn't dominion over our fellow men. Power is wisdom, dominion over ourselves. Predicting the future or crushing the bones of my enemy does not make me strong. Being able to choose to withdraw from my emotions and make a clear choice makes me strong. I no longer have interest in grand displays of power over others, or impressing people with my feats. That road is a dead end.
You only submit your power to another when you buy into their version of the dream. When their ideas become yours, when your truth becomes a forgotten shadow, that is when you become lost. Making a man a slave with chains and bars does not mean you have defeated him, does not mean you have stolen his power. Only by stealing his heart and his mind can you do that. I personally have no desire to live that sort of life, on either end of the chain.