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| Warrior Work Week 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Principle: Developing the 5 Rings Musashi applies his principles to warriorship and the use of the sword but they have many other expansive points of view which can be applied to modern warriorhood and the evolution of the self. The challenge for this week is to briefly examine each of the 5 rings and start to strengthen each link and be mindful that any chain is only as strong as it's weakest link so build the weakest first and then move to the ones that stable or strong. Ground - How is your foundation? Foundations include mental, emotional and physical centeredness. Many people get their foundations from traditions, religions, family, culture etc. but others abandon their roots or traditions for other philosophies and worlds. Cultivating your abilities and core beliefs can shield you in times of sudden misfortune or disillusionment. Water - How is your ability to flow and shift? As people we have a tendency to be hard or soft. Water can absorb a blow by yielding or it can penetrate and wear away even the hardest rock. It was the steady persistence of water that carved out the grand canyon. Cultivating your ability to shift and adapt to the changing circumstances of your life is a great art. Fire - How is your passion and zest for life? Fire warms and nurtures but in excess it burns and destroys. Learning to cultivate our inner fire and using it productively versus destructively is a true warrior's task. Developing passion without attachment is a warrior's paradox. The tao te ching or way of life by lao tzu calls the ability to cultivate without possessing or domineering "mysterious power". Moving with enthusiasm is literally moving "in theos", within the fire of God. Wind - How is your ability to be everywhere like the wind, cultivating an expansive mindfulness of the energetics around you? The wind is likened to intelligence gathering and being aware of other worlds that interact and intersect with yours? Cultivating our energy to look beyond and outside our self and listening to the voices in the wind while looking at what we hear and see with our intuitive eyes is this challenge. Void - Musashi uses the ideogram or kanji for "empty" or "infinity" to describe the void. It is the expansiveness of the sky, always changing and yet never changing. Cultivating the inner self and it's expansiveness, becoming more empty so we can purify our intent and follow our heart is this challenge. Judgements lock up our muscles and our emotions to the point of impotency. Emptying ourselves daily is an important task explains the Chinese philosopher Wen Tzu. We can probably call it "forgiving" daily since forgiving frees up our energy and makes us responsible for what we choose and create. Blaming others makes us victims. In the "Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, Toohey asks Roark what he thinks of him after he has destroyed his career. Roark replies that he doesn't think of him. He is in contact with the void and moves from his heart regardless of what anyone else does or does not do. Regardless of the ups and downs, he follows his intent wherever it leads, even when he has no destination in sight. How is your link to the vastness within you? By Peter Hill, Copyright 2004 www.getittogether.net Week 13>> |