Writing in the Art of Zen

Ray Bradbury on writing:

Work.  Relaxation.  Don't think.

"An athlete may run 10,000 miles in order to prepare for 100 yards.  Quantity gives experience.  From experience alone can quality come."

"Suddenly a natural rhythm is achieved.  The body thinks for itself." 

"You begin to write as you...There is only one type of story in the world: your story."

Rewrite as many times to do your best.  There are no failures, just lessons, so keep learning - Kendra Bonnett, Writing Alchemy on Youtube

I'm practicing writing on my moleskin.  The method I'm using is a combination of free association and zen-like focused flow with only the topic as the guide, which means that it may have incomplete phrase-like sentences and may even swing the other way to stream of consciousness run-on sentences.  What I will attempt to do is to not cross out any part of it, so that whatever is written is there, not corrected, in it's original form.  At first it will be slow-going to get the flow, as it has already been in these first couple of entries.  But as I keep writing, I hope it will become as natural as any other skill I've developed.

Go where the evidence leads

Tea party supporters are more scientifically literate than the general public?  And it surprised the researcher?  I'm sure this prof will also be surprised at how much they know about economics too.

The admission in this article is very telling.  I'm glad Prof. Dan Kahan was at least willing to accept where he was wrong, change his views, and was man enough to admit it to the world!

A Different Approach

Instead of waiting to figure out what I should write, I should just write.  I've been inspired to restart this blog.  Every single day (or as often as possible), I'll write on a topic for exactly 30 minutes.  I won't make corrections until afterwards for about 10 minutes.  The following 20 minutes will be logging what I did for the day in my other blog.

Catching a simple thought

I'll work this out somehow.  At some moments, I get this feeling of fulfillment, of pride in who I am as a Christian, of being part of something when I think of simplifying my life to the point of almost being like a monk in a Shaolin monastery.  I can't seem to catch a permanent sense of it, but when I do, I feel a sense of something unique and holistically satisfying when I think of being a monastic, to be away from the world for a while, but at the same time living simply while living in the world.  I see myself in simple, comfortable clothes, almost like a tai chi outfit, barefoot most of the time or in sandals, and in a constant deep meditative state in whatever I'm doing.  I don't want to mix any type of paganism into my Christianity.  I'm well aware that shared aspects of Zen and Christianity are merely a bridge to begin dialogue.  Superficially similar, fundamentally different - worlds apart.  Though, whenever I think of Zen, I'm reminded of the emphasis on simplicity in how I should live my life, the simplicity of Jesus.  Not that I'm making life simple, as if I'm making an artificial existence, a make-believe world.  But there is one simple way to live life, the way Jesus lived - allowing the Spirit of God to move me, to be in step with Him, to be in line with Him, His flow, His movement in the world.  To be truly one with Him and inevitably to be one with His Body.  Obviously not in the monistic sense that some Christians have adopted.  My brothers and sisters who subscribe to that are being misled, thinking that the oneness mentioned in Zen and other thoughts with a monistic worldview is the same as the oneness that Jesus spoke of, the oneness of being united with Him, of being one with the Father.  It's not in the likeness that we have with each other, but in the unity of being in Him, in what He did and continues to do for us.  We are not all connected, but we are connected once we acknowledge Jesus for who He is - the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Creator, the Source.  So how do I live my life so I can be in line with Him, to be in step with His will, while acknowledging that I am a unique individual?  Submitting to the Head of Christ as I am part of His Body.  I have to be sensitive to His move, listening to His still small voice in the innermost part of me, like a limb responding naturally to the electrical current from the brain.  How simple!  
Now the question is, when do I begin?  

Zen and Christianity intro

Zen Buddhism - a worldview and lifestyle combining a simplified version of learning theory, performance psychology, intuition development, and observations of nature and human behavior all expressed in mystical and monistic terms.

There are universal ideas that Zen and Christianity share, but they are merely a bridge to begin dialogue. The essence of both worldviews are worlds apart. The human experience is the biggest reason why they have anything in common. Whatever observations made about human nature and thought patterns were fused with the monism found in Hinduism. Buddhism in certain ways is Hinduism lite, even though it's an evolved version of Hinduism. Zen Buddhism is still Buddhism, but it's also Buddhism lite, which reflects its roots in its convergence with Taoism.

What would you do?

