Blog Archives

Life Lessons from a Redbird

4/30/2020

For the past month or so, I have been watching a cardinal attack its reflection in my neighbor's window and in the rear windshield of my truck. He is only protecting his territory, as he thinks the reflection is another cardinal moving in. And while I obviously understand this bird doesn't have the rational ability of a human, I still keep waiting for him to get it, to realize he is only fighting his reflection, that the other bird doesn't exist.

My wife and I were sitting on the deck watching his antics and wondering if he was going to spend the totality of his short lifespan bouncing off a window when it dawned on me that is what we all do. We spend our lives fighting illusion. Our lives are in reality not that different than this bird's. The things that concern us, that we will fight for till the end are nothing more than a reflection of inner mental gymnastics, our irrational fears, emotional card tricks, and senseless desires. And our problem, like that of my red-winged neighbor, is that we don't realize it. We think the illusions are real. And until we see them for what they are, if we ever do, we will continue to live in bondage.

Right now we are restricted by COVID-19, like it or not. Coronavirus doesn't care a wit if we like it, if we believe it is real, or if we think it is all a government plot to take our candy away. The reality is this is not a pleasant situation for most of us, for some it's the final situation on this trip around the sun. But it will in the end be a transformative situation. Fr. Richard Rohr calls it a liminal time, a transitional period typically found in rites of passage. For me, that is the only way to see this. But, I am trying to keep in mind that this time period itself and not what is to follow is the important aspect right now, as this is what is happening now. There is a blessing in all of this, not only in what is to follow but in what is happening right now. With that in mind, it is still a struggle to remember to not bounce off of windows fighting an illusion.

0 Comments

Thisness

4/23/2020

0 Comments

Sometimes we need to be reminded that the most important things are often the simplest (I do tend to forget this way too often).
"The Zen practice of just sitting, says Lewis Richmond, doesn’t help us to reach our destination. It allows us to stop having one. But how do you “go” nowhere?"

Just Sitting, Going Nowhere.

0 Comments

Post-Quarantine

4/22/2020

0 Comments

As I write these words I wonder if there will really be a post-quarantine, at least in the sense that we may not do it again. At this point, I don't think so. Quarantines, or public restrictions, may be a feature of our lives for some time to come. It is likely we may have to go on and then off, then back on again for at least a couple of years. I can understand the potential necessity of that. What I can't wrap my head around is how we are supposed to function with those constraints.

The greatest challenge with being in a lockdown situation is the ability to secure resources. Basically, everything we know about economics tells us that this current situation is not sustainable. So far, here in the US, the government has bled trillions of dollars through congressional bailouts and Federal Reserve market intervention. That is understandable and appreciated on one hand. But that money did not come from a stash somewhere. It is debt incurred on a system already deeply in debt. While even that can be understood and appreciated, the trick is in paying it back.

The basic foundation of economics is human action. If humans are not acting, they are not generating income. If they are not generating income, they can hardly pay taxes to cover the government bailouts. So until we can start doing things again, that hole will just get deeper and deeper. And that can be a major problem. A large portion of the original bailout funds for small businesses went instead to large corporations. Instead of remedying that, congress is authorizing more bailout money. At the same time, various different industries are requesting industry-specific bailouts: travel, medical, oil, etc... Apparently the federal government has unlimited capacity for giving money away. Understand, I'm not saying that people don't need help. I'm just asking the question: where does it come from?

At the same time that individuals and businesses are suffering losses, so are governments. I just saw a report that the DOT in our state is cutting back spending on road construction and repair by 75% over the next year. Income in the form of fuel taxes and speeding tickets are all but nonexistent. I also saw a report today where the US Senate is advising states to file for bankruptcy rather than asking for help from the federal government. At the very least, local and state governments will be forced to lay off large numbers of workers and may end up defaulting on pension plans. Our thinking has apparently been that governments will sustain us till we can get back to work. The problem with that is the various levels of government were never prepared for that and will be strained to the breaking point soon. All of this at a time when it is not safe to go back to work. When we do, said work will be different as well.

The post-quarantine economic world is going to be a very different place and will only be sustainable with many tough, unpleasant choices. In fact, we are going to need to reconsider practically everything we have done heretofore. Personal protection and social distancing will change everything, maybe much more than we can even imagine. As of this writing, while we are still in lockdown, the prediction is that airplanes and restaurants, for example, will have to basically remove seating to allow for proper social distancing. For operations that base their income on a certain number of seats, they will have to raise prices to stay viable. That is simple mathematics. And even that is for those who can afford to reopen or stay open at all. This new standard will obviously apply to many more operations than food and travel. It doesn't take much imagination to envision the resulting inflation across the board. That is inflation on top of increased taxes to pay back all that government has done to sustain shuttered businesses.

Going forward, the post-Corona world will require governments able to respond and apply public health measures and management much better than they have been doing--which is basically not at all. So government needs to be larger or at least much different. Perhaps we are near the end of the Pentagon Dynasty. By changing our focus from policing the world to keeping this nation safe, we could change the overall mission and maybe save lives. But that is still unlikely. Either way, government will also be much more intrusive. Very few want that, but many will allow it. To manage public health, some civil liberties will be lost. I don't like it, but I think it is a given at this point. In fact, I imagine a lot of changes in government will occur because of this virus, very few of them endearing to many of us. In the US, I imagine we are on the brink of a national healthcare system and may even be seriously considering universal basic incomes in the very near future. I don't think this is pie-in-the-sky. In fact, I can see many problems with these approaches. However, my point is not in how things should be but in how I think the likely will be.

