Clarity | ||
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Presence
If you really want to see the world around you, you need to be
present.
Being caught up in thoughts, opinions, beliefs and ideas is not so good.
The mind needs to stop judging, assessing, evaluating, comparing and
measuring. Simply be here and now.
Truth
The truth is not some concept, some message or secret. It is everyday
reality, all around you. What is so special about this? Why do people
seek the truth? Reality is not so easy to see.
We are conditioned to want things we do not need, to crave, to be ambitious,
selfish, careless and blind. Our lives are spent chasing ephemeral things
that lack any real substance or meaning.
Tao, Zen and our approach to tai chi is all about paring away the
accumulated nonsense that prevents clear sight. Instead of seeing what we
want to see, we learn to see what is really there.
This may not sound like anything significant but clarity changes your entire
existence.
Perception
We see the world according to how we are, not according to how it is.
Perception colours everything. There is no such thing as 'objectivity'.
Objectivity is just a concept, akin to 'infinity' or 'eternity'.
These are words without meaning. Everyone is subjective. Your mind
interprets what it sees relative to your education, conditioning and
perspective.
Knowledge
Writing something down does not make it so. Language and books attempt to
solidify reality, to capture the complexity of existence in words. Can
this be done?
Truth is too vast and complex to be verbalised. It is everything that is
happening simultaneously, everywhere, all at once. Knowledge is profoundly
flawed. By its very nature it is partial and incomplete.
Once we see that information is simply a pointer indicating the way/the
direction, we can treat it appropriately. Rather than live in awe of
knowledge we must see it as it is: limited.
Words detailing the knowledge and skills of long-dead tai chi people do not
capture any facet of how that person performed the art. Narrative is dead.
Tai chi is alive.
It is made manifest by the living, breathing, changing person.
Wisdom
Does the possession of knowledge imply
wisdom? No. The human race has stored vast sums of knowledge over
millennia yet there are still wars, there is still hunger, there is still
selfishness and greed.
Empirical
Rather than operate from the basis of the known it is perhaps more prudent
to see things without expectations. Instead of seeking to prove a point or
demonstrate a perspective, why not simply observe?
See what is actually happening.
Insights
Insights arise from the clarity of our seeing. Instead of looking and
seeking - which are both products of the self/the mind - we are passive, we
see.
Seeing the essence/character/nature/quality of
something is very important. This involves paring away everything that
impedes our seeing. We must invest in loss and shed the accumulations of a
lifetime.
Insights are not the product of conscious thought, they arise unbidden from
the depths of our minds. Unexpected associations and connections emerge, new
possibilities, nuances, variations and options.
Shen
When we are utterly invested in the here and now, the self fades and we
become immersed in just being. The division between this and that, self and
other fades. We become one with the moment.
Simplicity
At the heart of all things is a simple quality.
Clarity arises when we are capable of seeing this simplicity. When we notice
small things. The details.
Instead of pursuing greater and wider experiences, we are content to remain
where we are and notice what is in front of us.
Lao Tzu said that you can know the whole world without leaving your room.
He was talking about awareness. About clarity. About being.
The art of teaching is
clarity and the art of learning is to listen.
(Vanda Scaravelli)
Page created
18 April 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
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