Enlightenment as an Empty Shoe

I've been speaking with a number of people about transparency and clarity. These days, our intuition is operating at such a peak level (and rising) that individual deception--self or otherwise--is just a waste of time.

Of course, the embarrassment of full disclosure is also a necessary and natural result of these times. As we realize that we are the masters--that there are no more gurus, no more geniuses--well, there's bound to be blushing at just how collaborative we've become.

For a beautiful enunciation of this feeling, please read:

Is Einstein the Last Great Genius?

http://www.livescience.com/culture/081205-science-genius-einstein.html

No more secrets.

I'll give two examples of this collaboration as I see it. These are ancient in precedent and modern in expression:

1) In my yoga studio, we're seeing more and more foot related injuries from people who live in urban ares. It's really sad but it's also a literal opportunity for satori.

The Buddha (who probably never wore shoes after the age of 29) once described enlightenment in this way: when you're an adult, you put on sensible shoes, and, inevitably, a small stone gets stuck inside. At first it hurts, it really hurts. But after a while you get used to it. You come to expect the pain. One day, the stone falls clear out of the shoe and you are in a state of bliss. You say, "I never knew!"

Enlightenment!

These days, cosmic consciousness isn't achieved cosmically so much. Now, it's manifested more prosaically and, I believe, honestly. Just clean house (and sneakers). Let emptiness do the rest.

Today, in Zen and Kundalini Yoga and everything, people's higher minds are investigating so fast that all we have to do--our entire responsibility--is just to help people take off their shoes. But just their shoes... the rest they must do.

2) In Japan, you can see how important it is to people to be of physical assistance to each other. There are these really amazing "wrathful bodhisattva" guarding the Buddhist monasteries. Their responsibility is to protect the meditators inside and adventurers outside. They're incredibly loyal lions and their hearts never give out... but their backs and feet can become very tired and strained.

Every morning (very, very early), the monks convene with local businessmen on their way to the Nikkei. Together, they tie red and pink ribbons around the lions as signs of love and gratitude for their compassion. Also, it is said that the purpose of the ribbon is to support the lions' backs and feet. They're very old. The monks call this give-and-take "karma yoga" or the practice of taking care of those who take care of us. And so it goes. Everybody and everything is gathered into a reciprocal state of equality and mutual support.

This is the ideal. Bodhisattvas taking care of bodhisattvas. I mean, here are human beings taking care of statues for goodness' sake! You can imagine, then, how loving the practice makes them towards living, breathing things.

Mãĩ tumse pyār kartā hū

A Moment of Zen Noir

I don't know, I found this trailer almost impossibly sad. But very funny.

Enlightenment in the space and time of a gunshot. 

Then there's this clip in which a monk says: "You going to freak out, or eat the orange?"

Seeking A Path Beyond Thought. But How?

I recently got this e-mail from a close friend of mine in New York:

On the whole, I'm a firm believer in meditation, yoga, mindful living and the like. But of late I haven't been living that way. Mindful living is just that and it was getting very emotionally exhausting to basically be thinking all day. Don't get me wrong, I still do breathing, but I've taken a meditation hiatus... I'm trying to follow the whole "go with the flow" philosophy, but every so often the other side of my brain pops in and starts making trouble.

Trust me, I've been there--the thinking flooding in during meditation. Frustrating.

At those times, it seems like meditation is actually conspiring to create its own worst nightmare: more thought.

People usually abandon meditation at this stage. But they risk not realizing that the massive and exhausting inner noise is the ego's last gasp attempt to keep its integrity. It always--hear me--always gets better under these battle conditions. It is here that the mind is about to make a leap. Let it. Keep working.

Actually, at this stage, mind has already made the jump.

The Zen Masters teach us that we are already enlightened! We just don't recognize this.

At first blush, this may look like a typical religious tautology. But it's not circular thinking. I can report this is so from repeated experiments. The result: all training becomes redundant when you get the flash of insight. This is "Beginner's Mind."

OK. Fine. But how to do this?

Imagine your happiness as always with you, already smiling under your conscious mind. I'm guessing that we all trend towards desiring help from the outside. Especially when we want in to "the zone."

I'm not sure, but if most people see life this way, I think they are partially correct. While everybody (everybody) in our life are wrathful Bodhisattva (literally: compassionate warriors), helping us to slice away at our delusions of mind, they cannot ultimately go to war for us.

And so sadness always follows peak experience because at some level the drug of outside help wears off.

However, when we encounter that favorite helping other again, we naturally give ourselves permission to enjoy ourselves with them. This unconsciously cements the mistaken understanding that they are meeting our needs.

No. Primarily, we make ourselves happy. Mind is fully responsible for this state. But we've been conditioned to interpret the source of that happiness as external. It's not.

The ego has a great deal of trouble with this cognitive shift. And it even seems somehow ungrateful not to acknowledge external sources of joy.

And, indeed, it would be incredibly selfish if one remained stuck in a solipsistic framework wherein we were totally obsessed about our own inner worlds.

However, I cannot overstate how valuable it may be as an exercise to vigorously work out just how much mind creates our external reality.

Once you enter meditation from this vector--and, if possible, remain inside this angle of approach--I suspect you will better know what you already know.

However, if you would like some "outside" assistance in this process from a guided point of view, please watch the video below. It is the first in an eleven part series on "Facilitating Big Mind" (all the lectures are on youtube). The workshop is led by Genpo Roshi.

Despite very valid criticisms of this method, I believe this is a powerful adjunct to zazen.

If you wish to go through the process, it is advisable to set aside about 90 minutes for uninterrupted engagement with the material.

Celibacy: A Zen Perspective

Recently, a question was sent to me by a friend:

"I'm thinking about this celibacy thing for you... why would you elect to adopt the monastic aspect of this? It would seem to me that a family and a spiritual life of this sort are not antagonistic to each other... Just curious how a young guy like you could be thinking of this..."

Well said, right? It's a classic question.

I answer in this way, hopefully without apology:

As I learn more about integration as a core gesture, the more I'm becoming convinced that compartmentalization while training is important. At present, my life is overdetermined. My mind is underdeveloped.

In other words, when I am really learning to do something different, I think it is best to mindfully devote my resources to that practice. Afterwords, after all the pieces have been disassembled rigorously, only then can I put them together as a free functioning, fully integrated unit.

The key here is: free functioning--and the choice to be so.

In Christianity (and I dare say some Jewish streams of thought), monastic tradition is driven by competitive suffering. Deprivation is seen to be somehow transportive. In that model we might say: pain = progress.

In the Zen model, the spiritual economy works very differently: we simplify. And then we simplify some more. We even simplify our attachments to Buddhism. This is a bottomless process. The goal is complete receptivity. Total presence, total non-judgement.

Why be so present?

--here's the Buddha's thesis--

MAXIMUM HAPPINESS.

And, ideally, maximum sustainable happiness for the maximum number of beings.

