"Marek Reavis" wrote: "A truly good person is in the flow of life, the Tao. In that flow ownership of action doesn't exist because everything is flowing with their intentions, like having the wind at your back."
Marek, Thanks for using that popular metaphor -- it suddenly hit me from a new angle. (So keep using those old saws out there people!) To have the wind at one's back, it turns out, is merely one side of the concept. There's the other side too. Case in point: To be literal, a "lesson" that all trikke newbies have happen to them is that they start out trikking with the wind at their backs, but it is such a slight breeze that they never notice it; then, when they decide to return home, the same pathway now has this "hurricane" blowing them to a standstill. Oh, there's another "wind" too: a Trikke is lovingly called a "invisible slope detection device" by trikkers, because if you're just learning how to carve, you find out that virtually no surface is level and that in one direction you can trikke pretty good as a newbie, but in the other you cannot go even a single foot forwards -- until you truly learn how to work the beast. Can't call yourself a trikker until you can go up a steep hill! To have the wind at one's back (God's help) and not be enlightened -- oooo, prepare for a shock any second! You're going along great and think you're on top of things, then suddenly your direction in life changes and you come to dead stop without any resources to move forwards at the easy-peasy pace you were enjoying just moments before. One thinks one's really trucking entirely on one's own merits, then OOPS! where's my support of nature go? I have this happen all the time to me when a scenario requires me to have a whole notch more compassion or insight or other personality dynamic, and BANG, there I am with no real traction and a lot of growth needed. I'm reminded of Karna, Arjuna's evil twin, who had this tapas-earned boon that would have wiped out Arjuna's whole army in a blink, but when he went to use it (a mantra that basically was like pulling the trigger on an atomic bomb) he couldn't remember the damned mantra! Just like that, suddenly, Karna came up short -- thought he was a big shot -- "It's all downhill from here, Baby!" -- but when the direction of the battle changed, he suddenly found that all his powers were for naught, and that he was lacking the ability he truly needed to call himself a complete warrior (trikker) -- in this case it was his inability to retain subtlety while in the heat of battle. Trikkers know all about subtlety, let me tell ya! A small scattering of pebbles can getcha plowing the sod with a shoulder if hit them "just so," and a "light wind" can slow one down so much that people with aluminum walkers start shooting by like hot-rod teens! Oh, the shame of it if one doesn't have the chops to meet the challenges of wind and pebbles. So, thanks, Marek, for a new insight into the support of nature being an all time reality for the enlightened who are always sliding down the gravity well with the wind at their backs -- it's a free ride all the way! They're surfing, always in freefall, and wondering what the rest of us are talking about: gravity? eh? whacha talkin' 'bout gravity? There's no gravity! Edg
