Martial Dream

Kaizen, the idea of “continuous improvement,” is the essence.

In all the budo, there is much talk about “emptying your cup.” Or, as Master Yoda would put it, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” Or, as Morpheus would say, “Free your mind.” If your cup is full, how can you add any new knowledge to it? If you embrace too tightly everything you’ve ever “known,” your cup runneth over, but not in the good way. Detach yourself from dogma. Unlearn, open your mind, and learn again.

The past few days have been horribly tumultuous for me with regards to religion, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. That is best saved for another time. I’m talking about kaizen, not dogma. Either way, you must “empty your cup” if you are ever to emerge from the chilly shadow cast by your towering “knowledge.”

When I am frustrated and agitated with life, with people, with dogma and religion, with events, with circumstances and hardships, as I have certainly been frustrated and agitated this week, I invariably fall back on the martial dream. Strip away the excess, embrace simplicity, and stop worrying about being a better person—just be a better person. Just be the person you want to be. Be mindful, ever patient, ever humble, ever self-aware. That is kaizen.

”Too often we judge places, other people and even ourselves by the outward and by the past when instead, we need to learn to look deeper to see things for what they could be, not for what they are… What could you be? Who do you desire to be? No, not externally: rich, taller, beautiful, etc… No, inwardly, where it really counts. What type of person do you desire to be? Who is your ideal you? What could you really become, and then, what good could you really do, if you only looked inside and then tenaciously pursued that vision?”
—Sensei Banks

Someone very important to me recently told me that I was a good man because I am always looking for “continuous improvement,” because most people stop looking. Most people stunt their self-awareness and fall into a complacent, self-centered semi-consciousness. Humility is the basis of any decent ideology.

Looking at myself this week, I can only see the quiet, martial solemnity of Balian from Kingdom of Heaven. Naturally, to keep myself “on track,” I’ve been listening to Harry Gregson-Williams’ brilliant, brutal, and beautiful score almost exclusively this week.

It has kept me sane.

A handful of individuals have also kept me sane, though by long distance, reinforcing and re-inspiring my devotion to those things that make me love life. Music, adventure, creativity, discipline…

In a word: freedom.

”Being yourself, finding out who you are and being that person is no easy task, believe me. It takes bravery and it takes mindfulness. Bravery, because sometime when you look inside, you may not like what you see. Good news is, anyone can change and be better than they are, and being better than you are now is the essence of becoming your true self. Bravery is also necessary because those who value conformity over uniqueness will not like it when you step out of line; be brave still. And it takes mindfulness because we must constantly be on guard to avoid falling into the easy-pleasey conformity way of living. Everyday, we must be brave, and every moment, we must be mindful. Who are you? Are you, you? Are you seeking to know and to be the unique you that you were created to be? That’s part of the great adventure. Or are you trying to be who they say you are, who think you are, or who they think you should be? Why not just be you? You’ll be better for it, and the world needs you.”
—Sensei Banks

Imagine a world where people were mindful and aware. Imagine a world where people pursued continuous improvement in earnest. Imagine a world where people had enough self-respect to actually respect others first. Where virtue was actually a societal value. Imagine a world where people didn’t diminish their collective worth by obsessing over their trivial differences but worked together to find truth, speaking with a Graceful Tongue. Imagine a world where people didn’t sell their souls for the spiritual painkillers of the Mundane but emptied their cups and tried to make their own existences a little less perfunctory.

Imagine a world where people had the discipline to do any of these things in the first place. Imagine a world.

”A new world, a better world than has ever been seen. There, you are not what you are born but what you have it in yourself to be. A kingdom of conscience…”
—Godfrey of Ibelin, Kingdom of Heaven