Now, sex is unquestionably one of the greatest pleasures. It is clearly part of life's best. Everybody (laypersons) should be having responsible, non-harmful sex according to Buddhism! It's natural!

The only problem I can see is not with sex. I think the world has had quite enough of sex bashing.

The problem is with unskilled mind. In the Western mode of desire, our minds do not realize that pleasure may not facilitate happiness. Not sustainably.

So what if it's not sustainable? Nothing is.

Yes, but what if confusing pleasure with happiness makes happiness somewhat unavailable?

I'll provide some examples of this which I used earlier in this blog:

• Things we do which we say "make us happy" are said to do so because they function as a "relief" from a prior state. For example, after work, we might go golfing. Perhaps the day at the office did not make us happy.

• However, after sufficient time, happy at the links, we need relief from the golfing as well. Every golfer has to and wants to call it a day after a point. In fact, it would make them unhappy to continue.

• One could imagine a version of Sisyphus' hell as a never ending golf tournament, caddying one's irons from hole to hole. Indefinitely.

• The same could be said of any thing outside ourselves which provokes a "happy" state of mind.

• For example, I might say: Pizza makes me happy. So, theoretically, the more pizza I eat, the happier I'll be. But after two or three slices... a fourth, let alone a fifth becomes nauseating. The effort will not repay itself.
  
  
• Even more precariously, we can harm ourselves and others in an endless cycle of trying to get at happiness.

Is there another happiness? One which you couldn't give or get enough of when you were a child and--hopefully--when you are an adult? One which will not tend to burn you or itself out, even though it requires sustained effort?

I think so. And it's always, already inside. It is not an external sublime. Personally, I never get tired of this form of pleasure/happiness. What it is exactly, for you, I cannot tell. But it's there.

Find it. But find it with precision. Celibacy is only one path towards assisting this exploration and it is not explicitly recommended by the masters. In particular, the Japanese Zen teachers are suspicious of the righteousness and seperationist biases of celibate practice.

I am mindful of this. However, I have found that it can dissolve desirous attachment. With reduced attachment, the mind can live in an empty space and flow towards openness.

Emptiness allows for the realization that all energy is just energy. Ki is Ki. Therefore, if I'm of an intention to direct my energy towards any part of my body--this can be accomplished when there is emptiness or "mushin" (lit: "mind like water").

In Karate, we put our hands through blocks in this manner. In Kundalini Yoga, we utilize tantra to refine our postures and perspectives. In Aikido and Zazen, we become observers of the wind and change. The list of conduits is extensive... And for those practicing sexuality, it goes without saying that energy can be accessed and channeled most directly through this powerful discipline.

In this way--and somewhat ironically--celibacy becomes a very sexual process. It is a sexuality of silence. If the silence can be improved upon, we should speak, if not, we should not speak.

But none of these words should be taken on faith. This is a matter of personal intuition.

According this way, Zen never, ever suggests renouncing sex unless your experience validates that without it you may refine your life and your senses. All things, in Zen and life, must be researched and tested.

As we say: "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." Nothing is sacred, all is subject to inquiry.

In my case, my psychological makeup is so challenging that I think the monastic path can be most helpful is assisting me to find the middle way. However, this is a deeply subjective and not prescriptive view of the world.

To sum up then, even indefinite celibacy is non-definite. "Everything changes."

Is this hedging my bet?

I don't think so. And if it is, then celibacy is not ideal because it is somehow facilitating delusion.

If, however, my celibacy is clear-eyed, then I may view the monastic life as a model for progressive training. And, in practice, the monastic energetic commitment is so hard-core, that discipline quickly becomes second nature.

But having integrated the lesson of "everything changes," I know that discipline itself changes. In this way, we must meet our lives moment-to-moment, in the spirit of genuine scientific inquiry.

On some level, this also means I affirm or reject my experimental celibacy every day. But no matter what my daily conclusions, I do not act on swaying mind. I merely observe its fluctuations.

As Dalai Lama, Kundun says: "if science proves an aspect of Buddhism incorrect, then we have an obligation to render that aspect of Buddhism obsolete." Similarly, if I determine my path is incorrect, it will be corrected.

But for now, for today, it is most appropriate, I think.

Ask "Zen Cat"

http://www.movingsky.co.uk/zenCat/

Click on the above link for a fascinating discussion with Zen Cat, a new technology which allows you to interact with a "virtual personality"--in this case, your statements and questions will be met with specific replies in the tone and cognitive perspectives of a Zen Master. Actually, a cat who thinks he's a Zen Master. No, really, a programmer's impersonation of a cat impersonating a Zen Master.

You see the possibilities.

Enjoy. Or. Do not Enjoy.

P.S. Below you'll see a photo which describes two of our more prominent minds: the monkey mind and the dove mind. For those practicing Zen, please remember that it is important to integrate the chattering monkey mind, not to "annihilate" it.

The Angels From America Spoke: YES WE CAN!!!

CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!!! CONGRATULATIONS WORLD!!!

LOOK UP, LOOK UP!!!

It's not very Zen of me, but I cannot contain my happiness! I don't remember the last time I felt so utterly hopeful!

It's been a long time coming...

To be on the East side of Earth for this wonderful day is humbling. The day belongs to every person around the world who said NO to fear! Around me, I meet people who feel planetary today.

To quote my teacher, Tony Kushner:

"The great work begins!"

All forms of theatre, all action can be theurgic ways of repairing the self, the nations, the world.

Do lots of yoga, meditation, eat well, die anyway--but love the people in your life with ferocity and unconditional kindness.

"To do this, every Kabbalist on earth would sell his right nut." (Rabbi Chemelwitz, Act 5, Scene 6, ANGELS IN AMERICA)

The time is now.

Zen and the Art of Therapy

I was recently asked by a friend who works in the field of Mental Hygiene (a strange phrase, don't you think?) how I would apply the Zen concept of "skilled love" to her practice.

I assumed my teachers would suggest that I should answer the question as honestly as possible--i.e., with: "I don't know."

However, when I asked Sensei for help in addressing this, he insisted that I struggle towards an answer.

Right. So here goes:

The principle of "skilled love" is closely related to the Buddhist concept of non-attachment. However, the tough-mindedness which attracted me to Zen in the first place sees non-attachment as impossible without an understanding of compassion.

Compassion is this, simply:

You are not your ego.

You are not your thoughts.

You are not the sum of your memories.

Neither is anyone else.

However, Zen cannot tell you what you are (and, no, I'm not going to say we're Nothing or neti-neti, because I don't have a black belt in that type of thinking yet).

Before I understood this, I was lost in thought. Since I fully identified with my thoughts, I was attached to each. As a result, depression, anxiety, and suffering were inevitable.

Here's what changed: as (perhaps) opposed to New Age-thinking, which advocates increasing love of the self, I chose to turn my love of "me" off. That's very tough. It's unbelievably shattering to REALLY grasp that all my problems are self-generated. That I was making the self up--out of memory. Not here, not now.

