The Way of the Supreme Ultimate Fist
Many martial arts are named after the Way. Many books describe the Way.
Like the Tao Te Ching:
The Way that can be told is not the eternal Way.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.
—Tao Te Ching translated by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Some books hem us in with morals or ethics: codes that insist, usually, that we don’t-do this or that.
Since you’re following along with the Reality series:
- You’ve probably noticed that you live in the World
- Your senses are open, opening, and responsive to the World
Notice that our previous discussion…epistemology…was less about doing and more about being open to information. This discussion throws being into the background and doing into the foreground.
Finding your Way is an act. An act of power?
Perhaps.
The Way is a Path, and it must be tread.
Along the way we notice that our ethics and our personal codes of morality emerge. Like railings along the trail of life, they emerge naturally, without institutional interventions.
The World provides feedback along the Way.
Do something ineffective (or bad) and the World, or something in it, will tell you. Likewise, kind acts feel right. Though social norms and industrialized behavior often confound the Way…for feeling the Way, a few specific, reality-based methods remain.
You’ll see…
The next video describes how to feel the Way.
Find the Taiji Way
Can you feel your heart beating?
Do you need to pause, slow down, or wait to sense it?
Practice feeling your pulse. You’ll get used to it and you may begin sensing other people’s pulses too.
Your heart is the most valuable guide along your Way.
