Kung Fu Fighting

I knew it was OK to be both a lover and a fighter........
(Brosden wearing my pirate hat when he came over to show me his presentation on Tiger Woods.)

ComPASSION

A Western Buddhist woman was in India, studying with her teacher. She was riding with another woman friend in a rickshaw carriage, when they were attacked by a man on the street.

In the end, the attacker only succeeded in frightening the women, but the Buddhist woman was quite upset by the event and told her teacher so. She asked him what she should have done – what the appropriate Buddhist response would have been.

The teacher said simply, “You should have very mindfully and with great compassion, whacked the attacker over the head with your umbrella.”

One Step Away From Despair, One Step Away From Enlightenment

We all have movies that affect us powerfully.

Dead Poet's Society (1989) and To Sir, With Love (1967) showed me the tremendous affect a teacher can have on his students.

The Fountainhead (1949) amazed me with the importance of having a strong character and just how important it is to remain honest and true, even if the world you're in isn't and in turns doubts you.

Big Country (1958) defined for me what a real man is, and the right one will come along for you who sees and appreciates it. Jean Simmons also identified an ideal woman (not Gene Simmons from the rock group "Kiss", which was my first favorite band when I was 12 :-)



Gladiator also affects me powerfully. Not because of its machoism and war. I do believe in battle and being a warrior, but not against my fellow man. If you're stronger than another you uplift them. If you're smarter you enlighten.

The true battle is always within yourself to overcome fears, doubts, and negative thinking. It is a battle for control over your heart and mind, spirit and soul.

And it is a war that so few people ever really win. Instead it becomes a complete defeat, as in the case of suicide, either physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

Or it becomes a compromise; either a weak battle cry of "My life isn't so bad", pushing your dreams into the deep recesses of your darkened mind. Or it as Dr. Seuss called, "The Waiting Place" in his book "Oh! The Places You Will Go". Here we wait to win the lottery, a partner to take away the pain, a child to grow up, or an imaginary future we are not working to create.

Perhaps my words seem too war-like. All I know is that I came to this earth as both a lover and a fighter, and "what comes woven in the pattern of (my) destiny" is to fight for highest love in all its forms.

I cover myself in the armor of teacher's clothing and I plan a successful victory with a philosophical poet's mind. My weapons are unconquerable belief in every student the universe sends me, unending love for who they are and who they can become. And a strong soul-based energy that gives me the spirit to teach in a way that is motivating and enlightening. In my seven years of teaching not one student has been held back, all from fighting for highest love and motivating the students to do the same.

Feeling this much causes much joy. It can also cause much pain. When I watch the scene from Gladiator where Maximus comes home to find his wife and child taken from him, dangling from ropes around their necks, I feel a deep pain.........I feel it now

The new Roman Emperor Commodus ordered this done. Today, 2,000 years later, a new world ruler is doing this, the Emperor Divorcus. America has been the new Rome for only about 60 years, yet our stability is already beginning to shake with the growing inability for two people in love to show their children how to communicate and coexist with one another, maintaining that love.

I have lost a wife and child(ren) not once, not twice, but three times to this Evil Caesar. The ironic part of this sorrowful play, is that this Emperor Divorcus lives inside us, and has been allowed to rule in over half the US population.

He's so powerful that he can stop a wedding before it even happens, our past pain triggering destructive reactions to challenging or difficult situations that arise in the relationship. If it's our partner reacting to their past pain, we mistake their reaction and see it as them. And one or both is no longer able to continue to hold the space of love for the other.

As I watch Maximus' face and body language show so much pain at seeing that his wife and child have been taken from him, my own face and body react in great pain. I've never watched this movie with anyone and I never will. I begin to close in on a state of despair. I curse the God(s) and ask the universe why, never receiving an answer.

I am a defeated warrior, no matter how hard I try to strengthen my body, mind and soul. Going to the gym begins to seem pointless, as if I'm a warrior from a past that is no longer needed. Religion is seen as nothing more than "the opium of the masses", as Karl Marx felt. And the Bible, Tao Te Ching and Tibetan Book of the Dead hold no answers for me.

Friends and family tell us, "You just haven't met the right one yet". I know for me I am left wondering if I'll ever again be able to allow myself to love another woman or child as my own. The pain is too great when life takes them away, and you feel as if a sword has been plunged into your heart.

A prophet from the Old Testament said, "I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." I feel as if I have been striving after wind, and realize that I am one step away from despair.

This happens to us all. And this is the point where we must fight. Love is worth fighting for, especially love for oneself. Only in this space; of self-love, of natural joy, and of allowing pain to show you the way to enlightenment, can we be free to love another.

This is a matter of life and death; of living a full and joyful life, or a living death of numbing ourselves with our addictions in the form of television, consumerism, materialism, drugs, alcohol and moving from one bad relationship to another.

A Buddhist monk said, "All that arises, passes away. This I know." To paraphrase Eckhart Tolle's interpretation of this, we have to learn to offer no resistance to what is; to learn to allow the present moment to be and to accept the impermanent nature of all things and conditions. This is where we find our peace.