Nevertheless, here's the bottom line: it's been a very long time since I've been emotionally overwhelmed and it's extremely unlikely that I will be again--in fact, it's technically impossible--if there continues to be centered observation of the ego, as opposed to living inside of ego. But I know as surely as I'm going to die, that if I were to take an extended trip back to a lack of mental discipline, relapse into the usual would be unavoidable.

So, one needs skills of mind.

And at the top of the list is the need for "skilled love." In fact, this love is so tough-minded, it initially doesn't feel like love.

Why?

Because it isn't love. Not in the usual sense. But after practice, it's much more fun.

The most accessible example of this might be: drumming.

Here are the phases of drumming, as I understand them:

1) Drum is tuned. Focus is on the instrument, but attention is still not fully present.

2) Tuning up and finding the rhythm. I dare any drummer, no matter how experienced, to attempt drumming and thinking at the same time while they're warming up.

3) Skilled love. Drumming is a little mechanical without dedication. So you let go.

Letting go actually means letting go. Muscular tension, then, is redundant, unnecessary to playing. But so is attachment to the music. In the skilled love phase, you could stop just as surely as you could continue. The choice is your own. Karma.

Here's where something weird happens. Right about then, when skill on the drum mixes with devotion and choice--thought returns. In fact, you can carry on a perfectly coherent (actually, amazing) conversation while your hands are doing the walking.

This experience is duplicated in the practice of yoga and martial arts. Our teachers refuse to engage us in talk until we're immersed in the zone. Then the conversation flows.

Do enough of this, repeat, and something shifts.

So, how does this apply to the therapeutic session?

I think "the zone" can be accomplished in Western therapy if we wouldn't overburden it with all the expectations it currently has to bear.

Right about now, therapy is trying to compensate for an increasing lack of meaningful companionship. The therapist is paid to stand in as confidant.

I think it's great that this service is available. The only problem I can see is that the analysand can spend the entire therapy session getting warmed up.

Since the client "needs to talk," and that's probably a good thing, this implies a Zen-like responsibility for the therapist.

I would say it can work something like this: skilled love never, ever means "working on someone else." The most emotionally moving gift, I believe, that you can give someone, is to work on (getting off) your self in their presence. By doing this, something dramatic can happen in the room. We change and we don't know why--but we certainly don't feel controlled--in the company of someone who is always centering themselves.

How does that make you feel?

P.S.No jokes about "work on (getting off) your self in their presence," please. Too easy.

Pure Theatre Geekery: "'Charlie Rose' by Samuel Beckett"

"'Charlie Rose' by Samuel Beckett"



Very reminiscent of Ohio Impromptu. You can watch it here as performed by Jeremy Irons and... Jeremy Irons.

Elsewhere. It's better.

Another traumatic day in economics. 

Consider: on 9/11 while our attention was focused elsewhere, the birds sang in Central Park.

Taxi To The Dark Side... and back again.

Change is said to come from within. But without outside help it's almost impossible. 

But even with help, change tends to tango, lockstep, with one of the roughest depressions a person can go through; namely, dislocation of identity. Add geographical relocation to the mix and many international travelers, including this one, get messed up by an inevitability: that unfortunately and naturally, pain is to be expected when shifting gears to a radically different position of being in the world.

I can only imagine how difficult it is has been for everyone who has helped me through life to balance judicious intervention and skilled restraint. In Japan and Buddhism generaly, they call that role: "Bodhisattva" (lit. Compassionate Warrior). 

I am glad that the use of the word "warrior," in this context, has no New Age connotations in tow (Bodhisattva, is a sanskrit word [बोधिसत्त्व] in use since at least the 5th Century B.C.E.)... in fact, my teachers in Zen--they who almost never reveal frustration--do become testy when a student begins to fetishize "the warrior". Their concern is that New Age-y thinking is selfish. In overemphasizing the self, New Age doesn't actualize personal growth. Instead, my teachers suggest that focus on the other is really the only way to achieve sustainable happiness.

Love (esp. skilled love) IS the answer. And skilled love absolutely requires expression outside the ego's limits. Before, that was just words. Now, it's just evident.

In this vein, I want to share a kind of "truth" which I've begun to learn at a core level:

What is happening is just what is happening.

Shakespeare/Hamlet said: "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." And the frustrating simplicity of the statement belies how a person really doesn't need a whole lot more self-knowledge than this. However, beginning that kind of ego-mastery of no judgement (not ethical relativism), is probably only possible though radical rethinking. And the rethinking often means confronting your most sacred values--whatever they may be.

I'll give a personal example: last night I saw "Taxi to the Dark Side". If you haven't seen it, I do recommend it as the direction seems very tough-minded and organized. Nevertheless, because of its unflinching stare at torture, it's likely to cause your mind and heart to hurt. Sometimes, it (actually, not "it;" rather: me) brought me to sorrow and shame.

But, then, as I was watching the interviews with the convicted American soldiers, I became aware of a fatal relationship implicit in how I saw them. Specifically, I was apprehending the soldiers as my soldiers, my representatives. I was so ego-attached to an idea of who they were and the fear that they might be my echo, that I almost failed to actually look at the screen and see them. 

So I looked.

The truth is, when you actually see a person, you realize that you have no idea--or, at least, I didn't--who they really are. The soldiers were irreducibly complicated and singular. I had no reliable framework in which I could successfully judge them. 

This isn't a mental leap, it's a gut reaction, thank goodness. 

And I was even able to forgive them. They didn't need my forgiveness--but I did. The forgiveness process is almost indescribable... when it works, it works--in this way, I learn from their actions and the learning isn't driven by shame. 

Wow. Personal responsibility need not be instructed and learned by way of guilt? Who knew?

OK, so how does this translate into skilled love? One of my sparring partners is an Israeli soldier with whom it has been difficult for me to practice good Aikido. Why? I think I hate her guts. For the following reason: she's a member of the infamous Israeli border police, a group tasked with patrolling the "security fence" and maintaining the Palestinian checkpoints. As an organization, let's just say they aren't renowned for being compassionate warriors.

But, really, how the hell do I know?

In fact, for all I know, this woman might be amazingly thoughtful at her job--and even if she isn't, it doesn't matter.

In the dojo, she's just there, then. Real and standing.

For some reason, this actually occurred to me in the moment as I was opposing her on the mat. We practiced very good Aikido today. She even saved me from a nasty potential fall which probably would have dislocated my shoulder. Thanks, therefore, is due to the interviews with the Abu Ghraib soldiers. 

Look closer.

Change is impossible without help from an other. 

I didn't get it. 

Now... it's working out.

"More Life"

To quote Kushner's "Angels in America": More life.

I'm on my way to the synagogue right now so I must be brief but I wanted to wish you a new year of profound happiness--even if you do not formally observe this day as a new year's beginning.

I was just thinking how lucky I am to be able to celebrate two new years (today and Jan. 1st) in every year... so too, I thought it would be neat to share the idea of beginning again whenever you wish to do so.

