From Peter Ralstons Latest Newsletter -Fall 2006

About: cheng hsin: contact/interact

Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

Lemon Tree - Peter, Paul & Mary

Cheng Hsin Fall Newsletter: ... As you may know from my books, fear is a function of the future. Your mind is
focused on something bad happening in the next moment and you aren't relating
to what is actually happening in this. You are mentally thrown off balance by
the strength and aggressiveness of these attackers and you doubt your ability to handle such force. When you fear or resist anything about your opponent,you are not being present with what's actually there. This is something you have to overcome in yourself. Concentrate on that force -- contemplate the aggressiveness of it, the power of it, the reality of it -- until you can accept it, be familiar with it, and allow it to be exactly as it is. Work hard to make it very real in your imagination and spend some time feeling this force that scared you. Test it out with these guys again and make sure your contemplation is based on reality so that you indeed are becoming comfortable with their aggressiveness. Once this is so, you can shift from letting the force scare you (putting your mind into the fear of what's going to happen and your sense of being incapable of dealing with it) to just being present with the force, accepting it, and blending with it, using it to do your techniques. You need to join what's there, even if it is aggressive (especially if it's aggressive!). Enter into it with your feeling-attention, rather than pull away from it. At first you may not be able to do your techniques as you want, but you won't be afraid, and eventually will be able to work out how to do the technique.
Hope this helps.
Peter

...

I borrowed his whole answer to question about fear in the martial arts. As I read it (it was from a student -Tzachi Lavy in Israel) I could not help thinking about the Principles of Effortless Power & whether they could be extended to such a mess as the conflict in the Middle East.

I wonder if these very real principles can be applied to groups of people & armies that use bombs & bullets? Is it one of those things, like the Golden Rule, that applies to personal interaction but is very hard to extend to groups & countries?

Maybe contemplate a different lyric:

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

... see: Where have all the flowers gone?

From Peter Ralstons Latest Newsletter -Fall 2006

About: cheng hsin: contact/interact

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