Life update

[ironphoenix]

So, what have I been up to?

Work is interesting lately: we have a stability problem in a design, and it's a tough nut to crack: after three solid weeks of five people working on it, we're beginning to see glimpses of the underlying cause, but we haven't solved it yet. Working on this stacks with my project management work, so I'm a busy raven these days. soul_diaspora is still working there on contract, so it's good to see her during the days occasionally. Having today off, I figured it would be a good time for an update!

The social life has been pretty good, between various games (including last night's poker game with assorted cow-orkers) and various get-togethers and chats with good and close friends. (More on that in a later post, perhaps.)

Aikido is a long, slow business. A more senior student asked me recently how my aikido is coming along and I answered, "I don't know; I come, I practice, I come, I practice."¹ I'm really not the person to judge how good my own technique is. Subjectively, I feel much as I have for quite some time: I can do the movements, but there is so much to work on in the subtleties that I can almost never get it all right at once. There's always something that my mind, which is watching as I practice, points out as being out of alignment, or disconnected, or unbalanced, or lacking focus, or, or, or...

This weekend is pretty open right now; I'll likely be up for some social things; I might even host games on Monday if there's interest.

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1: The more senior student laughed and said that she should do that more, so I guess I'm doing at least that much right.

Comments

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

I agree, but I think you misunderstood my post. The mind is watching, not driving; except when deliberately slowing a movement down for analysis, the mind shouldn't be leading the movement. It should, however, be observing and directing the action from above. The general is not doing his duty if he takes a rifle and jumps into the trench; neither is he doing it if he sits in his tent and drinks whisky during the battle!

My perspective is: Think, but don't let thinking stop you. Let thinking happen, and let movement happen. No mind and universal mind are the same mind.

[squireofmichael.livejournal.com]

I apologize - I wrote my comment on very little sleep and a mind clouded by being sick. You're right that I misunderstood your post. I hope you can forgive my ham-fistedness.


Not sure I agree - or maybe I'm just misunderstanding again - with the idea that no mind and universal mind are the same. Perhaps you could expound?

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

No problem!

The mind that's open to everything focuses on nothing; it isn't here or there, but is like the Tao (perhaps it even becomes the Tao!). Enzan-no-mitsuke, "looking at the distant mountains," is a manifestation of this, in my experience. Perhaps the term fudoshin, "unfettered mind," expresses this best.