The more I study Aikido and Zen, the more a stream of clarity regarding beginnings becomes evident: that beginnings are far more preferable than is mastery. A beginning's purity and enthusiasm are difficult to retain. I find that in endless practice situations in the dojo, I am most happy when I forget the clock and fall into a new technique as just that: new. Without (ideally) the terror of "the blank page" staring up at me.

And, so, I think writing and falling (we spend most of our training time learning how to fall) are honeymooning love interests beginning again and again...

Again, more renaissance, and, again, love and, again, more life.

A Highdea: How To Do Kundalini Meditation By Being Your Own Warp Core

Right. So this came to me as I was sitting in meditation in Yoga class. It seemed terribly profound at the time.

For those of you who ever watched Star Trek (great to watch when you're growing up... but why, oh why, is it so lame?) there's a key image which you can use when trying to draw energy up from the ground and down from the sky--the warp core.
Yeah.




ANIMATED INTRO ON HOW TO DRAW ENERGY UP AND DOWN DURING YOUR MEDITATION:

Srugim or Sex and the Holy City

I'm in Israel for this leg of my studies before my scheduled junket to Japan for intense training in Zen. While I'm here, I live in the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Katamon--this place is famous for its singles scene. Recently, Katamon (or "the botz" or "swamp" as its singles wryly and only half-affectionately call the place) came to national attention as it was featured in the new Israeli TV show "Srugim," a soapy but poignant Israeli pop-intervention. Srugim dramatizes the lives of young, "Modern-Orthodox" singles adrift. Modern-Orthodoxy means many things to many people, but as a movement it tries to live in the space between the real world and real ritual (the "liminal space" as my teachers say). Watching "Srugim" is fascinating... Once, I was one of these people. Now, I'm just me/and them/and everybody else.

"On the beach on Shabbat (the Jewish sabbath)":

How the Ego works

One day, a priest was passing by the office of his bishop. He heard the bishop praying with the these words: "I am nothing. I am nothing."

The priest was inspired. He went into his own office and began to pray: "I am nothing. I am nothing."

The janitor passed by the priest's office and heard the prayer. The janitor was inspired. He walked down the hall repeating: "I am nothing. I am nothing." 

The priest heard the janitor praying and said to himself: "who the hell does he think he is?"

David Mamet on Budo/David Mamet on Acting

Sensei recently encouraged us to watch David Mamet's Redbelt. Mamet's style of writing--he has a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu--relies on leveraging the unstoppable inertia of inevitability. 

This is the essence of praxis in tragedy.

The incomparably enigmatic Chiwetel Ejiofor play's Mamet's protaganist, Mike Terry. Terry, nearly a saint in this film, embodies Mamet's broader philosophy. As he says:

"Everything has a force. Embrace it or deflect it. Why oppose it? Just turn to the side."

One can hear the ring of truth about this idea, no?

Mamet takes this exact approach to theatre in his famous book True and False in Acting: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor. In this text, he embraces Sanford Meisner's brilliant and economic epiphany: that acting is SIMPLY about practicing "the reality of (not) doing." In other words, acting is not doing anything until someone or something makes you do it.

As Mamet writes: “Preoccupation with effect is preoccupation with the self, and not only is it joyless, it’s a waste of time.”

Just take the heat off yourself by putting all your attention on the other. It works.

Iaido and the Aleph-Bet: Workshop Every Wed.

Q: What do Samurai culture and the Aleph-Bet have in common?

A: Explore the question. Join us for a free workshop that will introduce the Ancient Japanese sword art of Iaidō and Otiyot Chayot, a system of movement inspired by Kabbalah, T’ai Chi and the Aleph-Bet.

Through Iaidō, we will use our bodies and our “swords”* to become living calligraphy of the Hebrew letters.

The goal: to find a state of flow and no mind.

Details:

Where: South East corner of Gan Sacher, Jerusalem

When: Every Wednesday (18:00 - 19:30)

Clothing: loose, comfortable clothing

* “Swords”: Please visit your local hardware store and purchase a wooden stick, approximately 60 cm in length. Alternatively, if you would like to continue studying this art, purchase of a bokken (a traditional wooden practice sword) is recommended.

To RSVP or for more information, please e-mail: akiva@republictheater.org

Budo for Peace: changing the perception of Oyev (enemy) into the Ohev (beloved)

Budo for Peace (BFP) brings together young people from conflict areas in the Middle East to learn and practice traditional Japanese budo (martial arts) in order to learn its values and apply them toward breaking down fear and building trust between peoples. Through martial arts training and understanding of traditional Japanese budo values – including respect, harmony and self-control – the youth enrolled in our program are taught to convert both internal and external conflict into harmonious behavior.

For more information, please visit: http://www.budoforpeace.org

Aikido and Anne of Green Gables?!?

Like many children of the '80's, I grew up watching PBS' Anne of Green Gables.

Then adulthood, quarter life crisis (actually crises), and cynicism.

But life travels in circles and, if we're lucky, spirals.

I feel lucky.

Like many in their late-twenties, living in NYC, I wanted so much more. And when I was ready, teachers appeared in all things. I fall in love at least twice a day now.

I think a good indicator for spiritual or self-aware progress can be found when you brush (not trip) against your own past as you're moving forward, take note of it, and keep moving. Wallowing in nostalgia is not of-the-moment. But deja-vu is. It propels you progressively, urgently, and, of course, uncannily.

For those so inclined, I recommend reading Jacques Lacan's framing of this idea. He calls it: meconnaisance.

When you train hard, the soft emerges. And this is how, twenty+ years after childhood, Anne Shirley returns. As you may know, the Anne of GG series has a cult-like following in Japan. Many have speculated as to why. They've suggested that it represents a desire for a Japan that never was. Perhaps. Whatever the reason, I found the following article on the Aikido Journal site (see: http://www.aikidojournal.com/?id=3432). It is written by Nev Sagiba Sensei. In it he describes what is, I think, the ideal human-animal: rigorously disciplined in mind and body and, as a result, surprisingly gentle in spirit.

And so today, as Coney Island's Astroland officially closes its doors forever, new ones open. Here's an example:

Advantage and Disadvantage - Life Navigation Skills

Pursuing the path of Aikido over many years has taught me the simple revelation made by a friend a long time ago, on a beach watching the rising sun: “To every advantage, there is a disadvantage; to every disadvantage there is an advantage. Each carries inside of it the seed of its opposite.”

This is the secret of navigating life, indeed the very cosmos itself. Ukemi.

I have a friend, a very hard stylist who never stayed with Aikido long enough to truly extract its benefits, who jeers at the Koryu or Kobudo arts’ methodology; the old style where the master takes the uke role. He claims, “Yeah, they practice losing so they can get good at it.” I’m not sure what he bases this on but, since he talks a lot and no longer practices, I can only deduce that it’s just plain ignorance arrived at because of academic theorizing and lack of practice. A bad combination indeed.

