Essays From The Master

The mind must be structured enough to know what feeds the individual and what does not while being accepting of the fact that what feeds or not one is not the same for all. The mind must not be so attached to what feeds the individual that if its current is not always present or is in some way delayed one is tripped up. The mind’s aim must be to survive, prevail and be open to what can be made of the situation toward one’s benefit no matter the circumstance; the aim again is to survive, prevail and advance. One of the first blocks to survival is past expectation and how it sets up systems of reaction in an individual and limits one’s scope of possibility. If one’s actions have negative results in the past then one must adjust what one does rather than investing in the reality that one is defeated. If one adjusts and survives one has prevailed and to prevail is to advance. In combat if one hits or is hit one feels pain, pain is the result of violence in any case. If one is going to hurt via violence the best thing is to make that pain count toward the end of the violence toward one’s self. One prepares based on the past in case of what one fears happening one does not prepare for when what one fears happening. The past is like ice and fear of the cold is closely tied to the fear of death, one must admit that what one fears can happen not that it is certain thus breaking up the cycle of expectation.
Breaking the cycle of expectation requires one to do what has failed in the past taking the past and adjusting what one does to change the outcome. The energy that went toward maintaining the ice of the past is now open to use in the present taking the form of memories that can be used as the material from which the present can be altered or the future built upon. With expectation being fixed one’s momentum in space-time leads one toward a single or limited number of possible futures. If the ice of the past is broken up one is able to better direct one’s momentum and in that way erode the mountain of the future down. By breaking up the fixation of the past and thus unfixing the future what becomes fluid is the present which through perspective and insight can alter how the past is perceived and this creates what is open in the present which keeps the future fluid. As an example of this idea, if you fear heights stand on a block and find your balance and move higher over time, find the conditions under which heights are not the issue because it’s not the height that is the issue it’s the possible damage in a fall that is the issue. Once one can stand heights one must learn how to negate the effects of a fall and practice dealing with heights and falling. The aim here is to turn those weaknesses into strengths and make options for one’s self where in the past only traps existed.
The past does not limit the present rather it is how the past is understood and how that understanding is applied that limits or opens the present which in turn builds up or wears down the mountain of the future. One must make the demons of the past serve one by using them to improve them in the present creating new avenues in the future. It is perspective or perception of the past that controls the effect of the past on the present the conditioned responses of which effect the future. The individual must be as a black wind and put on enough form to break up the past while being forceful enough to erode the mountain of the future. As a black wind the only shape that binds an individual is the shape that the individual invests in.