Ideas
can evolve over time to achieve a form which no one would have wanted to
design in the first place.
(Edward De Bono)
Knowledge
Knowledge for its
own sake is essentially worthless - what
value does it have?
It is not enough to simply have information.
Consider: 'general knowledge' constitutes a superficial recollection of a
wide variety of facts and figures.
To what purpose?
The practice of tai chi and
taoism requires you to transcend the limitations
of information.
This is an unusual and compelling process in which you
shed the accretion of
learned knowledge and cultural conditioning.
You look deeper, and you step further into the unknown.
Knowledge promises the surety and comfort of the familiar, whereas insight
is a leap into the abyss.
Curiosity
Insight starts with a simple criteria:
you must be interested in
things.
Without curiosity, you have no motivation to search, to explore, to uncover
things - you are not bothered enough.
This mentality cannot be faked; contrived curiosity will not endure.
Following other people is lazy - the other people are doing all the work for
you - and they are the ones who are learning, not you.
Noticing things
Awareness is everything.
Tai chi should be about noticing how you use your
body, how you
think, how
you
interact.
For most people, it is not about these things at all.
When you begin to see little details in the world around you and wonder at
them, you become aware of a level of existence that you formerly took for
granted.
It is like watching insects in your garden; they have an entire universe of
interaction that humans never notice or care about.
How much of your universe goes unnoticed because you are too busy
rushing?
What if?
Possibilities are what make life interesting.
Progress is initiated by that one question: what if?
The possibility alone is sufficient to ignite your imagination and lead it
off in unexpected directions.
A word, a gesture or a minor detail may be enough to spark your imagination.
Be
alive to possibility.
Unorthodox
Every new innovation in society is met with trepidation; people
fear the
unknown.
Fear and approval hamper insight.
You may have the most incredible insight into something
and feel stifled by those around you.
It is important not to be put off by others.
Most insights cannot be readily
articulated and require the other person to
share your insight.
They must also have reached it on their own.
If somebody explains an insight to you, then you are listening to their
insight and it does not reflect your own.
Understanding things for yourself means that you will have to walk
alone and
not be worried about approval or acceptance.
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Page created 21 November 2000