Hexagram #55: “A moment of great influence is at hand. Prepare wisely and act accordingly.”
In the I Ching, the hexagram for Fullness (Abundance), Feng — represented by the trigrams of thunder over fire. Pow! It is a natural metaphor: a powerful storm that gathers energy and explodes in all its ferocity. Remember though, that energy only lasts for a time. It will mature, lose force and dissipate. Then, it’s gone. Carpe Diem!
The moments of our lives have a transitory quality, but inside of them there is power and opportunity at the center. Strength lies in our observation. It is a true power. Our own influence will gain and lose strength. Action comes from learning when to move in with speed and accuracy in that moment of clarity, while grace comes from exercising patience. We are forever balancing, gauging when to move forward or retreat. In minding the cycle we can find the energy at its strong point. Identifying opportunity enables us to catch the wave, the dawn, to strike while the iron’s hot. Also, to know when it’s not hot — refinement of the observation also teaches us to let go of that moment.
Today is the birthday of Carl Jung, the eminent Swiss psychologist and one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. His provocative writings on the unconscious psyche pioneered correlations between traditional Eastern wisdom and contemporary Western psychology. Some of this mystic/scientists thoughts on the self and individuation – the process to becoming an integrated human being – underlie TanDao’s holistic philosophy of the evolving martial artist.
In my youth, Bruce Lee spectacularly demonstrated the power of the human body. And Jung’s brilliance inspired me on a lifetime exploration on the power of the human mind by returning to the obscure spiritual roots of Chinese Shaolin kung fu. Jung’s scientific rationale to interpret esoteric thoughts on zen, meditation, daoist yoga and ideas like yin/yang and dao can provide us insight on the possibility of martial arts as a psycho-physical path of self transformation.
By the way, Jung’s four functions of the self – sensation, intellect, feeling and intuition – and theory of archetypes have influenced TanDao’s holistic model of warrior (sensation), scholar (intellect), monk (feeling) and master (intuition).
Anyway, if you’re interested in challenging ideas on the power of the unconscious mind check out Jung.
Keep practicing your Universal Form, for energy and for fitness.
Lawrence Tan
Learn more about Jungian psychology – read Dr. Jean Raffa’s blog
Here’s a great follow along — and you can do this seated version of the Lawrence Tan’s Universal Form right there in front of your computer. Relax, and breathe…
Some people live their whole lives in one zip code. They remain near and close to their family of origin, and their extended family. They find their earliest attachments to be hospitable, enduring, and nurturing. There are people who still have their best friends from kindergarten, from high school, from college and from twenty years ago.
These lives have, for the most part, offered a kind of narrative continuity, consistency, a sense of going-on-being, where the people who know them now, knew them then, and can watch and mirror what has changed, and what hasn’t.
These are lives that unfold progressively, epigenetically, perhaps each chapter moves forward with a tidy security – or perhaps with a suffocating, repetitious…
In her new book, Healing The Sacred Divide, Making Peace with Ourselves, Each Other, and the World, Dr Jean Raffa takes us deep into the place where two circles overlap, an ancient symbol of healing and wholeness. This is the space where we intersect, you and me, your ego and my ego, your masculine, my feminine, your country and my country, your religion and my religion. It is the mandorla, an almond shaped contact point where the overlap has the potential to expand. The the greater it grows, the smaller the divide. Closing the gap is the opening of doors.
There exist only three respectable beings: the priest, the warrior, the poet. To know, to kill, and to create. ~Charles Baudelaire
Baudelaire’s quote captures the spirit of our TanDao philosophy: balance through the integration of the warrior, the scholar and the monk. In Taoism, the bagua follows the flow of nature and the phases of life. We use this concept to express our TanDao triad ~ the Warrior: fire, physical energy (destroyer); the Scholar: water, metal – mental energy (preserver); and the Monk: earth’s mountain and wood, spiritual energy (creator).
Trinitarianism, or belief in the Trinity, is found in Asian and Southeast Asian religion and folklore, Catholicism and in other traditions.
The Sanskrit word Trimurti refers to three forms. In the Hindu tradition, believed to date back to the Rig Vedas, it is the Great Trinity or Triad representing three aspects of a supreme being: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Each represents a stage of creation: Shiva, the destroyer, physical – fire, consuming, transforming; Vishnu, the preserver, mental – water, sustaining life; and Brahma: the creator, spiritual – earth, where life emerges.
There is also the Christian doctrine of the Trinity – the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the Triune, the essence of being. Body, mind, spirit.
The work of balancing the different aspects of ourselves moves us towards wholeness.
Martial Artists Fighting Hunger will be serving up some serious athletic competion between local martial artists August 18, 2012 at the RDV Center, 8701 Maitland Summit Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32810. There is a link for directions on the Facebook Event page or you can mapquest the directions yourself.
Martial artists of all disciplines compete in challenges such as this one on Youtube. Local martial arts business, Combaton is among the sponsors. More information will be coming out soon.
A video of the 2009 swordfighting event is posted below in the comments section.
The Universal Form is our signature TanDao exercise. This version uses dynamic tension to strengthen your muscles. Grrrr…tiger claw style. Roar a little!
TanDao Wellness 