Can we really agree with this view in the face of the fact the old masters came from generations of battle-hardened warriors often going back thousands of years into old China and India? Their methods obviously have purpose, discovered in the wisdom of ages of experience.

My experience over my few years of variegated training differs considerably from that of my friend and I have consistently observed the very opposite to his view. I concur with the Kobudo view. I have found that the sport ‘martial artists’, the few freaks who survive this hard game invariably get killed or turn out to be cowards in the street, the field and any real emergency. In tending to be self-centered about winning they walk into their own darkness and fail. Repeatedly I’ve witnessed this. Big, tough, macho pussies they turn out to be, only capable of generally pushing their weight around when no real risk exists.

Conversely, the gentle, non-competitive people who train quietly and treat everyone with respect generally turn out to be fearless warriors in all manner of high-risk situations. And then they resume their creative service to society bearing their own burden as if nothing happened. You generally would not pick them as being out of the ordinary.

Again and again and again I have seen this trend until it began to speak to me. I asked the question: Why? I have no answers, but I have developed a theory, the theory of Ukemi and Kaeshi.

When you practice to both “win” and “lose” till these two impostors become irrelevant, another dimension of consciousness begins to appear; a different paradigm or way of viewing existence which enables us to navigate instead of blunderbuss through life, with entirely different results.

Because you understand both, you fear neither, and therefore it becomes possible to take charge and win at every point.

Remember the days when trainees of some arts knew no groundwork. Nor how to fall safely, and if felled, made the decision to imagine they had lost. A mere fall was considered a loss in their minds and at that point they gave up trying. Man, the ground is your ally and just the beginning whether you stay there or not! And you GET UP AGAIN.

A Budo acquaintance I share information with, often confesses that he has “lost” as many fights as he has won. Since he refers to crime fighting he’s referring to the real thing, not sport. Whilst I appreciate his candor, I keep having to tell him that he has lost none. He does not seem to get it and I have to keep repeating it: “If you lost you would be dead!” Mere bruises, pain and injuries do not constitute loss, they indicate you are alive. “What did you do?” I ask. He replies: “I got up and got on with life.” I rest my case. You won. The rest is mere details.

Life navigation is determined by attitudes. The practice of Aikido in particular, delineates those attitudes.

I was on the phone not long ago talking business with another friend, a hardened Budoka, now a successful business entrepreneur with some severe past street experience. He suddenly, mid-conversation told me: “I have to go. I’m closing shop, ‘Anne of Green Gables’ is on.” And hung up the phone.

What??? ‘What’s is the world coming to?’, I thought. But I became intrigued. I recalled that my ex and her daughters used to watch it and I then, being younger and more task-oriented, basically ignored it as “girlie stuff.” Now, this toughened, street hardened warrior closed shop to watch “Anne of Green Gables”? Well, most of my life has been surreal in one way or another, so, whilst surprised I quickly adapted; but my intrigue got the better of me and so I decided to close shop as well and put the TV on and watch “Anne of Green Gables!” What was it a street hardened fighter was getting out of watching this? So much so that I ended up getting the complete series and er.. studying it.

No leaping of tall buildings. Just human circumstance. A bit too close to home for comfort. And the nostalgia of a seeming better past is always a hook. Romantic, idealized and unrealistic pasts are always an escape from now. But there are some bits of gold in the story that do apply to real life.

The way the character, a girl, heroically navigates a potentially miserable life turning everything her way, was pure Aikido life navigation. Portraying the highest, the best, the possible of human potential, never staying down for long, bringing value to the world instead of only taking and expecting. Strong where necessary, but mostly dynamically kind and staunchly compassionate in the face of spite, anger, hard-heartedness, envy, betrayal and a host of miseries. Making friends of possible enemies and never taking no for an answer when it came to integrity.

It caused me to reflect on my past life. Despite my high and noble ideals.. well.. it makes me look like a bull in a china shop with a blindfold; or a steam roller in high gear, though I did not realise it at the time.

Looking back, of necessity I too fought life more than necessary at times, instead of appropriately yielding to least some circumstances. I hope I can learn to do better as I grow. It taught me also that for the vast most of us, when we behave like idiots, we know no better and that’s why we stumble blindly, clumsily and arrogantly through a life riddled with errors and learning mostly the hard way. It brought up considerable feeling of forgiveness for others in this plight, not possible many years ago in the thick of battle.

I have known people in life who in many ways resemble this Anne character, not a Pollyanna but a dynamic spiritual warrior, yet with heart. What made them different? An ATTITUDE and a CHOICE to remain positive despite the challenges and to CONVERT THE DISADVANTAGES INTO ADVANTAGES. PURE AIKIDO.

Er.. it makes my expertise on the mat and other battles pale into insignificance. I’m the student; they and the character of Anne are the masters of Aikido. Guys with a hakama… nothing much.

What enables such an attitude earlier in life in some more than others, the slow learners like me?

I don’t know, but I found these passages which I’ll share:

From Rudyard Kipling:

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master,
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

—Rudyard Kipling

And from the Mahabarata and the Bhagavad Gita:

”..Realize that pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, are all one and the same: then go into battle..”

Another translation:

“…Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, engage yourself in your duty..”

In other words: Get over it. Grow up. Do something about your attitude. Get on with the business of being human, creating and serving all life, and sure, be a good fighter as well, just in case you need it, but make better things than mere fighting, your primary focus.

And if you have to, when there is no alternate choice, then fight if you have to.

As the Founder of Aikido stated: “Leave everything in the hands of the Universe.. Live life creatively and to the fullest… Love all life… True Budo is an expression of God’s love… It requires no more weapons than your heart… Regardless of circumstance, hold an attitude where everything can be converted to advantage, no matter what… true victory is victory within yourself, everything else then follows…”

Nev Sagiba
aikiblue.com

Zen Bubbeism

Weakness is Power: The Musical

There's a funny bit in an old Jet Li film where he plays a village idiot. This character finally grasps that one cannot even hold an inflated ball underwater, so strong is Nature compared to muscles.

Then, I swear, said village breaks into a chorus line, belting out: "Mercy is Merciless" in the key of F# and doing jazz hands. Ok, no jazz hands, but, um, lots of tai chi hip-hop. Seriously.

For some reason, this reminded me of John C. Caputo's understanding of "weak theology":

On the classical account of strong theology, Jesus was just holding back his divine power in order to let his human nature suffer. He freely chose to check his power because the Father had a plan to redeem the world with his blood. ... That is not the weakness of God that I am here defending. God, the event harbored by the name of God, is present at the crucifixion, as the power of the powerlessness of Jesus, in and as the protest against the injustice that rises up from the cross, in and as the words of forgiveness, not a deferred power that will be visited upon one’s enemies at a later time. God is in attendance as the weak force of the call that cries out from Calvary and calls across the epochs, that cries out from every corpse created by every cruel and unjust power. The logos of the cross is a call to renounce violence, not to conceal and defer it and then, in a stunning act that takes the enemy by surprise, to lay them low with real power, which shows the enemy who really has the power. That is just what Nietzsche was criticizing under the name of ressentiment.

