04-16-2010, 12:00 AM
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So whatever we are doing, we are acting. It doesn’t refer to some sort of false representation. We are always acting all of the time.
In Aikido, we say good acting is being in a state of mind/body unification, in other words being true, not being false.
Bad acting is attempting to fit yourself into a socialized mold that you have figured out over a period of time. We see that some things seem to work some of the time, so we are trying to figure out how to act so that everything works all of the time. And that effort is what I am calling false representation. We are trying to create our own nirvana.
This kind of thing is an utterly fruitless endeavor, and yet, tragically, most people, even you folks, are to some degree engaged in that process. The revolting development is to see how stupid we are and then to realize that we are still stupid.
First, we have to see how foolish we are. I mean by “foolish” or “stupid” that we promote bad acting in our own character, a false representation of what is, in hopes that that will give us some success. We hope to fool some of the people some of the time, but we can never fool all the people all the time.
When we see our falseness is not working, then we think, “I had better polish my acting skills. My falseness better get more convincing so I can fool all of the people all of the time.”
If you are lucky, one day you get to meet someone who says, “That will never work, because that’s false.”
It may hurt when you hear that said, and you may fight against it, you may resist it. You may not like that idea. “How dare you say I am false! How dare you say I’m a fake!” And yet, that is bad acting, the way most people are engaged most of the time.
You are in a reactive state, a false state. That anger comes about because you are trying to create a certain image and someone has contradicted that image. They are not respecting that image that you are holding up there. So the whole issue is one of bad acting.
In good acting there is often nothing to say. Good acting is just responding to the need of the moment. Just like in good Aikido, there are no moves to be made unless there is finally a physical attack of some kind, and then the response is true, compassionate, efficient, to the point, and satisfactory. We’re OK, as long as there is no bad acting involved. So the question is, can we be free of bad acting.
And our practice is that very thing, to be true.
From my view, there is a difference between reacting and responding: reacting is the self protecting itself, or attempting to preserve or increase itself in some way. That’s always bad acting. But a response is true. In other words, often people think, “Well, if I don’t engage in reacting them I am just going to sit here hiding and do nothing.”
But **** still happens, you know?
So, we want to respond, be true, good actors.
Then why don’t we do it? We say we know what it is and want it. If we want that and we know how to do it, then why don’t we just do it?
Do what you want, and see what the results are, and see what that leads you to. That’s what led you here to this discussion group, or this teacher or that teacher, so be true to that. We can’t wake someone up that is pretending to be asleep.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here, folks. The reason we are not doing what we say we want to do, is because we don’t really want to do it. We want the teacher to support us, as a student who is sincere and wants to do The Work. That’s what we present to the teacher. But that is not entirely true, is it?
And this is why all of us are here, because we are wrestling with that. To be honest with our self takes a lot of courage. And it takes a great deal of attentive capacity to be able to stay in that and look at it. If your mind is flitting around, giving yourself various excuses, and saying “I’m not so bad,” you’re not going to come to any kind of great reckoning. By the way, that’s the worst phrase that a student can utter, “I’m not so bad.”
We are a village. There is not just the one who wants to do The Work and the one who doesn’t want to do The Work. In every aspect of relative thinking, there is a pro and a con. And we chase back and forth on this relative scale, like mad rats, always trying to figure out how to be on the successful end of things.
And it never ever happens. Just talk to someone who has billions of dollars. It doesn’t do it. No matter what your aspiration is. It might not be to be a wealthy wo/man. It might be to be a great teacher, or it might be to be a great writer, or a great artist, or a great lover.
But it all turns to dust because it’s just an image, something we are trying to create. It’s those two things, it’s representing something that everyone will think is cool, which is meeting society’s expectation, or trying to adjust everyone else to fit your idea.
When we are angry at someone, reacting, we are attempting to re‐adjust him or her to recognize how good you are, how you should be
respected. And s/he is not following along with your program.
Follow life. Whatever comes up, respond truly to that.
But Curtis Sensei said “Do nothing.” What?!?
What's the difference is between “do nothing” and “just do.”
No difference.
When Curtis Sensei says “do nothing,” he means don’t organize and control and run your own program. Instead, follow life. Whatever comes up, respond truly to that.
That’s why in Aikido we practice otomo, for instance, so we can have an opportunity to do that with someone who, presumably, we respect; our teacher. And then once we sort of get the hang of that, we have that experience, and we see what it’s like, then we might be able to transfer that way of responding to everyone in our life, and every thing in our life, so that at every moment we are just being an open conduit for the wisdom that’s in every one of us. Every one of us knows.
It’s just that, like I said, you can’t wake yourself up when you are pretending to be asleep. We have to admit that we are not asleep. Which means that we have to admit that we know, and take responsibility for that knowing. That takes a lot of courage. We’ve been pretending all of our life to be asleep.
