Silence is the warriors art and meditation is his sword. With it I cut through limiting illusions. The swords usefulness depends upon the one who wields it. If you do not know how to use a sword properly you can hurt yourself. It can be dangerous, deluding or a useless tool. Meditation can initially help you relax. You may put your sword on display, proudly show it to friends. The gleam of this sword distracts many meditators until they abandon it to see other techniques. In contrast the warrior uses the sword with skill and understanding. With it, he cuts the mind to ribbons, slashing through thoughts to reveal their lack of substance.
"Iron is full of impurities that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion."- Ueshiba
The sword frees the knots in the mind, until the day you transcend your need for it at all. Until then use the sword to cut the connections of unhealthy relationships, habits and feelings. Sever the strands of myopic thoughts and critical perspectives of ourselves and our world. The associations we forge in life which limit us from seeing things as they really are can be cut, devalued to reveal their worth; nothing. Meditation is not sitting and attempting to mimick what we see from statues and pictures. Meditation is in every action. It is rising awareness and the choice to creatively act rather than respond to our world. It is easiest to practice meditation and mindfulness when life seems to be going your way. But the task is to stay grounded and focuses when things seem toughest.
Life will never go your way, life has a way of its own. You will suffer however when you contend with the great current of life. Going with the flow is to steer our own path while going with the flow of life. Any pain, suffering or dissatisfaction we feel is a result of us not moving with life. Our attachments, desires and expectations don't allow much room for movement, for change. We need to cut ourselves from them. We operate on painful past experiences and react to life, recreating our past. We destroy opportunities for new relationships, careers, connections because our attachments to past experiences design our responses to predicatively react. We can stumble into patterns of dependency, feeling that we need validity, recognition, love and admiration. If we didn't get both rain and sunshine, life on this planet could not go on, could not grow. When we hang on to things beyond a certain point- youth, beauty,power, roles, success- we suffer. Because just like food, these ambitions, desires and feelings don't last forever. They constantly change as we constantly change.
It can feel hard to change or grow if we are anchored down to the past and to our memories and feelings. We all seem to have a role to play; identities from sources that we feel original to become. Clothes, beliefs, music, tastes, interests, all these things are how we are not who we are. When we take these things away all that is left is the true self; who we work at being every day. Is there someone there when you remove all the things you attach to? Do you talk, act and behave according to your chosen identity, who you are supposed to be according to the world which has created you? Or do you have enough strength to forge your own self outside of the restrictions and impressions of the world around you? Can you NOT respond to the world when it doesn't go your way? Can you let go?
"The Art of Peace does not rely on weapons or brute force to succeed; instead we put ourselves in tune with the universe, maintain peace in our own realms, nurture life, and prevent death and destruction. The true meaning of the term samurai is one who serves and adheres to the power of love."- Ueshiba
I train with a sword, rather the sword trains me. It helps me meditate in movement, to perfect motion, breathing, thinking and being. To extend myself and develop sensitivity to something outside the reaches of my sense perception. Meditating in action is letting go of the role you have to play and the person you are required to become, and embracing who you really are no matter what the world thinks.
Most people have friends and relationships that would be in jeopardy if they changed, even in the slightest. If you choose to be spontaneous, rather than a set of reactions and repetitive emotions, people will not be able to identify with you. If you don't act thug, hardcore, vegan, buddhist, christian, etc. people become uncomfortable and begin to question you. You are not expected to be yourself, you are expected to remain attached to the limits of ego, who you are supposed to pretend to be. All the things the world has shown you and you picked up along the way. But what has come from inside your own experience? What has been applied to you that has not come from something you have read, seen or heard? What is behind the mask and how far can you go when you take up the sword and cut the attachments?
You cannot master the art of the sword, the sword helps you master yourself.
"When you feel fear. Use the sword, take it up here and cut the mind to ribbons, slash through all those regrets and fears, anything else that lives in past or the future"- Ueshiba