At times in our lives we may be one step away from despair. But the greater the pain is can also mean we are one step away from enlightenment, peace, and renewed strength.

Continue to fight in the flow of your deepest sense of purpose, your most enlightened self, your Being.

Fight even to the death......the death of the pain-body that lives inside you. It is our rebirth.

How Creativity Keeps us Ageless

It's amazing how like attracts like. This morning I posted "Creating Our Lives". Tonight as I'm getting through as much email as I can I come upon this:


There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin

How Creativity Keeps Us Ageless
Four tips to unleash your creative energies and counter the effects of aging in the process.
By Stephen Ruppenthal

Have you ever thought that giving yourself the time to do that sketch or write that short story might help you stay younger? Studies have shown there is indeed a vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging. When we draw and paint, we delve deep into the springs of vitality, increasing our sense of self-worth, determination, and achievement. But the University of Kentucky’s Prof. David Snowdon, who tracked the health of 678 Catholic nuns over 70 in his important Alzheimer’s study, showed us much more: he was once given a ceramic sculpture by one of the nuns, Sister Esther Boor, who had taken up ceramics at age 97. When asked by Snowdon to join his project, Sister Esther had originally told him, “I’m too busy with my art to take part in a study of old people." She was not aware of growing older, and she passed away at 107.

All of us know that, when deep in the process creating a short story, a painting, a new business, or an invention, time seems to stand still. Creating something totally new freshens our whole system and frees us from limitations that otherwise can hold us down and drain us of life. Here are four ways you can counter the effects of aging by unleashing your creative energies, testing your own powers of making new things, and breaking through to new solutions:

The Dalai Lama on how we can live a more spiritual life

1. Just start, don’t think. If you feel too emotionally drained or just plain blocked, get a pad of paper and pour out all the nagging resentments, fears, and worries that block you from starting an important project. Acknowledging feelings can enable us to move past them and really get started. This, of course, also means dedicating ample time and space for the creative work. A friend of mine had trouble realizing his gifts until he freed enough time to tinker in his garage. Now he exhibits dozens of motor scooters, cars, and even a bread truck, all artistically converted to brightly painted electric-powered vehicles. I ask him how old he is and he says it’s tough to keep track.

2. Try making your own environment a work of art. And while you’re at it, have some fun! We all start with a blank slate in our living space. Whether you reorganize your office, redecorate your home, enrich your relationships, or beautify your yard, let these efforts mirror the best and most beautiful in you. My wife and I purchased five very barren acres some years back and have since spent every spare minute we have planting flowering herbs, luscious berries, stately fruit trees, and hardy landscaping bushes. In comparatively little time, the parched landscape has given way to lush green views in all directions. And inside, a neglected, ramshackle farmhouse now boasts rich French country colors on all its walls. Don’t be afraid to test your creativity in playful ways, even if you muff it and have to start over. The playful energy all of us have not far beneath the surface helps us feel young and free, regardless of our body’s age.

3. Follow your highest hopes and dreams. Strangely enough, researchers who investigate longevity are finding old age can be a peak period for more, not less, creativity. "We always think of winding down in old age," says Judith Salerno, Britain’s deputy director for the National Institute on Aging. "We need to begin thinking about late life as an opportunity for people to explore." So in the years that used to be considered old age and dotage, now we see experience as an incalculably rich resource. Don’t settle for a shut-down life where the resources of youth are just vain memories; tap your rich experience, whether through art, invention, social service, or transformation of the environment. A higher number of age will only mean you can realize your highest potential and develop talents you never knew you possessed.

4. Dedicate time each day to creative projects, and have faith in yourself. Whether your gift is to be a writer, painter, actor, or a healer of personal relationships, you need to devote time to it every day. “But I can’t do it,” people say, “it’s too big!” So just try breaking your larger projects into smaller, more manageable pieces. As St. Francis says, “Small beginnings, greater ends.” Don’t try to write the whole novel or you will clam up and get scared. Maybe today you will just write one paragraph or carve one lock of hair onto your sculpture, but that will unlock your greater resources. Over time, something will just lift you up. A power coming from deep within you will fill in the blanks, making the universe—and yourself—richer, more beautiful, and full of the wealth of creative life that has no age.

Dream AND Do

"You should do the work yourself, for buddhas only teach the way."

-Dhammapada


No matter what religion, philosophy, or spirituality you subscribe to, knowing is not enough. You must do. You must act on what you know is the right course of action, career, and life mission for you.

My mother once explained the difference between being dumb and being stupid. One of my siblings had called another "stupid" (I know it couldn't have been me. I was the perfect one :-).

She explained that being dumb, or ignorant, meant that you didn't know any better, or weren't aware. Being stupid however, meant that you did know better, but were choosing not to do what you knew you should do.

You'll know your own way when you "feel" it. But following through on this is truly rare. How many of us can say we are trading the hours of our lives each day following our bliss?

Copyright © 2007 by Adam Stuart
All Rights Reserved