Kris
~
So whatever we are doing, we are acting. It doesn’t refer to some sort of false representation. We are always acting all of the time.
In Aikido, we say good acting is being in a state of mind/body unification, in other words being true, not being false.
Bad acting is attempting to fit yourself into a socialized mold that you have figured out over a period of time. We see that some things seem to work some of the time, so we are trying to figure out how to act so that everything works all of the time. And that effort is what I am calling false representation. We are trying to create our own nirvana.
This kind of thing is an utterly fruitless endeavor, and yet, tragically, most people, even you folks, are to some degree engaged in that process. The revolting development is to see how stupid we are and then to realize that we are still stupid.
First, we have to see how foolish we are. I mean by “foolish” or “stupid” that we promote bad acting in our own character, a false representation of what is, in hopes that that will give us some success. We hope to fool some of the people some of the time, but we can never fool all the people all the time.
When we see our falseness is not working, then we think, “I had better polish my acting skills. My falseness better get more convincing so I can fool all of the people all of the time.”
If you are lucky, one day you get to meet someone who says, “That will never work, because that’s false.”
It may hurt when you hear that said, and you may fight against it, you may resist it. You may not like that idea. “How dare you say I am false! How dare you say I’m a fake!” And yet, that is bad acting, the way most people are engaged most of the time.
You are in a reactive state, a false state. That anger comes about because you are trying to create a certain image and someone has contradicted that image. They are not respecting that image that you are holding up there. So the whole issue is one of bad acting.
In good acting there is often nothing to say. Good acting is just responding to the need of the moment. Just like in good Aikido, there are no moves to be made unless there is finally a physical attack of some kind, and then the response is true, compassionate, efficient, to the point, and satisfactory. We’re OK, as long as there is no bad acting involved. So the question is, can we be free of bad acting.
And our practice is that very thing, to be true.
From my view, there is a difference between reacting and responding: reacting is the self protecting itself, or attempting to preserve or increase itself in some way. That’s always bad acting. But a response is true. In other words, often people think, “Well, if I don’t engage in reacting them I am just going to sit here hiding and do nothing.”
But **** still happens, you know?
So, we want to respond, be true, good actors.
Then why don’t we do it? We say we know what it is and want it. If we want that and we know how to do it, then why don’t we just do it?
Do what you want, and see what the results are, and see what that leads you to. That’s what led you here to this discussion group, or this teacher or that teacher, so be true to that. We can’t wake someone up that is pretending to be asleep.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here, folks. The reason we are not doing what we say we want to do, is because we don’t really want to do it. We want the teacher to support us, as a student who is sincere and wants to do The Work. That’s what we present to the teacher. But that is not entirely true, is it?
And this is why all of us are here, because we are wrestling with that. To be honest with our self takes a lot of courage. And it takes a great deal of attentive capacity to be able to stay in that and look at it. If your mind is flitting around, giving yourself various excuses, and saying “I’m not so bad,” you’re not going to come to any kind of great reckoning. By the way, that’s the worst phrase that a student can utter, “I’m not so bad.”
We are a village. There is not just the one who wants to do The Work and the one who doesn’t want to do The Work. In every aspect of relative thinking, there is a pro and a con. And we chase back and forth on this relative scale, like mad rats, always trying to figure out how to be on the successful end of things.
And it never ever happens. Just talk to someone who has billions of dollars. It doesn’t do it. No matter what your aspiration is. It might not be to be a wealthy wo/man. It might be to be a great teacher, or it might be to be a great writer, or a great artist, or a great lover.
But it all turns to dust because it’s just an image, something we are trying to create. It’s those two things, it’s representing something that everyone will think is cool, which is meeting society’s expectation, or trying to adjust everyone else to fit your idea.
When we are angry at someone, reacting, we are attempting to re‐adjust him or her to recognize how good you are, how you should be
respected. And s/he is not following along with your program.
Follow life. Whatever comes up, respond truly to that.
But Curtis Sensei said “Do nothing.” What?!?
What's the difference is between “do nothing” and “just do.”
No difference.
When Curtis Sensei says “do nothing,” he means don’t organize and control and run your own program. Instead, follow life. Whatever comes up, respond truly to that.
That’s why in Aikido we practice otomo, for instance, so we can have an opportunity to do that with someone who, presumably, we respect; our teacher. And then once we sort of get the hang of that, we have that experience, and we see what it’s like, then we might be able to transfer that way of responding to everyone in our life, and every thing in our life, so that at every moment we are just being an open conduit for the wisdom that’s in every one of us. Every one of us knows.
It’s just that, like I said, you can’t wake yourself up when you are pretending to be asleep. We have to admit that we are not asleep. Which means that we have to admit that we know, and take responsibility for that knowing. That takes a lot of courage. We’ve been pretending all of our life to be asleep.
Kris