Feminine Energy and Intuition [Part 2]

When it comes to training, the level of structured organisation often means that the athlete has to experience the fight largely in terms of imagining the outcome in advance. For example, they train various scenarios, and then think back to what they did in the past rather than responding in the moment spontaneously with something new. So they are in the moment, responding to the past. This can be disastrous for the creative energy of an individual, even if it yields short term results. It is as if you are looking at the truth of something evolving and you are trying to make sense of it by historical facts only. Obviously this is not enough.

So, often, when when martial artists are in the ring itself they have to experience the contest through memory of what they planned to do rather than what actually needs doing. This is ok as a support system, but not as a long term solution for growth. The common argument here is that it’s supposedly too difficult for intuition to govern response. If this is the case, it just means you aren’t good enough to use intuition effectively as a faculty, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong in that, it can be great to develop the more masculine side of doing things, although it is still possible to express intuitive action even under rigid social structures.

Actually, it isn’t necessary to burden yourself with knowledge, carrying it around like a collection you’ve gathered. When the integrity of your physical structure is bent and stretched through training, you might think that the body then resets to a state that it was in before. No, in fact it the body is warped by gravity and the space you create. So you take on a new composition. There are several ways of looking at this. In terms of the Karma you carry, whatever you do creates new possibilities. It is not a case of repeating the same karma, although that is a choice. It’s not like you are doomed to repeat things over and over. It is like how sometimes people are defined by genetics. This is the more modern way of enslaving people to certain societal notions which have no existential basis. This only becomes reality in your experience if you continually make the choice, consciously or unconsciously, to remain in a fixed state. So in a way, rigid training which does not evolve keeps one in a state of sameness. This is good until you have worked out your karma, or what is known as pre birth Chi in Chinese systems, into a greater possibility.

Stretching the Gravitational Pull

When you act according to the body’s intuitive need to expand and work with gravity, for example when you stretch a punch out, sinking down into your centre at the same time, you are stretched one way, and pulled in another. You take what you are and expand it. This can be done in a seconds, for a minute, or for year. There are different ways of going about it. The idea is that you transform you capabilities and potential through training, rather than just refine the existing capabilities. This is a subtle yet powerful way of transforming yourself over time. Because your composition is always changing, your potential is also changing. That is why genetically it is possible to overcome hereditary dispositions, just as it is possible to develop the same dispositions later even if there is no genetic basis. For example, say you inherit a bad heart. It is just as easy to develop this later through various lifestyle choices, and there are many examples of people overcoming such conditions through life. This is done in various ways by stretching out what was weighing them down.

The direction of your movements in space as well as the waves of energy you send through the body create what scientists call “Gravitational memory”. This has a universal as well as individual basis to it. This gravitational memory leaves a lasting impression on the body’s centre of gravity, the Hara Centre or abdominal area. This is stretched continuously as a child, when you run around endlessly. This is actually the body’s maintenance and growth centre, which means you experience yourself from here in many ways as well as the possibilities presented to you. So this growth happens unconsciously in children, but it must be done consciously in adults.

Just as gravitational memory happens in the universe as it interacts with energy, this is what happens in your own centre of gravity when you take action. Your own centre mixes with that of the wider environment, just as your own inhalation takes from plants and gives back to them. So half of you is actually outside, and the other half is inside. So as one gets older, they tend to move towards stretching themselves, either as part of a family or into wider society for example. This can be done on the individual level by bringing a more meditative dimension to your practice.

Changing Your own Memories

The body remembers just like gravitational pull within an object remembers. Memory is not just remembering in the brain, it happens outside too. For example, the brain and gut interacts to produce various hormones and states within the system itself, which we call experience and we remember this. This is because the memory is contained between two objects, the body and brain, it’s not an isolated system. So the more activity you perform, the more this impacts the memory. This memory builds up in terms of substantial potential energy over time within the human system, much like the karma you accumulate through action. For example, say you do a good deed, immediately you might not see the benefit. But the congruence and harmony you create in yourself and others around you allows energy to function within you more smoothly. So the wider environment impacts you, and you impact it. Your experience is to do with both. It is not a case of doing a good deed to be congratulated, I’m just talking in terms of causing less friction within yourself and therefore others. It’s then a matter of time before the structure begins to experience visible change, but it’s a process going on all the time. It’s the same with martial arts movements.

