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Daily Reflection 4.2.21
Apr. 2nd, 2021 08:26 amSun Tzu tells us,
In order to develop self-possession, we need to gain self-knowledge.
In order to gain self-knowledge, we need to practice meditation.
Buddhist and other East Asian systems of meditation which work by stilling the mind have much to recommend them. They are not, in my view, sufficient; done in isolation, they can lead to mindlessness; done to excess, they can lead to insanity.
That said, stillness is entirely necessary. It is only once we still our minds that we become capable of deliberate action, instead of unchosen reaction.
Western meditation is called discursive meditation. A discursive component to any meditation is also necessary. Discursive meditation builds the capacity to think new thoughts.
So both of these are necessary. First we need to stop being moved. Then we need to learn how to move on our own.
The third component of self-possession is the capacity for pattern-recognition.
That sounds somewhat simple, but very few people seem to possess it. If you spend time studying politics you'll find people supporting positions which are identical to those they opposed two years ago because they're incapable of seeing the underlying pattern. If you spend time studying pathological behavior, you will find people repeating the same patterns over and over because they don't recognize them. If you start learning to observe and to change your own mind, you can learn to detect and change your own destructive patterns of thought and behavior. And that is the key to freedom.
The only person I know who doesn't practice discursive meditation who has a very strong capacity for pattern recognition is a math teacher by profession. That's math, not science-- Scientists seem to be unusually stupid outside their own field (and, often enough, within it). Spending time studying religious texts is also extremely useful, if you approach them, not as works of journalism, but as tools for training the mind and elevating the spirit.
Disciplined and calm, to await the appearance of disorder and hubbub amongst the enemy: this is the art of retaining self-possession.
In order to develop self-possession, we need to gain self-knowledge.
In order to gain self-knowledge, we need to practice meditation.
Buddhist and other East Asian systems of meditation which work by stilling the mind have much to recommend them. They are not, in my view, sufficient; done in isolation, they can lead to mindlessness; done to excess, they can lead to insanity.
That said, stillness is entirely necessary. It is only once we still our minds that we become capable of deliberate action, instead of unchosen reaction.
Western meditation is called discursive meditation. A discursive component to any meditation is also necessary. Discursive meditation builds the capacity to think new thoughts.
So both of these are necessary. First we need to stop being moved. Then we need to learn how to move on our own.
The third component of self-possession is the capacity for pattern-recognition.
That sounds somewhat simple, but very few people seem to possess it. If you spend time studying politics you'll find people supporting positions which are identical to those they opposed two years ago because they're incapable of seeing the underlying pattern. If you spend time studying pathological behavior, you will find people repeating the same patterns over and over because they don't recognize them. If you start learning to observe and to change your own mind, you can learn to detect and change your own destructive patterns of thought and behavior. And that is the key to freedom.
The only person I know who doesn't practice discursive meditation who has a very strong capacity for pattern recognition is a math teacher by profession. That's math, not science-- Scientists seem to be unusually stupid outside their own field (and, often enough, within it). Spending time studying religious texts is also extremely useful, if you approach them, not as works of journalism, but as tools for training the mind and elevating the spirit.
