Picking Up the Hammer or Walking the Path of Spirit
I had such problems hanging my pictures. They lay for weeks, stacked against the walls, with hooks, hammer and nails. If I only I could find time to stop working, teaching, meditating long enough to just do it One evening, as I was about to make a start at long last, a friend dropped in for some advice- “Will Taoist practices cure my negativity?”
She had followed many paths, shiatsu, meditation, Landmark, African drugs, South American psychotropes, tai chi, qigong. She had hoped any or all those things would do it for her. I remembered another student, going through the shiatsu learning cycle complaining of tiredness and energy depletion, who did nothing to avail himself of the resources available to offset these conditions. He and she were the two extremes: one who did everything and one who did nothing, both suffered from the same condition but with different symptoms. Another followed the middle way: declaring his determination to do every course to help him walk the path of spirit, but not actually joining one. Are these archetypes enjoying frustration-free lives? Or is for them the path of spirit the road to hell, paved with good intentions?
Mantak Chia once told me that if he had a dollar for every time a person declared their unwavering intention to do a course, he would not only become a very rich master but he would never have to run any courses. I thought this a rather bleak view until I myself started teaching.
But how long did it take me to pick up the hammer? Now at last my pictures are on the walls and give me joy every day. Reflecting on the human condition of which I was so much a part, I remembered Master Chia’s response to the question about Taoist practices – will they cure my this or fix my that. He always says, ‘Yes. If you do them.’
Start with Step 1. If it works for you, take 2 and 3, and you will want to do 4 just to complete things and get that sense of satisfaction from having done what you set out to do. Yes, you can become a more effective human being – in your own terms, whatever you see as being more effective. Assertive, Brave, Compassionate, Dynamic: there is a whole alphabet waiting for you.
Most people who want to learn a little more about themselves and take a little more control of their life find that with Steps 1 to 4 they develop powerful and effective tools: not just for enhancing their own life and health but for helping others, too… and deepening their meditation practice in the company of like-minded people, guided by those who have gone before.
Ideally, these foundation steps should be taken close together in the first year of training, but even if a few months or years have elapsed, you get far more benefit from doing them than not doing them!. They enable you to build a complete practice at the Basic level. (The steps beyond - Tao of the Shaman and above - are more for those few who want to make this their life-path.) Nor is it all work…relaxing in the steam of the sauna or the cool of the pool, bubble-bathing in the jacuzzi, experiencing ritual cleansing and spiritual purification of sweatlodge, hearing the sounds of nature in walks on the moor, smelling the fragrance of the Devon countryside, seeing the colours of sunrise and sunset.
The Retreat Meditations include the Power of Fusion of the 5-Elements, Nourishing Spirit, Taoist Meditation on Death, blending Dragon and Tiger, Turning the Wheel of Law, Steel-Body Tai Chi of the Hidden Masters and Chi Kung. Fusion gives internal clarity and external protection. Developed from pre-Taoist shamanic practices, the effects can include intense self-healing experiences and an immediate increase in awareness and focus. The practice of Nourishing Spirit or the Fusion of KAN & LI awakens our highest spiritual potential. Learning an awareness through the awakened soul to be creatively active in the world, we learn not to merely react to circumstances but to gain control over “this” life, to be aware of the immortality of our stream of consciousness, of our true nature as spirit, experiencing a self beyond the cycle of life and death.
Pick up the hammer! http://www.healing-tao.co.uk/ht_kris.htm
She had followed many paths, shiatsu, meditation, Landmark, African drugs, South American psychotropes, tai chi, qigong. She had hoped any or all those things would do it for her. I remembered another student, going through the shiatsu learning cycle complaining of tiredness and energy depletion, who did nothing to avail himself of the resources available to offset these conditions. He and she were the two extremes: one who did everything and one who did nothing, both suffered from the same condition but with different symptoms. Another followed the middle way: declaring his determination to do every course to help him walk the path of spirit, but not actually joining one. Are these archetypes enjoying frustration-free lives? Or is for them the path of spirit the road to hell, paved with good intentions?
Mantak Chia once told me that if he had a dollar for every time a person declared their unwavering intention to do a course, he would not only become a very rich master but he would never have to run any courses. I thought this a rather bleak view until I myself started teaching.
But how long did it take me to pick up the hammer? Now at last my pictures are on the walls and give me joy every day. Reflecting on the human condition of which I was so much a part, I remembered Master Chia’s response to the question about Taoist practices – will they cure my this or fix my that. He always says, ‘Yes. If you do them.’
Start with Step 1. If it works for you, take 2 and 3, and you will want to do 4 just to complete things and get that sense of satisfaction from having done what you set out to do. Yes, you can become a more effective human being – in your own terms, whatever you see as being more effective. Assertive, Brave, Compassionate, Dynamic: there is a whole alphabet waiting for you.
Most people who want to learn a little more about themselves and take a little more control of their life find that with Steps 1 to 4 they develop powerful and effective tools: not just for enhancing their own life and health but for helping others, too… and deepening their meditation practice in the company of like-minded people, guided by those who have gone before.
Ideally, these foundation steps should be taken close together in the first year of training, but even if a few months or years have elapsed, you get far more benefit from doing them than not doing them!. They enable you to build a complete practice at the Basic level. (The steps beyond - Tao of the Shaman and above - are more for those few who want to make this their life-path.) Nor is it all work…relaxing in the steam of the sauna or the cool of the pool, bubble-bathing in the jacuzzi, experiencing ritual cleansing and spiritual purification of sweatlodge, hearing the sounds of nature in walks on the moor, smelling the fragrance of the Devon countryside, seeing the colours of sunrise and sunset.
The Retreat Meditations include the Power of Fusion of the 5-Elements, Nourishing Spirit, Taoist Meditation on Death, blending Dragon and Tiger, Turning the Wheel of Law, Steel-Body Tai Chi of the Hidden Masters and Chi Kung. Fusion gives internal clarity and external protection. Developed from pre-Taoist shamanic practices, the effects can include intense self-healing experiences and an immediate increase in awareness and focus. The practice of Nourishing Spirit or the Fusion of KAN & LI awakens our highest spiritual potential. Learning an awareness through the awakened soul to be creatively active in the world, we learn not to merely react to circumstances but to gain control over “this” life, to be aware of the immortality of our stream of consciousness, of our true nature as spirit, experiencing a self beyond the cycle of life and death.
Pick up the hammer! http://www.healing-tao.co.uk/ht_kris.htm
posted by Kris Deva North at 9:10 AM
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