Mainly Void Thoughts

Great movie, if you still haven’t seen it. I had one or two things I got out of it. In particular a couple of lines from a poem Nelson Mandela quoted.

I am the master of my fate.
I am the captor of my soul.

A particular emphasis on “I” should be noted here. It might even be called “defiance” considering he spent 27 years in jail. Considering what he managed to achieve with the country and the people contained within its borders one shouldn’t forget all the hard feelings between blacks and whites. Managing to forgive ones captors after such a long time in captivity, I can’t start to imagine how he managed it. How do you forgive those who essentially took half your life away from you? How do you forgive someone who has beaten you with a stick, just for the colour of your skin?

Consider yourself in this situation, sitting in a cell barely big enough for you to spread your arms out. You have a blanket as your mattress on the concrete floor, a pillow and a chair. This is your home, for a very long time. Nothing you have is yours. You have no family. You have no future. What you can look forward to is a soggy meal and breaking up rocks, while your feet are in chains and the sun unrelentingly beating down on your back. Day in, day out. Week in, week out. Month in Month out. Year in, year out. Years on end. How would you cope? Would you feel that life is hopeless? I don’t think the word “possibly” even should be considered here, as I can guarantee you, that is how you will feel. Anger is pointless as it will only attract a beating, from other inmates or from the wardens.

Then read the above quote again.

There’s a lot of meaning hidden in those two sentences. Would you be able to be so benevolent to those who took everything away from you, and I truly mean everything. Even the food you eat, being allowed a drink of water, basic needs like going to the toilet. At the mercy of someone else. Someone who might beat you with a baton, just because you tried to ask for something you today take for granted.

Read the above quote again.

In the movie, the second sentence has one word changed, probably to underline Nelson Mandela was a captive for so long. In the original, it says “captain” and not “captor”.

Here’s the original text of that poem:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Everyday, be the master of your fate, be the captain of your soul, then you can conquer any obstacle in your life.

You want to be successful in what you do? You want to “be the best”? You want to have all your dreams come true? Most people tend to answer yes to these questions.

Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve those goals? Are you willing to put in the effort required to get there? Again, most people say yes here too. Only one problem, people generally do not realise the effort they may have to go through and how hard that road might become.

If you take a look at those that are really successful in what they do, no matter what it is they do, you’ll find a few select things they all have in common. First and foremost is the fact that they just never quit, never give up, no matter what they are faced with. They get knocked on the head and fall down, they’ll be right up on their feet again, getting back in there again, again and again.

I’ve heard a couple of quotes which fit very well in here, and I’ll also add a video, which actually is the reason I’m posting this in the first place. Take these quotes and remember them, saying them to yourself when you’re starting to falter. Because you will falter. We all do at some stage.

“There is no failure, only feedback.” – Milton H Erickson

“It’s not how many time you fall down, it’s how many times you get back up again.” – Unknown, references appreciated!
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” ~Japanese Proverb

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender [...]” – Winston Churchill [Full speech]

“Do it with a smile!” – Sensei (you know who you are, Domo arigato)

Now, here’s the video.

Studying Martial Arts has led me to start looking at a lot of other things as well. There’s a whole batch of things I’m revisiting, new things I’m finding (which aren’t that new really, but rather a few thousand years old), and new ways to look at things. A heck of a lot of things to be honest.

As time permits I try to learn some Japanese. Why? Well, there’s quite a lot of details that dissapear when something is translated to another language. Lots of the interesting things I’m uncovering has their basis in either Japanese culture or Chinese culture. However, learning Chinese is quite a daunting task if you consider the various dialects and major difference between them.

I also study Sun Tzu and the Art of War. Rather, to be more precise, Sun Wu. If you didn’t realise what I just said, I’d suggest that you should really study it. There is a nice 3 volume set which contains 12 books. Translated works of Thomas Cleary : On Strategy and Counsel. It is probably the most amazing set of books I have read, especially considering the original authors have been dead for between one and two thousand years. At least, that’s the assigned time line. Massive amounts of these teachings span even further back in time. Then, once those volumes are completed, I’d recommend reading them again, to better understand it all. Basis for the Art of War is not only how to manage troops and outsmart your opponent, but how you can lead your own life, the life of others and even whole communities, cities or indeed even countries. Much of those teachings are interlinked with the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching.

