You are getting stronger every day. You are training hard.
You better figure out how to use all the power you are getting.
You are determined. You are able. You influence people. You will achieve your goals.
Be sure you pick good ones.
It seems some powerful people haven’t learned what they needed to know.
What are they doing with all their power, intelligence and ambition?
Hurting people and hoping to triumph. Looking for a way to live forever.
This is not new. It has been tried many times. It has gone down in flames every time.
Whether the scope of your influence is great or small, we can all make the same mistakes. We can all to avoid them.
We can learn what we need to know.
We can use our power where it will help instead of destroy, lift people instead of crushing them, lead a life worth living, instead of devoting ourselves to vanity, cruelty, fantasy and death.
What is it that we need to know? What is it that the tyrants, titans and professionals do not?
The difference between right and wrong.
The difference between service and office.
That poison flows from greed and hatred. That the pursuit of pleasure and power lead to pain.
We need to know the power of generosity, courage and presence of mind, which transform an ordinary life into a holy one, and conventional relationships into exalted ones.
These are not just good ideas. These are traits we build through training with the same vigilance and energy we use to train our bodies.
Neurotic states of mind are our enemy. They are predators, poisons, drought, flood, pestilence, famine.
So, we prepare: We train. To discourage their approach. And defeat them if they do.
We train: When we notice a harmful state of mind, we recognize it for what it is, and get rid of it.
We notice benevolent states of mind, too. We recognize them and cultivate them.
The process starts small. It takes energy and attention.
The effort will not win prizes or even be noticed. But it will get results. Your training will gather momentum. Your heart will change. Your life will change. And the world will change with you.
Tyrants and titans do not know this.
Pirates and thieves believe they are tough.
Cruelty is not toughness.
They believe they are brilliant.
They are clever, but they don’t know what they are doing.
They believe they are better than people they have never met and whose hearts they cannot understand.
They think they are winners. And that losers are unworthy of dignity or of life.
They measure the world by the perverse view that excess is success.
We are responsible. We cannot allow ourselves to be drawn into their catastrophe. If we judge ourselves by their values, we are deceived.
We have the responsibility to know what to do, and to do it; without haste or hesitation; without limit until the work is done.
Your power increases every time you train. Use it well.
Post Copyright © 2024 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu Karate, Saluda, NC
Photo by Michael Lushington
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read True Karate Dō by 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