– John D. Caputo, The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event

And if anyone doubts the power of this radical choice, watch this:



Aikido literally exerts no force. Since energy cannot be destroyed, Aikido rechannels it. However, this is far from some vaguely Christian notion of sublimation. The technique is so precise, so logical, that I feel sorry for someone who exerts strain against a disciplined Aikido practitioner (Aikidoka)... such an aggressor would actually, literally hurt himself--while the Aikidoka, in a very kinetic sense, does nothing.

[Chorus: Reprise "Mercy is Merciless!"]

[Dance break: Do Tai Chi hip-hop. Exit All Stage Left.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Next time I'm in the dojo, I'm going to ask sensei if we can warm up by singing some Ella Fitgzerald:

You can try hard
Don't mean a thing
Take it easy, greasy
Then your jive will swing

I think sensei will not like this idea.

Common Students that Martial Arts Instructors See/Want to kill. Kidding...

Common Students that Martial Arts Instructors See

1. Question Lad (aka. What-If?): This guy will bring up every possible permutation for every drill that is being worked. Solution: Make him uki.

2. Captain Slacker: Dogs the drills and sucks away the stunning dynamic experience that occurs during every class. ;-) Solution: Make him uki.

3. The Interpreter: Seems to believe that explanations must be altered to so that the masses can understand them. Even when the masses are already doing the drill. Solution: Make him uki.

4. The Whacker. Selflessly and altruistically strives to make each partner drill ultra-"realistic", for his partner's learning benefit. Leaves a wake of bruises, black eyes, and sprains behind him until he tries it on the wrong person. Solution: trade partners frequently, the right one will come along soon.

5. The Silver Spoon. Has a unique blind spot that prevents him from seeing anything that needs doing around the dojo. This blind spot is so wide that he can't see an entire dojo floor full of other students with rags cleaning up. Solution: hand him a rag. Or make him uke. Gis make great cleaning rags, with or without a person in them.

6. The Assistant Insructor. Possessed of a truly amazing learning curve, this specimen has absorbed enough knowledge in six months' study to be able to offer a flawless critique of others' practice. Undeterred by the presence of actual knowledge and experience. Solution: have him do heian shodan. As my sensei told me, "Nobody knows more about karate than a green belt. If you don't believe it, just ask him"

7. The Vince Lombardi Wannabe: Believes only that a good offense is the best defense. Constantly attacks training partners at full speed to demonstrate this philosophy, leaving confused and disgruntled students in his wake. Solution: He/she feeds the instructor next time.

8. The Whiner. Common source of "but that huuuuurts!" "I think I need to sit out for a moment," and "that's too hard!" during simple basic partner drills, including all light sparring. Solution: Take two Tylenol and put them back in. They'll either gain a little intestinal fortitude or they'll quit. (Note: the Tylenol is for YOU, not them.) (Note 2: I'm not talking real injury here----I mean the whimpering little whining that happens when someone gets an arm bar put on, so that the pressure on the arm "hurts my arm muscle." Things like that. People who simply canNOT get through an entire class without at least 2 brief class pauses while the instructor checks if the person is really hurt, or just whining yet _again_.) (And yes, I've got one of these. Arg.)

9. The Toughman. Can take ANY technique, and "tough it out" according to him (it is almost always a him) Pressure points don't work (according to him), locks are something he can handle (according to him), and getting thrown/landed on/smashed/crushed/mangled is something where he can "take the pain, suck it up, and shrug it off." No matter what. Solution: make him uki MORE.

10. The Cross-trainer. "White belt, you need to adjust your stance this way." "But sir, this is the way we did it in the last tkd/karate/aikido/judo/whatever class I was in. And I've noted you don't do [such and such] technique 'correctly' ---in my last class, the teacher said it was stupid to do it the way you do." Teacher: "Arg. Can I simply kill you now?" Solution: Manage to not show Little Grasshopper why you "do it that way," and simple explain that different classes do it different ways----and in THIS class, we do it MY way.

11. The Primal Male. Women simply canNOT do techniques that would be effective against this man because, after all, they are women. Smaller, weaker, etc... Solution: Have the smallest high ranking female in class use The Primal Male as demonstration person for joint locks and throws. In front of the new students. (This person is common in many college programs, BTW.)

12. The Mouth. Has the amazing ability to continue talking while you are standing in front of him stating that he should shut up. (If you're lucky, this only occurs in children's classes.) Solution: His partner gets 10 pushups everytime he opens his mouth.

13. The Clueless: He's constantly doing stuff wrong. Even the simplest explanations bring a glazed look to his eye as he continues to be unable to improve. Solution: Can't think of a single one. [Ed. Note: Baseball bat. Hey, it is theraputic for the teacher.]

14. The macho newbie: He's big, he's strong, and he knows it. Furthermore, there's no woman in the whole dojo that he couldn't knock out with his fabulous punch, and he's going to make sure that everyone knows it. Solution: Kick him in the groin. ;) (OK, so you can't really do that if you're the instructor, but you can tell the other students to do it!)

15. The macho old-timer: He's big, he's strong, and he's been doing this a long time. Ain't no one in the place that better *ever* beat him at a drill, or they will pay the concequences. Solution: Kick him in the groin (Hey, Don got to use solutions over! ;), and then quickly move on to the next partner.

16. The "in my previous dojo"'er: Need I say more? :) Solution: send him on to his next dojo.

17. Ninja Bob: is pretty sure that he is training to become a covert agent, and wants constant reassurance of the deadlyness of his/her endeavors.

18. Every sifu's best friend: wants to be your 'best' student, but unfortunately can't deal with training in the group. It's not his fault really, but he's a kick ass private student at the no contact level. (you guys can call this "The Maurice" if you want)

19. Mr. Agreeable: Yes, he understands. Yes, the drill makes sense, sure. Sure, keep it slow, watch the contact. (smile, nod) Oh, like that, right. ...Proceeds (as soon as your back is turned) to, in dazed confusion, invent his own damn drill, thank you very much, fast, out of control, and not at all similar to the original.

20. Ms. I'm-tough-'cuz-I-do-karate. She likes to think she's tough, but anytime someone makes even a little bit of contact, she's going to complain to anyone that will listen. This is to be contrasted with the women who *are* there to train, and say nothing about the multiple bruises they take home every night from the macho-newbie and the macho-old-timer. Solution: Hit her really hard and tell her to stop being such a wuss when she complains. The phrase "It's karate/judo/etc., it's supposed to hurt a little bit" should be used often. Solution: every single time, without exception, pair Ms. Selfdefense with #4, The Whacker. This will necessitate her learning to "whack" back.