When you follow the line of least resistance physically, you are actually lightening the load of karma and becoming more receptive. This changes the foundation of your memory. It is even possible to experience many different lives in this one. This means in many ways you are becoming more feminine, as if you were creating a new child and experiencing its needs and life energies. Instead, you are becoming life’s creation rather than forming a new separate body. This is the meaning behind reincarnation, which is not separate from this life. You are part of the cycle itself. It is possible to become a process rather than an outcome. It is not necessary to die to be born anew, but death happens anyway. So this self transformation creates new memories or interprets the impressions you have received up until now in a new way, transforming your experience right now rather than the next time round. Otherwise there is no point in striving for much more than your allotted karma or pre birth Chi energy.

From Feminine to Masculine

Obviously, you need to work out the masculine side of your energy first, which is what the forms are all about in martial arts. So at first you are just working your way through the inherited karma, or what the Chinese systems refer to as pre birth Chi. This is used to create a platform rather than establish anything. This is known as the fire element, which requires activity and is the masculine in action. After a while of doing this, say ten or twenty years, you end up providing yourself with immense potential energy for conscious activity. Then if you chose to continue the same training, it becomes conscious rather than routine and becomes more to do with the water element, which is to say the feminine. So whether you are a man or woman, you move towards the feminine in the same way. You include both of course, its not an either or thing. The post birth Chi in Chinese systems in known as the Water Chi, which is to say what you acquire after birth. In other words, you move from masculine to feminine.

By making your actions conscious, as in becoming aware, you more wisely utilise energy which would otherwise dissipate at a more initial level during compulsive unconscious acts. This is what martial arts competitions were historically about, working out the fire element within the fighter. It was not about winning but transformation. It is only in recent years that the notions has come about that this could become a commodity or system to be sold as a solution. But if you get rid of the karma only to create more of the same then this is known as getting caught in a cycle. It is believed in Tibetan Schools of buddhism that the path to enlightenment involves escaping this cycle. So accordingly, once you evolve and transform yourself , you have done just that and you have become a life process rather than a repitition of the past. This can happen only by embracing the feminine, because the feminine does not know organised repetition.

Organised Repetition

Obviously it is is normal to act according to institutional demands in sports situations, where the athlete is paid to win. Here, in martial arts research on the opponent is done in advance, as well as the setting and other details such as time and place. However, when the outcome cannot be known in advance, nor the weight of the opponent or their character, this approach hinders direct perception of the unfolding reality in front of you, as in the self defence situation of life or death. Acceptance of death was always talked about more traditionally, but today this is seen less and less. This is like avoiding the elephant in the room, it just becomes more and more obvious. Because martial arts has largely moved away from matters of life and death, there has been an increased movement towards the theoretical rather than the experiential learning. All of these things were normal in the past, there were no weight categories or advanced preparations, time constraints, etc., so there were different ways of preparing. You needed an attitude of fearlessness, which is what black belt means.

This attitude of plunging into the unknown can be seen in mixed martial arts as early as 30 years ago, where there were no rules. You needed to be more spontaneous and exuberant in the moment, which is what the feminine energy is all about. Too much organisation simply dampens such faculties. When spontaneity and aggressive energy mix together, you can create an entirely new energy, which is at once intelligent as well as reckless. This cannot be understood theoretically, but experientially. So there is a need for the feminine, unbridled striving, fuelled the masculine, which is is raw externalised energy. If raw energy has nothing to aim at, then it just ends up blowing up. If the famine is not brought in then it just remains outside your experience, even though it is there.

Becoming Receptive to Transformation

The dimension of thought which is to do with acting in the real world, in the present moment, was in the past kept clear rather than stuffed with ideas. You cannot ascribe meaning to the process of martial arts, because martial arts is what is. Traditionally, conclusions were not formed in advance, but rather during the unfolding situation according to time and place. This was to develop and cultivate the feminine aspect of intuitive knowing. Any number of temples were consecrated so that this space could be supported in society. In terms of martial arts forms, any exercises were based around performing them until the raw energies of youth were worked out. Afterwards, it becomes choice.

