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The Mind in Daily Life
Most people - and this may sound extreme - have what could be described as a very low level of mental illness. We are all familiar with the image of the insane person who hears ‘voices in their head’. Well, most people have an internal dialogue running continuously. This may be about the past - ”I can’t believe he said that!”, “did I upset so-and-so?”, “did I leave the oven on?”. It may be about the present - ”I don’t like what she’s wearing”, “he’s very rude”, “that idiot needs to learn how to drive!”. Or it may be about the future - ”I hope my interview goes well tomorrow”, “I wonder what I’ll have for dinner tonight”, “where will I be in a year’s time?”. Each initial thought triggers a host of thoughts which follow on from it in an endless stream. The amazing thing is, most people don’t even realise the noise is there.
Listening to and becoming absorbed in the stream of mind noise means that we are never fully aware of what is happening in the present. The amount of our awareness which we give to the present moment may vary from partial - when we are thinking about one thing and doing another (this is common when the task being performed has been done so often that no conscious thought is necessary), to almost none ( daydreaming, being totally lost in thought). The more this way of being becomes a habit, the harder it is to keep the mind quiet and present (that is, aware of the here and now), and for most people, the habit of compulsive thinking is very deeply ingrained indeed. As soon as there is a gap in thinking, the mind springs into action and fills it with something. More often than not that something is not useful to us, and can easily become negative and destructive
More than this, our immersion in our thought process, and the absence of awareness this brings with it, means we become identified with our thoughts. That is, the thoughts themselves contain within them some of our sense of who we are, our self image. Our perceived self image is the manifestation of the ego. The ego is a malicious entity who’s only reason for existence is to be right, to be justified. It is constantly looking to defend it’s position. Indeed, when we say someone has a ‘big ego’ we are referring to their need to always be right, to appear to be better than everyone else. Almost everyone has this entity at work within them, but it is sneaky ,with many disguises and different ways of getting what it wants. The ego is given power through the thoughts when the thinker is unaware and immersed in them.
What we need, then, is to start to become aware. Becoming aware of the thoughts running through our heads is the first step to quietening them, and giving attention to our body (which is always in the present) and our surroundings can assist in this process. With practice, we can become able to sustain a level of presence (awareness of here and now) which silences the stream of compulsive thinking, at first for a few brief seconds, then eventually for long periods of time. There exist a few enlightened souls on this planet who can maintain such a level of awareness constantly. They live completely in the present moment, and use their mind as a tool to perform a task, rather than being controlled by it as most people are.
The benefits of this way of being are many fold: A greater sense of contentment and peace; a reduced need to assert our position in any given situation; reduced anxiety and frustration with life; increased awareness of our surroundings, and of other people and their interaction with us and each other. When our level of awareness becomes high enough, we can start to see the ego at work, first in others, then in ourselves. This ‘seeing’ leads to a dissolving of the ego, either partially or fully. When we do use the mind to think, as we obviously must to function in society, it is sharper, clearer, and open to insight from outside sources.
The Mind in Martial Arts
The idea of healthy, balanced training for the mind is often misunderstood in martial practices. The most common method of ‘mindset training’ is to encourage the student to adopt an extremely aggressive mental state. Results are fairly immediate with this method - in a short space of time the student is able to override fear and ‘get stuck in’. This is the reason it’s used by the military the world over - quick, observable results. However, it also causes several problems. Purely on an ‘efficacy in combat’ level, extreme aggression can be detrimental to the individual’s ability to remain physically relaxed and sensitive whilst fighting, although admittedly this is a skill which takes time to develop. Mental relaxation is also compromised, reducing awareness and the ability to make judgement decisions under ‘pressure’.
More importantly than all of this, aggression can be destructive in the student’s daily life. When we train to attain a state of aggression, over time that state becomes easier and easier to achieve. Pretty soon events outside physical combat can trigger an aggressive response. Whenever the ego needs to defend it’s position, aggression is ‘patterned in’ as the preferred method. Aggression is damaging to the health, both physical and mental, and inappropriate use of aggression can be damaging in a social environment (just watch the news tonight if you don’t believe me).
A more balanced way to cultivate the mindset for combat is exactly the same as developing the mindset for daily life We begin with attention. Attention to our thought processes, our body and our surroundings. This practice will inevitably lead to a quieter mind, and therefore less time spent with our attention diverted by thought movement. Sportsmen refer to this quiet, alert state of mind as ‘being in the zone’. When we practice attaining and maintaining this mindset, we can become more effective both as a martial artist and as a human being. After all, we will probably be called on to use our martial skills for real only a few times in our lives, if at all. We have to live with our state of mind every single day.
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