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Jernej and me are always banging on about Glenn Morris, here’s a poem he wrote that spoke to my condition as I was getting to grips with the gut-twist. If yours is a love thing too it might be a nice read for ya. A confucian, he wasn’t. God bless j
LESSONS OF THE HEART
by Glenn J.MorrisLove is learned, it cannot be taught
You can be loving, and lovely is in the eye as seen by the
lover
You can be a lover to those who love you
Without loving them, but it is hard
It requires discipline; it’s a job; it gets old
It deadens the soul and the soul is the heart
And the heart hardens and forgetsYou can love those who don’t love you
But the service is empty
The devotion is wasted
And if the loved one is calluous or cruel
It wounds the soul and the soul is the heart
And the heart hardens and forgetsYou can love with a small “l” as small “l” love is better than
no love
But it requires being false to your self
Which isn’t all bad
You learn to live with other people
But the soul doesn’t grow
And he soul is the heart
And the heart withers and forgetsYou can live with a handicapped heart mistaking dependence
for devotion, approval for love
You can try to force your self to forget what is to be
complete
Put your passion into your work
Or material status/wealth/muscles/whatever
So the soul doesn’t forget passion
And the soul is the heart
And the heart hungers and almost forgetsYou can find with electric recognition the love of your soul
Soul mate! (what a shock to find the concept is real)
Who feels you at a distance
Whose touch electrifies your blood
Whose eyes hold you locked
Whose voice delights your ears
Whose laughter awakens your heart
Awakens the heart
And the soul is the heart
And the heart softens
And will notWill not forget
“You can try to force your self to forget what is to be
complete
Put your passion into your work
Or material status/wealth/muscles/whatever
So the soul doesn’t forget passion
And the soul is the heart
And the heart hungers and almost forgets”Exactly . . .
S
… I like the fact that it was written by a guy whose nickname was ‘doctor death’, and who would spend ages figuring out just where to hit a person so that they would slowly die over a 6-month period afterwards. That always made me think. haha! j
Someone who spends their time investigating such things
is someone I would consider to be seriously mentally
disturbed with an ice-cold heart and no understanding of
empathy.Oh, what a strange thing life is . . .
Steve
… dude Glenn passed on but Hatsumi the ninja master is still alive and I can tell you he is THE SHIT. And he could kill you instantly without even touching you. Trust me on that it is the absolute god’s truth. He’s as deadly as they come… but then we all are! And his healings are legendary. The martial artist understands the paradox at the heart of living. Not for him platitudes about love. It’s either real love or just something to mouth off about. That’s why this poem.
You never met a saner man! I’m telling you, Jernej will back me up. Did you ever meet him Jernej? I did and interviewed him too. Wonderful guy. Very wry. Had lots of spirits with him that would come and check you out.
I told this story before on the forum. Sorry to those who’ve heard it. Hatsumi was demonstrating at a ninja convention and picked on this one guy to be his demo-ee. For an hour this guy was repeatedly thrown to the floor, chocked, locked, slammed against walls. Then later that evening there’s dinner in a restaurant and in walks the demo-ee – glowing. Radiant. Sheer bliss personified. Hatsumi had healed him of every bruise even as he dealt it out and alot more besides – whilst using him to show everyone else how to kill a guy. There’s paradox here – as Glenn would say, Study On This! j
Yeah, there still something a little weird about it though.
Either you intend to actually use the brutal skills that are
learned–in which case, I would stick by my original statement,
or you don’t intend to use them.However, if you don’t intend to use said skills, it begs
the question as to why you would put your energy into learning
them in the first place. The only thing I can figure,
is that if a person truly never wants to hurt anyone,
then the person in question has romanticized the idea
of being superhumanly powerful, and it feeds their ego
to know that they are better than everyone else (overtly:
look at this cool thing I can do; secretly: I could kill
him at any time)Of course, I suppose we all do this in our lives to some
extent by virtue of other avenues; it’s only a matter of
which way in which we do it . . .S
Oboy man do you have this wrong… your cherished notions of virtue have led you to judge Hatsumi, not really a good idea! If you don’t want to judge him then you can think deeper about it. Google ‘Hatsumi interview’ and read some Glenn eg. ‘Path Notes’. The ‘something weird’ you are talking about is the paradox that makes life possible the dot in the fish. j
… for Glenn you have to get the book. Just for you to ponder! j
JS: With many martial artists, and military people as well, we often hear them give their definition of “Warriorship.” Can you explain what your definition of Warriorship would be?