So the true disciple in a way was willing to waste their time repeating the same things over and over again. It was only after some time that the value of this was perceived rather than known in advance. The platform for the development of the feminine is the masculine energy, which has to do with fire or heat. The heat needs something cool to temper it and channel it into something more than it is. At the same time, the feminine needs some energy to express itself. The fire is used up in this exchange to create an entirely new expression of energy. This is the meaning behind the burning of devotion, or the fire of belief. These were just things to get you to act, rather than conclusions to understand in advance. Whether this is religious fervour, or martial training, these thing shave been used to make the recipient more receptive to transformation by channeling the energies. Of course there is potential for misuses, but that’s true of anything.

According to modern notions, it seems as if little is being taught in terms of practical value if people are given space to transform themselves from within. For example, in traditional martial arts they told you how to do the move exactly, but never how to apply it in every situation. You were to go away and ponder rid. When you look at the temples of the past, they were wide open spaces, which would seem boring by todays standards, which are characterised by busy and colourful gyms. In addition, people are often sold conclusions rather than ways of seeking. If you have been sold a conclusion, it looks as if someone who is seeking is simply clueless. However if you make a conclusion, that’s the end of seeking. So to question and to believe at the same time, this was the way the masters encouraged seeking as well as activity. This ensured progress and transformation, if the disciple became receptive enough to the process.

Evolution cannot be known in advance, even if there are various possibilities which can be practiced in advance to reach some kind of end point. So these conclusions we make are just tools rather than outcomes to prove or disprove. These scenarios were seen as a support system rather than as a reality to aim at. However, those who practice martial arts with a spiritual side to them, are considered frauds in many circles. This is because their styles have been proven wrong in various scenarios. Anything which is not practical is often considered totally wrong, and especially if you have a master to guide you in this. such masters are considered total idiots by pragmatists. There are many instances of how people go and challenge martial artists from schools which are considered impractical, and the first thing they do is beat them up. However, some of them are able to fight back well, and the others are quite capable of socially handling confrontations without getting physically embroiled.

The need for planning everything derives from fear of the unknown. This modern variety of the fear of the unknown is largely a western phenomenon, which probably started after the Second World War due to the massive wars that went on previous to that. Following the Second World War, there was a move towards planning in terms of industry, education, and peace, which had been existentially threatened severely. In martial arts, this meant that the largely traditional arts were converted into exercise regimes and outcome based practices with a mass production framework to them. This is not a bad thing, but if structures are to function properly, there needs to be an element of spontaneity to compliment this organised structure so that it can evolve naturally.

Prisoners respond to excessive structure and routine, and are known as hard men, but often they lose all hope and competence when the certainty of their environment is gone and they get released. For example, prison has certain rules, and you just put fear in everybody to get by. On the other hand, there have been rare individuals who have functioned well in the outside world, and then if they end up in prison they just go with it without attachment.

Upgrading your Hardware and Software

In martial arts, the physical form is considered exact, but the expression it takes in changing reality must be kept fluid and formless. So the form is the dimension which should be analysed, the energy must remain fluid and open to evolution. The physical form is the hardware, the way it is used is to do with the software you upgrade. The capability of the software does not decide the potential of the hardware. Its just running at a certain point in time. This software also impacts the hardware and how it is used. This develops the form from within, rather than from the outside.

The problem I that today the hardware is hardly used in people, so for the physical movements to evolve their capabilities need to be stretched rather than becoming inert. Just going through routines isn’t enough to do this. The expression which martial arts forms take in various situation cannot be known in advance, except by those who have been through it. Even then, each individual is different, which is why there have been many factual versions of one truth. For example, it is a fact that many different martial arts are effective. But it is true that in order to reach a competent state you have to work and overcome many difficulties.

So this is the difference between fact and truth. It is true that in order to win, you need to overcome many difficulties and work. However, in fact, not everyone who wins has done this sufficiently to ensure their evolution. So in a way, winning does not represent truth. Truth is an evolving state, whereas a fact is according to time and place. Obviously all individuals want to win. Take the example of two competitors. They can win according to the process of the contest, or simply gain from it in a more personal yet limited way. So they can run the software as it is, according to a particular situational demand, or they can upgrade it. There is an in-between way too. So the contest is not entirely logical, or though logically it makes sense to win at all costs. By logical I mean the masculine aspect of the mind. So the feminine, which involves respect for the situation as a whole, rather than how it can be exploited, is a completely different way of looking at it. It even has a logic of its own which you can experience as truth.