On a completely different front, which isn’t that different, I’ve also taken up a course in Hypnotherapy. Which is a really powerful way to help people to reach their goals. Extremely useful for those who needs help feeling motivated, have fears or anxieties, want help to lose weight or just about any such thing. No, it’s not a replacement thing for your ordinary doctor. Doctors are great at stitching people together when then have hurt themselves. However, despite lots of studies and research, we humans still do not know a heck of a lot about how our brains work. You know, this little part of the body which also keeps our mental state, our memories, feelings and so on. This is still very much a “magical mystery” to the Western medicine and therefore not very commonly used or trusted, by those doctors anyway. However, “alternative medicine” which also includes Hypnotherapy includes quite a broad range of ways to treat people. Some good, some not so good. I’m now going of on a complete tangent here though. What I wanted to really say though was, by starting to study Martial Arts (note: not Martial Sports) I am learning lots about myself along the way. And yes, the Hypnotherapy is actually linked quite nicely together into my Martial Arts training/studying too …

I’ve been reading a lot recently. More specifically, what I’ve been reading is advice written up a few thousand years ago. It’s quite interesting advice too, as one can very easily see how society today is blatantly ignoring the most basic things human kind has discovered, a very long time ago. The authors I’ve read of so far are Sun Wu, Zhuge Lange, Liu Ji and Sun Bin. Most people will ask “Who are these guys? Never heard of them.” Well, all of those authors have a common denominator. They were all ancient martialists, Generals of armies. Sun Wu is more commonly known here in the West as Sun Tzu and Sun Bin is actually a direct descendant, sometimes referred to as Sun Tzu II.

An American Martial Arts Sensei has recently made a post as well on this topic : Etchical Leadership Returns to Fashion

How come leaders of the world have abandoned these teachings? There’s a lot of valuable lessons and advice from these Generals, which actually still do apply as readily today as they did over 2000 years ago. All I can surmise is, they have done so, because it is so much easier to get back handers when there is no real sense of loyalty to the people one is ruling. In other words, greed. Looking at how the Irish government has behaved over the last 10 years, this is blatantly obvious. However, no ruler here has been convicted of such things. Nor will they. Back handers and pats on the shoulder, a secret handshake, and you’re off the hook.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just in Ireland I’m talking about. Have a look at just about any other country in the world, and you’ll see similar patterns. Do you really believe you’ll see President Bush or Prime Minister Blair on a war tribunal for what has been done to Afghanistan and Iraq? Hardly. Most notable pattern you’ll see is, make the rich richer and screw the people who are having a hard time. There’s so many people on this globe, the rulers don’t have to care about them, because if some die of decease new work force will have grown up soon enough. There is absolutely no shortage of work force on this planet. Just look at all the unemployment figures. Yes, even before the economic down turn.

So, leadership to me, when I do step into such roles, is about giving direction and then helping the ones I direct to actually perform their task. It’s about trust and loyalty. It’s about listening at least as much as talking. It’s about compassion as much as it is about control.

Leaders today, on all levels, have this belief that they should command and the ones below them should blindly follow. Try that with an army under fire. If you don’t have their loyalty and their trust, you simply do not have an army. Problem is, a lot of people think “well, at the workplace, I’m not a soldier, I’m a worker”. Sure, what is the real difference? There’s a common goal. There’s specific tasks needing to be done in specific order or at specific times. There’s stress. There’s times of relaxation (read: peace). There’s supply issues. There’s in short a heck of a lot that is in common. Principles for an army works just as well in the workplace.

So, this ancient set of books. These may well set the rules and governing controls for whatever may come along after the current way of ruling teams, companies, armies and countries collapse. Because collapse it surely must. This is inevitable.