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Julian Leviston
Stanmore, Australia
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Dear Peter,
You talk about the relationship that the body is and has (always). Essentially all of these works
exist to make one aware of this relationship and relate that awareness to every other facet of one's life, if I've correctly understood. The problem for me is relating the mental acknowledgment (some call this knowing) with the physical experience (some call this understanding)... in other words... how do we bring this into our lives so that it touches it completely?
Of course, largely, it's a personal effort. It's specific to each of us as individuals, and it's our own
work. But perhaps you could give some guidelines? I'm thinking along the lines of "yes, but we all still have to make a living"... do you know what I'm attempting to get at here? How does one maintain anawareness while still "bringing in the bread" so to speak? Is it just a matter of practice? Of trying and failing and trying and failing until one can split one's attention and include both the body, and the thing that would ordinarily take over one's whole attention? Or am I missing the point?
Thanks
Julian
Julian,
It's not about splitting one's attention but unifying it, which is different than focusing on one aspect to the detriment of another or putting partial attention on more than one thing. But I sympathize with the dilemma. Actually it is the splitting of our attention between "function" and "body" that I was calling a problem. When it comes to the job in which we make a living, it is not really so different from the job of winning a match.
Often we focus our attention on an immediate goal and miss the whole event that is taking place. This
whole event includes many aspects, all of which need attention. One such aspect, for example, is body movement, balance, position, and so forth, and so body awareness would be beneficial to our efforts. The main difference between work and practicing an art is that work is usually taken far more seriously since the consequences of failure are more devastating than merely losing a match or failing to learn a technique today.
Yet, if you think about it, the dynamic is quite the same. We tend to focus on the immediate goal or job at hand. If this is making a throw, dodging a punch, or improving our balance, our attention goes to that
effort. But this is often done with a limited focus. A focus on making someone fall down, for example,
ignores the whole relationship that best serves that happening. Instead, we press ourselves into just getting them to fall, without concern for the space around us, how our body is balanced and moving, what the other person is doing, and many other concerns because these concerns seem not to have much todo with getting them to fall down right now.
This is much like thinking that a fist is what hurts you when you're punched. An easy conclusion to draw, since the fist is what makes contact. But without the rest of the body behind it, the punch would do no more damage than someone throwing a fish upside your head. In such a case, we see that to relate appropriately to the power of a punch we need to be aware of what the opponent's whole body is doing.
Just so, relating our actions appropriately to the demands of a match or some such we need to be awareof the whole relationship. This includes what's going on throughout our bodies from moment to moment, as well as our opponent's body, the space in which we play, what is occurring for us and them mentally, emotionally, and so forth. All this together is what determines the relationship and so also determines our ability to interact with it effectively.
Yet these things are more readily recognized in our practice than in our work. Usually our work is a no-
nonsense arena. Abstract notions and good ideas are put aside in favor of getting the job done and
putting food on the table. Still, we can train while we work. This is not so easily done, however, since the habits of work, and sometimes even the skills, become challenged.
Training as one works comes from or within your attitude and disposition. A shift in outlook seems small, but makes all the difference in how you will proceed. Such a shift is seen as an imposition, and
sometimes it is, since one's focus is changed. But it can mean the difference between developing,
improving, and becoming healthier as a person, or degrading, tearing up the body, and furthering bad
habits in favor of keeping attention solely on the immediate goal. This goal is always what is most
important to us since it is what one is doing the action for. Still, when we back off from such a narrow
focus, we realize we are actually doing that activity for much more than the immediate, albeit necessary,
stage in the whole process of living.
I've had many people with all kinds of jobs try to apply Cheng Hsin to their work. I usually recommend that they practice outside of work first to see what happens to their skills, and then to work out a
transformation in approach before asking someone to pay good money for our experimentation. For example, a chef once ended up with his crepe on the ceiling because we was trying to use his wholebody to flip it. Better to work it out at home before flipping crepes at work. I know that when we go home we don't want to do our work! But it may be a necessary sacrifice for awhile if turning work into a training ground is the goal.
What disposition can one take to help turn work into training, learning, and improving? Questioning.
Questioning can turn all endeavors around. Simply question: What are you doing? What are you doing it for? Can it be done more easily, more effectively? What is it? Any appropriate question will do, the mere asking of which will dramatically change your relationship to what you are doing. And it is always good to remember, training or questioning aren't ends in themselves, but by adopting such a disposition, life's activities become valued and enlivening, and that is an end in itself.
Good luck,
Peter
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