Last Monday, I covered the Ross Township shooting soon after it happened. Media from New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia descended on the area and the story hit CNN and Fox that evening. For those who haven't heard, a man who had been in conflict with the township for a number of years over his property was finally forced to give it up and he thought he had nothing else to live for. He shot his way into the supervisor's meeting killing three men and i...njuring several others. One of those he killed shielded a woman from getting shot. One person who ran away kept a kid from coming in to the building to get his dad. The newspaper reporter who was there ran away also and hid behind his car. It was his first ever assignment being a new hire for the local paper. A township official tackled the gunman and a resident helped to keep him down immediately after. When I heard all of this, I thought, what would I have done? There are consequences for any action you take. There is no wrong way to respond in a case like this, especially if you survive. But what are you prepared to do? In the case of Dave Fleetwood, whose life was all about helping others, he instinctively sacrificed himself to shield that woman. Bernie Kozen took a great risk by tackling the gunman because he could've been shot also. Instead the gun was angled toward the gunman who accidentally shot himself in the leg.
Some of you may know this about me already: wherever I go, I almost always assess the layout of the place I enter and quickly create options for myself in case of an emergency. I'm not being paranoid, I'm just being safety conscious. It's an awareness habit I've developed over the years and I hope you start to develop it too. As you do so, continue to ask yourself what you would do in a case like this and settle it in your heart. And if you have some training under your belt, even better! It's not a guarantee, but it increases the odds of you surviving. Your instinctive response will save your life and the lives of others, or if you choose, give up your life protecting another.

New Year's Note 2013

Posted on Bacerra Academy FB page:

Resolutions are meant to be broken.  Or really, people have a tendency to make unrealistic goals for themselves and then don’t follow through on them.  Goals should be challenging and yet reachable and realistic.  It should make you work for them and get you outside your comfort zone.  As the old adage goes, anything worthwhile doesn’t come easily.

If goal-setting and reaching for those goals through consistent activity is already an ingrained habit for you, then great!  Keep it up!  It took some time for me to develop those habits, so if you’ve already developed it early in life, then all the better for you.  If you haven’t, then I suggest you start doing something about it.  Most of you on this page are relatively young, so it’s not too late to change your habits.  For those who have been around me long enough, you know certain basic things about goal-setting, that it takes a whole lot of effort to achieve your goals; that consistent effort bit by bit is better than large effort once in a great while; that you should have an overall goal and a number of mini-goals and milestones leading you up to that major goal.

Losing weight and getting fit is a common goal.  One of the highlights from this past year for me was losing 20 lbs.  I had to work-out hard and I had to cut back on certain foods.  It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution but in late January, I was motivated to act when I saw pictures of my fluffy self in Puerto Rico.  I made my decision and I knew I was in for a crazy ride.  Then I made an end date so I didn’t prolong the process - I will weigh 170 lbs by June 30, or lose about 4 lbs a month, a realistic monthly goal.  There were a number of things I had to do to make sure I kept to my goal: have a few family members keep me accountable, have a number of mini-goals for myself (which changed often, by the way), and keep track of my progress (myfitnesspal helped a lot).  There were days when it was enjoyable and I made it as fun as possible.  But there were even more days when it was just not fun at all!  Regardless of my feelings, I HAD to push through.  This is the rub for most people - when it stops being fun, they give up.  Understandable, but it’s just not a good excuse.  My sisters and cousin helped a lot and seeing students who successfully lost weight with my guidance motivated me to keep going as well, especially when it was so easy to let myself go!  Even with injuries, getting a cold, and being stressed out at work, by God’s grace, I was able to pick up my activity level, control the eating, and lose the weight.  In the final two months, I was a little behind, but knowing I needed to reach the goal, I worked even harder and the whole experience was even WORSE!  The last week before June 30 was the craziest week of the year physically for me because the last three pounds for two weeks didn’t budge.  Finally, on June 29, a day before the end-date, I reached my goal of 170!

So to summarize what I did:
- motivation (negative, seeing a picture of my fat self, or positive, a mental image of my fit self)
- set a goal - with a date
- set up the help that you may need, preferably people who will encourage you to follow through
- make mini-goals to reach your overall goal, which may change over the course of the program
- “dig deep” as coaches would say, when things get tough

Goal setting, keeping healthy, martial arts training, are not just good ideas and hobbies, they’re lifestyle habits.  They become part of what you do normally and it’s not just an extra thing you do.  If it’s just another activity for you, fun or not, you’ll most likely quit by February.  So if you’re going to make a resolution, it shouldn’t just be the superficial activities.  The best resolution to make is in the change to your mind as you incorporate the new lifestyle habits.

What will you do this year to create a lifestyle change that will develop you into someone better than you were last year?