“If a man should conquer in battle a thousand and a thousand more, and another man should conquer himself, his would be the greater victory; because the greatest of victories is the victory over oneself, and neither the gods in heaven above nor the demons down below can turn into defeat the victory of such a man”
The lessons of nature
The following lessons of nature clarified my approach to movement and trading...and in life.
The principle of nonresistance
There are four ways to deal with the forces of life.
1. Surrender to them fatalistically. Rocks, since they are inanimate, have little choice but to surrender passively to natural laws.
2. Ignore them and in ignorance have accidents. Creatures who lack man’s perspective are relatively helpless in their ignorance, and are guided only by simple instinct.
3. Resist them, and create turmoil. Socialized man tends in his creation to resist or struggle with the natural flow of life. Resistance waste energy and results in various systems of disease.
4. Use them, and blend with nature. Like the birds that ride the wind, the fish which swims with the current, or the bamboo which bends to absorb the weight of fallen snow, we can make use of natural forces. This is the real meaning of nonresistance, it’s been said in many ways: “Don’t push the river.” “Let it be.” “Go with the flow.”
Nonresistance is more than dumb passivity. Any rock is capable of that. It requires a great sensitivity and intelligence to flow with the natural laws.
Conquering is the concept of a combative mind, projecting its own turmoil into the world. There is no resistance in nature; only in the mind of man.
The natural artist has dissolved any thoughts of resistance, He sees an opponent as a teacher who will show him his weakness and help him to improve and he intends to do the same with his opponent.
An opponent’s movement can be used to your advantage through nonresistance. This principle is well known in our system of Karate.
If pushed, pull. If pulled, push- gentleness, in the face of hardness. Absorbing, neutralizing, and redirecting force. Goju Ryu teaches blending with another’s energy rather than resisting.
Problems of daily life can be handled in the same way.
For every action there is an equal an opposite reaction.
Most of us are familiar with this law and its physical implications, but not with its psychophysical import: Most of the actions of socialized man are attempts either to push or slow down the river of life rather than flow with things as they are. Such actions set up turbulence, felt in the human body as a physical, mental, an emotional tension. Tension is subtle pain, and like any pain is a signal that something is wrong.
When you are out of the natural patterns, you will feel tension. By listening to this message, you can take responsibility for your own activity, which is setting up turbulence, rather than blame life or circumstances.
This is the philosophy I will live by for the rest of my life, I know there is a higher force guiding me and I surrender to that force and its will.