MH: It means somebody who is a person of justice, who has a correct, sincere heart. And spirit a spirit of self-sacrifice as well. To live with everybody; to help everybody. It’s the strength to be able to do this, that’s what’s important.
Thats why I say What is a dojo? Its not somewhere where you should aim to become strong. Its a place for penance, a place to reflect what youve done. And to live like a true huThats why I say What is a dojo? Its not somewhere where you should aim to become strong. Its a place for penance, a place to reflect what youve done. And to live like a true human being. So people shouldnt misunderstand what a dojo is about. ng. So people shouldnt misunderstand what a dojo is about.
BB: What would you like the people who come to the Tai Kai to walk away with when its over?
MH: I would like people to leave behind all the bad sides of themselves, so that their hearts can become lighter and they can leave behind of all the trash from their hearts.
I was traveling 800km on weekends to be able to train with my teacher, TAKAMATSU sensei, and I did that for 15 years. The students you are telling me about are not really motivated. Those people are not really looking to practice a martial art, but rather some sort of physical activity. There’s something I want to say to those people: if you want to practice a sport to unwind, play some football or squash. If you are looking to work up a sweat, do some jogging or go to the sauna. If you’d rather work your muscles, go to the gym and do some weights, but please don’t practice BUDO in the hope to obtain these results, because BUDO is not a sport and it has nobler goals.
One of my favorite martail arts teachers is Bud Malmstrom one of Hatsumis friends and students. In my own opion martial arts can be a wonderful forge to refine a hard refined aspect of our selves the po. If this is weak it is truly hard to heal, to push forward. You feel the well refinded po soul in people like Peter Ragnar, Hatsumi, Bud Malmstrom,etc(they know how to defend there neck). Usualy after that a love afair with the yin aspect. Its no accident Bruce lee talked so much about being like water. In fact in history over coming your demons involved water, interesting topic. The flow the dance its all talked about by guys that have done martial arts for a while and have brought the female aspect to there practice. Allot of the greats also understand that its a forge. Since it comes from china mainly, it does multiple things at once, at the same time practical every day self defence it also helps make you more virtuous. But if you take the developing virtue part out it is almost useless in this day in age of guns(allot of those guys “defeat” negitivity before it manifests phisicaly any way). Today I see allot of it as that gate way drug affect, maybe not the best thing in the world but it got you started. Like that old Healing love book about male sexual energy, most today in our community see allot of problems with that book but still even today starts people on a path that can lead to greater virtues when all they might have wanted was more power or something else egotistical. I still play with the lung heart, lung kidney relationship that I started to play with in martial arts.
“The Flow vs. Definite Purpose”
by Peter Ragnar
Purpose is evolution, and flow is its effortless accommodation. This may be your own internal drive that compels you toward a certain accomplishment such as in music, art, drama, or literature–or it may launch you into some enterprise. The inner force you experience is like some mystical, cosmic finger etching in stone your major purpose in life.
How do you know what you should be doing with your life? The first sparks of inner knowing flare up to attract your notice. You feel an unexplainable pleasure and excitement with those thoughts. As your enthusiasm increases, your passion grows. Passion is purpose, and not resisting your passion is the flow. It is purpose which defines flow just as the walls of the canyon define the river.
