Comment below:
**
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> "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
>
**end**
Edg, it's really difficult not to always relate everything to surfing
since it's the perfect metaphor for life. If given half a chance I
find myself talking like one of the sea turtles in Finding Nemo.
Kind of like you and Trikking -- groovy.
I love your "invisible slope detector" term, and that's what a good
life cultivates, I feel; and a good life includes meditation ("it's
what intelligent people do" - R. Williams) or something similar to
meditation.
We're catapulted into this life with absolutely no choice in the
matter or idea of what's happening (puffed rice shot from cannons)
and somewhere along the way we start taking stock of what's going on
in our life and how do we 'work' this thing and sooner or later we
learn to detect and take advantage of all the invisible slopes that
make up the greater part of our lives. The better we become at
detecting and utilizing these slopes, the easier and more enjoyable
our life's trajectory. Just like Trikking.
And it's so totally like surfing. It's been a year since I started
and it's only been recently that I've surrendered my title of the
world's worst surfer to some other hopeless doofus cracking his head
(like me) one more time as he clumsily falls *onto* his board rather
than off it. Oftentimes I'll spend two or three hours in the surf
and catch maybe a half-a-dozen good waves (and screw up on half of
those) and finally while wading back in through thigh-high surf with
my hand just steadying my board at my side, I'll watch as it catches
wave after wave, wavelet after wavelet, tiny lick after tiny lick,
just because it naturally orients itself to whatever and wherever the
slope is. Little bit by little bit, I'm learning to just put myself
in the position to "catch" all the waves that are ready, willing and
able to do all the work if I'll just go along with the flow that's
already present.
Life -- it's like a metaphor for surfing.
Marek
