Habits or No Mind?

Observation 1:

There is a school of thought that, in order to live a fulfilled life, we humans just need to replace our bad habits with good habits and “BLAMMO” we are set for success. A pretty good introduction to this is The Book of Habit. His theory is our conscious mind does not determine how we live, rather it is our habits. And since we are driven by habits, we should find a way to harness them to our advantage. He shows how our behavior is usually determined by a simple stimulus-reaction- reward process and he proposes recognizing this and finding ways of accepting the stimulus but change the reaction and end up being rewarded with a more healthy or profitable reward. So a new beneficial habit replaces the tragic habit.

I see these poor lifestyle habits in myself, I can say I want to change something but I just can't seem to do it. Of course if someone has “good” habits they attribute their success to pure will power, but I don't buy it. At least not completely.

Observation 2:

Somewhere, some time, I read about an Aikido master who said something to the effect...”For the advanced Martial Artist getting rid of bad habits is easy, the difficult part is to eliminate GOOD habits”. Which if you know something about Aikido it makes sense. The idea is to use the most appropriate technique for the given situation. So even if you have a gift for koshi nage or iriminage and can usually make them work (especially at the dojo where uke is learning how to go with the flow ), those cool throws may not have actually been the most appropriate.

Observation 3:

I've been reading Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki...

A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits is not open to things as they are.

To be quite natural to ourselves, and also to follow what others say or do in the most appropriate way, is quite difficult....Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense. Pg 88

Non-Conclusion

Sooooooooooooooo....One thing is, what if some theoretical person is doing quite well with their good habits and is very successful . Does it matter if they are actually driven by really empowering results of societal behavioral modification? Or if they are very committed, satisfied self righteous jerks? Or even committed, self righteous non jerks. Point being, they are driven by habits and not by a free, unfettered mind.

If it works for them they would look at me and say I was the one living  a lie.

I think part of the answer, such as it is, is that most people simply never doubt themselves, the world, or anything. They have grown up accepting their worldview and that is pretty much it. But for some reason I just can't shake this gnawing felling that “the world” is simply not what we are told it is. And I seem to catch glimpses of “realness” in the oddest of places. In some random drawing, a photograph, a well executed irimi-nage, a shadow on the porch. Or a quiet half hour on a cushion.

But, maybe I am wrong on all counts and I am chasing my own shadow and foolishly asking it questions.

podría might be hard to understand

podría

First-person singular (yo) conditional form of poder.
Formal second-person singular (usted) conditional form of poder.
Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) conditional form of poder.

yo podría
el podría

More lost words, now found

¿cuánto tomará?

How long (will it take)

Español Otra Vez

I am trying out another Spanish language path.This time the free version of the online service Memrise.

 I started at the very beginning so I am moving along the real beginner stuff pretty quickly. I like the format, but I am not sure how effective it is but as I get further along maybe I will be pleased. I hope so.

Here are some simple words I didn't know or had forgotten.

duele hurts
enojado angry
gracioso funny

Just Sitting

So I'm on life version 3.0, 4.2, 54.2 or maybe 0.0. Anyway the first week of trying to change habits and find a way of a healthier life...but a way that I can do. To that end on Monday and Tuesday I rode to the lake and was pretty pooped, pretty quickly. Today it was cool and I rode around the lake which is about 10 miles.

Along those lines, tonight I returned to the Maria Kannon Zen Center for an hour and a half of Just Sitting. 90 minutes of no purpose, no nothing...just sitting and breathing.

So if I can get my body in a good place and my mind in a good “no place”....maybe I will be well enough to try Aikido again.

But now I will try to “Just Sleep”

Cognitive Dissonance

Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter (1956) “When Prophecy Fails”

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2011/october-11/the-case-of-the-invisible-experimenters.html

Book Review to Keep This Blog Alive

The Samurai by Shūsaku Endō
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aside from talking about cultural differences regarding how individuals relate to their community, there are many similar feelings expressed in this novel as in Deep River, but I like how following an (apparently) real historical story provided some boundaries for the theology.

I do think the crux of the book springs a theological consideration. Something like it is a big, big world and you cannot count on nations, tribes, churches or even the man next to you to not betray you. BUT for Endo there is always the emaciated, suffering Christ who hears your prayers, even if he cannot, or will not change your fate.

I found a snippet on the Internet where in an Interview Endo sympathizes with the Apostle Paul over the other Apostles.

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

And I that is a key point for the Samurai, he cannot grasp why people revere this loser. So after hearing the highlights of Jesus' life we read...

The samurai could not understand how a man like Velasco could believe a story so palpaly absurd. Pg 173

But by the end of the book he and his and his fellow envoy totally lost “Faith” in the local Lord their patron, the council of elders for which they previously would have given their life.

'The world was very wide. But I can no longer believe in people' that is what Nishi Kyusuke had said...pg 238

When questioning the renegade Japanese monk about his belief in Jesus...

“I can believe in Him now...because He was ugly and emaciated....He could not close His eyes to the grief and agony of mankind. That is what made him emaciated and ugly. Had he lived an exalted powerful life beyond our grasp, I would not feel like this about Him.” pg 220

Even if the Samurai never really accepted Christianity, by the end of his life, once everything had been stripped away from him and those in authority he once trusted betrayed him...he at least understood.

And there is also a less clearly stated notions of what living is really all about anyway. Except at the very end.

“Finally from within the white smoke which enveloped Velasco's stake, a single cry rang out.
'I...have lived...!'” pg 267

Of course Endo's view of Christianity is at odds which many churches of today, and actually even the Catholic Church of his own time. 

View all my reviews