it is carving your purpose to make a concrete statement of your presence. Your presence is identified by your purpose. Once your purpose, your major reason for
existing, is established–your spirit must be released from the dam to flow free and create.We often hear of some people identified as “free spirits,” moving about capriciously, whimsically, without any rhyme or reason. These types of free flowing souls are much like a floodwater that fills the lower recesses of whatever it approaches. This is quite the opposite of the persistent, purposeful roar of a mighty and free flowing river whose power with intelligence and creativity might be
harnessed for the benefit of millions.One leaves only mud and mess in its wake, the other an awe inspiring spectacle that electrifies our spirit. The difference
between destruction and creation is our defining purpose for being. Once your purpose is clearly established, your spirit must be released to give life to it. It must have free flow for you to evolve in the direction of growth and life.Why would one remain undefined as a wandering generality, opposed to making a powerful statement with your life? Like
electricity requires a conduit and your nerves a myelin sheath, your spirit requires the pipe of purpose to concentrate it to full intensity. It is a definiteness of purpose that defines and cultivates personal greatness. I realize only too well that many people have set a goal to become a zero, a nobody, a nothing and hold as their highest ambition to blow out the candle flame of life.In the words of one of my favorite poets, Robert Service, “…Just have one more try. It’s dead easy to die. It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.” And you can’t do that without a major purpose for being. Listen, it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees! You owe no one an apology for following your own dreams, hopes, and aspirations. Define yourself by something much larger than simply taking up space and air. Live with passion, purpose, and courage! Fire all the negative people from your life and live! Whose life is it anyway?
Much Love and Success,
(As you can see curage/po and flow.)The practice that creates virtue will weed out those who don’t want virtue! I think Hatsumi was a little distressed that the enormous expansion of Budo in his day (which he didn’t plan) was becoming a dilution. Glenn was also very big on the gateway thing, you walk in a macho idiot but you change. As far as the upper enlightenment levels of Budo are concerned I think they’re huge, but you still have to do the martial work which I don’t want to do, although I respect people who do. In upper levels of ninpo and in Hoshin which Glenn invented there was a requirement to be able to heal any injury you knew how to cause. Glenn mentioned Malstrom with alot of respect.
I’d love to know more when you talk about the water thing and overcoming demons. As you know there are folk stories about Bruce Lee never having overcome his, I wonder how true they are, especially given what happened to his son. Glenn was very big on yin no question, and he understood androgyny and combining male and female aspects in oneself. j
Hi Jason,
I don’t have anything against martial arts in general.
I think they can be an effective way to bring a level
of structure and discipline to a great number of people.
Moreover, as Dog mentions, I think they can provide
a great stepping stone toward cultivation–in fact,
probably speaking most of here have had some martial
arts training at some point–either as an initiation
into cultivation or as a continued source of training
(myself included).I think martial arts can be an effective way to
provide a source of grounding, as one feels stronger
and less afraid of outside influences. Aside from
the mental aspects, I think that developing skills
in self-defense are useful in their own right, and
I suppose one could even argue that the skill
of learning how to kill someone could be viewed as
noble, for in the extreme situations where the
opposing person is such an extreme danger to
themselves and others that such a skill is implemented
to protect others from potential future harm.What I take issue with is the idea that there is
any nobility or honorable quality toward learning
a technique that causes someone to die over slow
six month period. That I perceive as being inherently
sadistic and sinister, and reflects an unhealthy
quality about the seeker.It worries me that you don’t see that, and seem
to allow your sense of entrancement-due to other
quite impressive skills, cultivation, enlightenment,
and understanding–with the individual in question
to cloud your judgement on this issue, and fall
in line with everything this person does.You don’t have to be an all-or-nothing person!
At least for me, I don’t think that I would see
the goal of learning to kill someone over a
period of six months to be any other than
sadistic and sinister. Sometimes a cigar
is just a cigar.So ultimately on this issue, we may just
have to agree to disagree! Although, as
I mentioned above, this is not a commentary
on my part of all of martial arts, or even
most of what this person does . . .I hope you don’t take anything I said here
personally–I know I can be kind of confrontational
at times (probably the “1” personality trait leaking
out, and trying to emphatically defend my
alternate viewpoint 🙂 )Smiles,
Steven… you think it’s ‘just wrong’ and that’s cool. I assure you I’m not entranced. Franz Bardon explains in his book exactly which spirits can teach you how to kill someone with a single thought. The same mechanism can apparently be used for resurrection of the recently dead. There is a spirit which ‘can teach you techniques which will lay whole cities and countries waste’. It’s something this spirit does for its job in life. j
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