Abiding Ignorance

If your mind is not detained by the sword you see coming to strike you and you meet the rhythm of the advancing sword; if you do not think of striking your opponent and no thoughts or judgments remain; if the instant you see the swinging sword you move straight in and wrench the sword away from him; the sword that was going to cut you down will become your own, and, contrarily, will be the sword that cuts down your opponent.

The Unfettered Mind

What is your reaction when you see a problem coming towards you? Do you freeze like a deer in headlights? Hoping the inevitable wouldn’t be so. Or just trying to deny reality? Staring blindly at a bad situation pretending it to be a good one. If a linebacker sits back and waits to make the tackle, they will be run over by a running back. Both of these result in the death blow hitting you head-on.

Or are you the type to run and hide? Letting the problem lurk around…living and breathing in open space while you play in the shadows. So when you pop your head up, or worse, crouch down covering your eyes in a defenseless position…the death blow finds you.

Either way, the result is the same. Death Blow 1, You 0.

The first section of The Unfettered Mind is called The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom. The first section of the first chapter is called The Affliction of Abiding Ignorance. This passage above straddles the first two pages.

The lesson here is to never let your mind rest. Have it be always constantly moving. Always constantly thinking. Getting in front of things before they become problems.

The first thing we all need to do is open our eyes. There are problems and potential problems living all around us, all the time. This isn’t morbid or pessimistic…this is life. This is realistic. This is smart.

You are one drink & drive arrest away from being locked up in jail for a long time, or worse, battling the guilt over hurting or killing an innocent person for a lifetime. When are you going to stop drinking and driving…when you get arrested for it? When you hurt someone?

Take off the rose colored glasses and really and truly see what’s there. Envision potential problems. Know them. The very old expression, ‘Keep a friend close and keep an enemy closer,’ can be easily changed to, ‘Keep the positive close, and the negative closer.’

If you can see the potential problems coming. Then you can go out and meet them, before they strike you. You can turn a potential deadly blow into a potential weapon. Think about the power of that statement. If you open your eyes and see an economic recession coming, you can think of ways to profit in tough economic times and have that ready for when those tough times hit. The blow that was going to cripple your business is now going to help you.

What about inevitable bankruptcy? What if you have a small house and find out you’re having triplets? What about the guy that lingers around your girlfriend and you know he’s trying to hook up with her? How are you looking at those situations…deer in headlights? Hiding under the bed? If you’re honest with yourself, you can see problems coming down the road…what can you do to meet those things head on and cut them off, or maybe even use them to your advantage?

If you freeze up, you have no chance. If you hide, no shot either. If you actively cut them off, you might have the opportunity to personally profit off of them…and obviously not just monetarily.