I am not trying to make an argument for going back to work before science says it is safe. I am pondering the future world we will inhabit once we do go back--whenever that is. The sudden decrease in oil consumption has many oil and energy companies in trouble. At the same time, the actuality of COVID infections is causing massive disruptions in food distribution channels. These problems will snowball downhill to the least of us, possibly causing shortages and price inflation. A lot of the potential problems I have mentioned, and others that might actualize that I have not mentioned (or can't imagine), could have been mitigated with better management at the federal level. On the other hand, a lot of them could not have been controlled or accounted for, no matter. That also is not my point. There is plenty of blame to go around and plenty of recipients. I'm not interested in that. What I am really concerned about is the true nature of reality, the world we inhabit now and the one we will inhabit shortly. We each need to prepare mentally and strategically as best we can to prepare for it. And we need to stay aware and nimble to best navigate it once it arrives.

0 Comments

Personal Preparedness

4/14/2020

0 Comments

Well into a month of semi-isolation and we are all antsy about getting back to our normal lives. No one wants to stay locked-down, and most of us need to get back to work. However, at this point (mid-April, 2020) the potential danger has not passed enough to allow for that yet. As best as I can understand this, we are waiting for the infection rate to go down and for a vaccine to be developed. But even that scenario brings as many questions as it does answers.

Once the rate of infection goes down and we assume it is safer to go back to work, isn't there every possibility that it will start to creep back up again? I understand that the countries who have been able to manage this have extensive testing and contact-tracing protocols in place, which we do not have in the US. At least not yet. So, while I understand we will need to go back to work to survive, we will obviously do so at a tremendous risk to our health.

Once a vaccine is developed, how safe will it be? And will everyone be required to have it?
These are important questions. There are viable reasons to be wary of vaccinations, especially ones that have not stood the test of time. There will be those who will be opposed to being injected with something that for all intents and purposes is experimental. There is no way to know the long-term risks of something just developed. To that end, will those who oppose being vaccinated be forced to have it anyway? That is a viable concern, both in terms of health and individual liberty.

Of course, I'm doing a better job of asking questions here than I am of answering them. I don't have those answers. At least not yet. In any case, these are crucial concerns for all of us and we will do well to take these things seriously, sooner rather than later.

The other thing we need to consider is the possibility that this may be an on-going situation. It is possible that we might not develop a good vaccine or build a solid herd immunity, and/or that another strain may be released into the world population. Corona virus may be a fact of life as we know it for some time. Obviously not ideal, but possible.

Please understand, I am not an alarmist and I certainly don't predict any of these nasty scenarios. But at the same time, we would be foolish not to consider that. There was a time in the span of human development when science wasn't a part of existence. Plenty of people died of diseases and common illnesses that we can easily control now. So, if we were to be confronted with a virus that we can't control and that could take out a serious portion of the population, that would not be unprecedented in human history. In fact, given a broad enough timeline it would typical.

So what can we do if that is the case? The only thing we can do is to be as intentionally healthy as possible. While I recommend that anyway, under situations like these it is life-critical. This is a good time for anyone who hasn't been living an intentionally healthy lifestyle to start. It can literally be a matter of life and death.

0 Comments

Essential Form

4/1/2020

0 Comments

Those of us who have trained with Yang, Laoshi in Chen-Hunyuan 48 have probably noticed that he teaches and practices the 48 form differently than most Hunyuan practitioners. Basically, we don't have all the circles. This has been explained away as him simplifying it so as to make it easier to learn. I don't think that quite captures it.

A couple of years ago during Taiji Camp, Laoshi explained that his version of the 48 is more inline with the Chen Village Laojia, or Old Frame, and that this is the way GM Feng first taught the form in the early 80s when he formulated it and when Yang began training with him.

The idea behind the Essential 48, compared to the Refined 48, is an emphasis on Gongfu, or basic skill development, especially the Eight Energies. This makes a lot of sense if you look at the way Taiji has been taught historically. In Chen Taiji, the first form (48 for us) is the Gongfu form. Its purpose is to develop and nurture basic skills. This is fundamental to any art, especially Taijiquan. We get the opportunity to develop the extra circles, and the attending Neigong, as we learn the Er Lu, or Pao Chui form, the Sabre form, and all the various Hunyuan Gong exercises. And we should be better prepared to learn the advanced forms with a solid Gongfu foundation built through extensive development of the Essential 48 Form. To that end, the 48 form should be our primary, most-practiced, form.

A year or so ago I was listening to a podcast with a guy who is a strength coach for professional basketball players. He told a story of how when he was first getting started he had the opportunity to meet Kobe Bryant. Kobe invited him to one of his workouts. This guy arrived early to find Kobe already in the gym with his personal coach doing basic movement drills. Apparently these drills were real basic, the kind of thing one learns in middle school basketball. Afterwards, he asks Kobe why, being the best basketball player in the universe, he was still doing basic skill drills. Kobe's reply was that doing basic skill drills daily was the reason he was the best basketball player in the universe.

To illustrate what I am saying consider the following. Below is a video of Wang Feming doing the Refined 48. This is exceptional. However, notice the difference compared to how we practice.

Now consider the below video of Chen Zhenglei doing the Old Frame, or Laojia Form. Note, that while the arrangement is different (it is a different form), the energy is more inline with the way we (students of Yang, Laoshi) practice the Chen 48.

Please understand my point here is not to criticize or to advocate for practicing Taiji one way or the other. We all hopefully follow the path that is right for us. However, I do hope this clears some misunderstanding about how we practice and why. Essential doesn't mean easy or simple. It means essential. Consider that.

0 Comments

Life Lessons from a Redbird

Thisness

Post-Quarantine

Personal Preparedness

Essential Form

Author

Categories

Archives