21. Ms. Self-Defense. She's read too many RMA threads, and truely believes that her intelligence will get her out of any struggle she may encounter. And if her intelligence doesn't work, then her legs will, because after all, women's legs are stronger than men's. Solution: Put her one on one with one of the smaller guys, and tell her to defend herself. 19 times out of 20, she'll find that her legs and her intelligence don't matter too awefully much. Every single time, without exception, pair Ms. I'm-tough-'cuz-I- do-karate with #9, the macho newbie. She will probably eventually get pissed off enough to WANT to let him have it.

22. The glass menagerie: think that they should be able to learn how to fight without ever falling down, getting bruised or otherwise experiencing physical discomfort. Never fully commits to a technique, holds back and typically ends up being one of the first people to experience an injury. (Usually from not committing to the movement properly) Solution: time...they either learn or leave.

23. The natural: has natural athletic ability which really does help him or her in the learning of MA. Is frequently lazy, however, since it doesn't seem that hard to learn. This person frequently gets bored and ends up leaving without fulfilling their potential. Solution: find something that challenges them (and make them uke?)

24. Eclectic Man. Has done thirty other arts for one class apiece. Is just killing time until he can create his own martial art and associated web site (whose address he will repeatedly post to RMA). Hopes to be inducted to the "World Martial Arts Hall of Fame" as "Supreme Grandmaster of the Year" before his 23rd birthday. Immediate response to any drill is "In Armenian Tae Kung Kara Aikikenpojujutsu, they do X instead". Thinks you are jealous because his uniform has more patches on it than yours does. Solution: Make him uke. Preferably for "the Whacker" ;-)

25. Satori Man. Has read every single book or article ever written on Zen and martial arts. Owns stock in Shambala. Has never actually done zazen. Quotes koans at every opportunity. Believes Morihei Ueshiba was God. Believes Morihei Ueshiba was a Buddhist. Is fond of expounding about how "X" is not a "real martial art" because it lacks a "spiritual component" Solution: Invite your friend Charlie, who has been teaching "X" for a couple of decades, to the dojo to teach a surprise special seminar...and thereby acquaint Satori Man with his own spiritual component by making him uke.

26. Variant 1 on Satori Man: all this and has never done any MA training. Solution: make him stop talking and practice. He'll go away. I recall one kid who rebelled at being forced to hold the shinai with a right-handed grip. He'd read Go Rin No Sho and according to him, Musashi didn't do it that way. He lasted 2 classes.

27. Jutsu Man. Flip side of "Satori Man". Believes he is the reincarnation of Miyamoto Musashi, John L. Sullivan, and Attila the Hun. Is dismissive of many "-do" forms because they "aren't practical" have "all that spirituality bullshit", or are "just sports". Believes women "can't fight for shit". Solution: Invite a small, female, godan in Judo to teach him the meaning of the term "kata guruma"...and make him uke.

28. The Ogler. The woman who is so busy oogling at the guys, she's not paying attention to what you're trying to teach her. In my experience, these are always beginners. One possible solution is to pair her up with a guy, ideally one of the guys she's oogling. That way, at least, I can go off and teach someone else or practice with someone who wants to train. Another solution is to throw her quickly and rather than help support the fall, let her weight drop completely. Doesn't leave quite the same bruises as punching, but can be pretty punishing all the same. Of course, *I* would never do this.

29. The Drifter: Comes to class once every couple of months. Is completely clueless about the material currently being studied, but wants to be promoted to the next belt. solution: Relocate the dojo every once in a while. (Thats what my Sensei does)

30. The Hasbeen: used to practice five or ten years ago, and has now returned. Thinks he knows just as much as the advanced students that studied with him then and haven't stopped. Tries very hard to prove he is just as good as them by using lots of force while doing the techniques. Solution: pair him up with one of said students.

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (abridged)

Last night I saw The Reduced Shakespeare Company's

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (abridged)

I loved it! So gleefuly subversive. For example, see their tongue-in-cheek new national anthem:


Austin: As we’re all agreed that we need a new national anthem, I have written my own modest example. Um, could I get a G?

Reed: Yeah. [plays note]

Austin: Thank you. Now, this is a song – this is a song which some of you may recognize. Maestro?

[Reed plays “America, the Beautiful” on accordion]

Austin: [singing] Oh, beautiful for spacious skies
And non-exploited waves of botanical companions.
For mountains of majesties and color
And free-roaming non-human beings
Beside the differently-harvested plain.
Oh, non-Eurocentric bioregion
Non-theologically specific supreme being
([speaks] If she exists)
Shed ambigenic grace on thee
And made you more of a
Non-speciesistic, multi-cultural eco-warrior
From chronologically-gifted anthropomorphized river
To cosmetically-enhanced sea!

[Music ends]

[Audience cheers; applauds]

Austin: Thank you so much! Thank you. Thank you so much. Play ball!

The Jewish Samurai: A Joke

The Jewish Samurai

There once was a powerful Japanese emperor who needed a new chief samurai. So he sent out a declaration throughout the entire known world that he was searching for a chief.

A year passed, and only three people applied for the very demanding position: a Japanese samurai, a Chinese samurai, and a Jewish samurai.

The emperor asked the Japanese samurai to come in and demonstrate why he should be the chief samurai. The Japanese samurai opened a matchbox, and out popped a bumblebee. Whoosh! went his sword. The bumblebee dropped dead, chopped in half.

The emperor exclaimed, "That is very impressive!"

The emperor then issued the same challenge to the Chinese samurai, to come in and demonstrate why he should be chosen. The Chinese samurai also opened a matchbox and out buzzed a fly. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The fly dropped dead, chopped into four small pieces.

The emperor exclaimed, "That is very impressive!"

Now the emperor turned to the Jewish samurai, and asked him to demonstrate why he should be the chief samurai. The Jewish Samurai opened a matchbox, and out flew a gnat. His flashing sword went Whoosh! But the gnat was still alive and flying around.

The emperor, obviously disappointed, said, "Very ambitious, but why is that gnat not dead?"

The Jewish Samurai just smiled and said, "Circumcision is not meant to kill."

KILL YOUR TV!!!

What I do at home. For fun. Must get out more...

God bless John McCain, poor guy...

When I observe John McCain on and off the podium, I see a pain-body and a body in pain.

He seems too strong.

Ultimately his presentation is the condemnable product of torture. I do hope he feels more peace.

That's it. No irony here.

Please join me in wishing him a fuller recovery from the horror of trauma.

Zen Masters for Obama

What if Obama's DNC speech was delivered like this:

Sometime in the '70's at UCLA, D.T. Suzuki (a Zen Master) came to visit at the behest of the university. 

The administration set up the main auditorium for him. Hundreds of students and the whole East Asian Studies Dept. was there--the crowd was deep in anticipatory excitement.

The chairperson came onstage and introduced the guest-of-honor: "Welcome D.T. Suzuki, world-class Zen scholar, writer, and master! You're finally here!"

The crowd sat in reverent silence.

