People are not at ease. Even on vacation. Even on the weekend.
Some try to resolve this by craving and clamor. Some are resolved to live with decency, dignity and honor. How to do that?
Ambitious people try racing to the top. It is not a happy life. They feel: I am relentless and cunning. I am a winner.
A life of relentless cunning does not lead to a peace. They are shocked to discover they scrambled up the wrong mountain.
Instead of a breathtaking view, they see nothing. The night and fog part long enough for them to see they are standing on a volcano. Instead of the consummation of their desire, they are consumed in fire.
It is possible to follow a different path to high accomplishment. A few classes ago, I compared a good dojo to a well.
It may be that some of you here tonight are here because this is a less boring workout than going to a gym. If that’s you, then enjoy your karate and that is all good. But for me and for most of us, there is more to what we are doing here.
The comparison to a well is apt, no matter how long you have been training or the intensity of your commitment.
Our dojo is like a well because it provides something we all need. Like a well, if you want a little, you can take a little. If you want a lot, take a lot. It won’t run out. The water is there, fresh and clear.
Another reason why our dojo is like a well is because it offers something hard to find. Something urgently needed. Like an oasis in a barren land.
You may never face a violent assault. If you do, in that extreme, you will be more prepared to defend yourself because of the training you are getting here. But that contingency is not needed to validate your effort, or to make your training useful.
We are already under assault. Our culture is toxic. Our physical environment is hazardous. We are under attack by ideas and images. The institutions we depend on are ceasing to function.
Our experience, via media, is decontextualized; alternatively brutal, trivial and seductive; always hurried and disturbing. This confuses us, produces anxiety, making it difficult to orient, derive meaning, or find a path of purpose.
If we accept shallow, primitive cultural norms, we are reduced to observer status; stressed, dissatisfied, lonely, in pain. If we imitate the examples we see, we become depraved, disrespectful; passive or violent.
If we want a healthy life, we will need to build it. To take the initiative and act with skill: just as we do if we are faced with a violent threat, or moving through a wild place.
How do we draw on the dojo to do that? We gather together with like-minded people. We focus. We train with skill. We get stronger, refine our body and mind, step by step, day by day. We do right despite difficulty.
By getting the strength we need to reject intoxication, domination, blind impulse, self-indulgence, and the juvenile abdication of personal responsibility. By identifying obstacles and overcoming them.
We create a schedule with a healthy cycle of work and rest, solitude and fellowship, reflection and action.
This kind of dojo practice, like a good well, nourishes everyone who draws from it. The abundance is not reduced by sharing it.
This is an alternative to the fire of broken institutions, degraded values and predatory spirit which deplete our vitality, obscure our vision, and damage our lives.
We are not immune to their influence. But with proper training we can defeat them.
That is how dojo is like a well. And how we draw from it.
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Post copyright © 2024 Jeffrey Brooks
“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling. Jeff Brooks moves effortlessly from martial arts to Buddhism to consciousness studies, self-transformation, and related fields in this wide-ranging and Illuminating study that has much to offer both novice explorers and veteran practitioners. A splendid achievement.”
— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series
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