Then, a little man, Suzuki, shuffles out to the mike, looks at the chairperson, shakes his head, adjusts a pair of glasses, reaches out and taps the mike.

A hollow ping sounds throughout the hall.

He leans into the mike and says: "Zen Buddhism. Very hard to understand. Thank you," and walks offstage.

---------

P.S. You can purchase the "Zen Masters for Obama" bumper-sticker  here: 

http://www.cafepress.com/irregulargoods.219133227

Japanese Jews and Krav Maga

I am currently advancing my understanding of swordsmanship in the Japanese styles of "moving Zen".

There is so much happiness which comes up during the ancient practice of Iaido.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaidō

The "inner smile," which we read about in so many traditions, actually finds real expression in this art as it would be impossible to support the weight of the katana for the hours of practice unless ones chest is light and filled with nothing. Far from being abstractions, these principles really get reified in the martial arts if one studies them for the appropriate reasons--whatever they may be. I find that the practice of Kundalini Yoga is also invaluable here.

It's so interesting to be doing this work in Israel with Japanese Jews who are said to descend from Samuari (they call themselves: Hata). They are such a compliment to the Israeli scene. Instead of realpolitik, they teach flexibility and peace as the "way of the sword" = to give the other (opponent/friend) the radical permission to be themselves. To let them be. Without occupation or preoccupation.

My studies in Israel and Japan are, partially, an effort to explore alternatives to the home-grown Israeli system of self-defence called Krav Maga. You may have heard of it. The best way for me to describe it is this: it's like trying to shoot down a mosquito with an anti-aircraft-gun.

It's inelegant and unnecessarily brutal to the practitioner and the opponent. Most importantly, it runs the same old patterns without any improvisation or imagination. It just doesn't see the target. Because of this rigidity, it's likely to get you killed in a fight. It also screws with ones way of interpreting the world.

It seems that the Israeli defence establishment 's approach to the other is similarly self-defeating and ultimately, well, anti-human. Perhaps they could benefit from time spent studying to really explore the limits of their potential.

As the late Yogi Bhajan (the premier teacher of Kundalini Yoga) said again and again, the key phrase for our times is: "Don't just tread water. Keep up. Really keep up, and you'll be kept up."

One has to be worthy of survival.

Namaste.

PS Here you can see a clip of me performing Kata Juppon Me - Shiho giri (four-directional cutting of four opponents)

Captain Nemo: Zero-Tolerance for War. Enforced by War.

I've been thinking about Jules Verne's Captain Nemo. He really is an anti-war war star. His approach really begs a review of the ethics of "zero-tolerance collective security."

Specifically, this model applies to the following scenario: Country A attacks Country B in a manner which is voted to be "unjust" by a dedicated International Law jurying body.

Zero-tolerance collective security dictates that Country(ies) C who voted on this decision are compelled to go to war as peacekeepers in the scenario. Ideally, they halt the aggression from Country A to Country B.

Let's leave aside, for the sake of argument, the logistical nightmare and political aftershocks of such a policy.

What say you to the ethical implications?

Thoughts on Tisha B'Av 2008

Seeing as how it's Tisha B'av today (a day to mourn how we Jews have destroyed each other with hatred), I've been thinking about how we often attempt to deal with our trauma by integrating the characteristics of our abusers.

This is neither a novel idea or a particularly insightful one--that the body politic acts like any body in crisis.

However, if you look to Jewish History for clues about what happens during that process of integration, of the abused becoming the abuser, something singular reveals itself: we cast ourselves as other in really, really literal terms! In other words, we actually act out fascist roles and symbols somewhat consciously!

For example, see this article from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7270650.stm

It points to recent rhetoric from the Israeli Deputy Defence Minister as he deployed the word "Shoah" against Palestinians.

Or this article, which points to the alarming trend of JEWISH NEO-NAZIS (!) in Israel:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6985808.stm

For more on this, I highly recommend the film: The Believer

http://www.palmpictures.com/film/the-believer.php

And then there's this mind-warping report on Israelis tattooing themselves with Auschwitz-inspired numbers on their forearms:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/979508.html

Also, I can tell you that the above article is actually just the tip-of-the-iceberg--when I was in Israel in April, I read several articles which noted that this was becoming a popular fad among twenty-somethings.

I sincerely doubt that the motive to put a number on ones arm is merely a clean and simple statement of defiance against genocide. It comes out of a much, much deeper impulse.

Some might point to the unsettling counterpoint between Fascism and Zionism--how these philosophies come from very similar intellectual world-views.

At the very least, Israel was founded with the help of Revisionist approaches.

See:

The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics and Terror, 1940-49. (Frank Cass Publishers, 2005)

&

Muscular Judaism: The Jewish Body and the Politics of Regeneration (Routledge Curzon, 2007).

But one could even say that a rigorous historical contextualization of Fascist roots in Zionism does not necessarily indict Zionism today... indeed, most modernist movements (even Feminism) were touched by this stream of thought.

What is desperately indicting is how Israeli policy has lost sight of the post-Holocaust responsibility of Israel: to be a counter-example to hatred and racism. To show how a national body can have a global vision by becoming the change it wishes to see in the world.

We're failing at this. Miserably. Israel views itself as "alone" in a crowd and it is therefore lonely and traumatized/traumatizing.

To expand on this, here is an excerpt from an article by Rabbi Yaacov Haber:

...as the Kotzker Rebbe said, “There is no place lonelier than a room full of people.”

Loneliness is possibly one of the most painful human experiences. Loneliness is not the same as being alone. Many people have times when they are alone through circumstances or choice. Being alone can be experienced as positive, pleasurable, and even emotionally refreshing if it is under the individual’s control. When Moshe received his prophecies, he was alone in solitude. Loneliness is unwilling solitude that is forced upon a person.

We always read Parshat Devarim on the Shabbos preceding Tisha B’Av, in part because of the connection between our Parsha and Tisha B’ Av signaled by the word “Eicha”. Moses asked, “How [Eicha] can I carry your burdens alone?” (1:12) and in the Book of Lamentations that we read on Tisha B ‘Av, Jeremiah asks in astonishment, “How [Eicha] could Jerusalem sit alone?”

But it’s not just the word “Eicha”! The Vilna Gaon explains that Moses said, “How can I carry your burdens alone?” and Jeremiah asked, “How can the city (of Jerusalem) sit alone?” Feeling alone, explains the GR”A (a Talmudist), is the essence of our national tragedy.

Moses and Jerusalem were reflections of the condition of the Jewish people. Moses was a lonely person and Jerusalem was a lonely city. Our people became isolated — not just from the world, but from each other. There was polarization, elitism, and arrogance. Moses felt isolated and so did Jerusalem, and they both exclaimed: “Eicha?!”

Eicha? How?

I'm not sure.

But I think there is a way out: end our preoccupation with separation. Separation theology insists that "we are over here" and "god is over there".

What a lonely origin myth.

From this comes almost all our human difficulties: apartheid against others and self. We've got to stop.

What would love do?