THE SPEAKI NG TREE

BANGALORE, DECEMBER 18, 2011

One mind, any weapon
Hunter B Armstrong
Cold Day
It was a cold winter day, and a
heavily dressed man noticed
Nasruddin outside wearing very
little clothing.Mullah, the man
said,tell me, how is it that I am
wearing all these clothes and still
feel a little cold, whereas you are
barely wearing anything
yet seem unaffected
by the weather?
Well, replied Nasruddin,
I dont have any more clothes,
so I cant afford to feel cold,
whereas you have plenty of
clothes, and thus have
the liberty to feel cold.
Strange Compass
The villagers had found a compass
in the desert.They brought it to
Nasruddin who was the wisest
person in the county.They asked
him what it was. Nasruddin looked
it over, smelt it, played with it and
started crying at first. After weeping
for a few minutes, he started to
examine the compass one more time
and then he burst out laughing so
loud that he fell down from his
chair.The villagers asked him what
was going on. He replied,I cried
out of pity for you who obviously
do not understand the purpose of
this instrument.Then I laughed
when I discovered that I did not
know what it was for either.
No Meal
The local religious leader invited
Nasruddin over for dinner one
night. Nasruddin, not having eaten
much that day, was famished when
he got there, and eager to eat as
soon as possible. After two hours,
however, the religious leader had yet
to offer Nasruddin any food, and
instead spoke nonstop about a
variety of religious topics. As
Nasruddin grew more annoyed with
each passing minute, he finally
interrupted the man and said,
May I ask you something?
What? the religious leader
answered, eager to hear some
religious question that would
prompt him to continue talking.
I was just wondering, Nasruddin
said,did any of the
people in your stories ever eat?
MULLAH NASRUDDIN
T
he couple gifted themselves
a new car for their first
wedding anniversary. They
drove downtown, zipped
through Beach Road, watched a movie
in a drive-in theatre, and finally re-
turned home, happy to be alive. They
didnt have garage facility and so had to
leave the car parked in the street.
To their utter shock, when they
woke up the next morning, the car was
missing.Their new car, stolen! First car,
first wedding anniversary gift, and they
had enjoyed the car for just a day.The
wife couldnt take it.With eyes full of
tears she sank into the sofa.
The husband, too, was a little
jolted, but his love for his wife
prevailed over the moment.
He hugged her and said,The
car is lost.You can feel heavy
about it. Or, you can take it
easy. Either way the car is lost.
Then, why not take it easy?
She was inconsolable but the moment
passed.
Two months later the police recov-
ered the car from one of the car rob-
bery gangs, and it was returned to the
couple who were glad they found it af-
ter all.That very evening, while driving
back home, the husband rammed the
car into a truck. It was his turn to feel
miserable for he just couldnt take it.
On returning home, eyes filling with
tears, he sank into the sofa. She was sad,
too, yet her love for him prevailed over
the moment.This time, she hugged him
and said, The car is crushed.You can
feel heavy about it. Or, you can take it
easy. Either way the car is damaged. But
you are alive and well.Then, why not
take it easy?
When something unpleasant hap-
pens, you can either feel heavy and mis-
erable or take it in your stride. Either
way, after the emotional drama, what
has to be done has to be done.The po-
lice complaint has to be lodged; the car
has to be sent to the workshop; the in-
surance has to be claimed what has
to be done, has to be done.
The child has failed in one of the
subjects. The father wrings his hands
and the mother cries.After all the emo-
tional drama, what? You will have to
take extra care coaching your child on
that subject maybe he will be sent
for special tuition what has
to be done has to be done.You
left the milk a little longer than
required on the stove. The
boiled milk is beginning to
overflow from all sides of the
vessel.You scream and shout
and your BP shoots up af-
ter all the emotional drama,
now what? You will switch the stove
off, take the milk vessel off the stove and
set about cleaning the stove and kitchen
countertop. So, eventually what has to
be done will be done.
From a stock market crash, to a key
employees resignation, to the death of
a beloved after the emotional drama,
eventually what has to be done will be
done. Here we are not discussing
whether to get emotional or not, but
we are talking about avoiding dramat-
ic emotional reactions.
Understandably, you will skip a
heartbeat when you lose your vehicle,
you will sink into helplessness when the
child fails, and tears will roll down your
cheeks at the loss of a beloved. Emo-
tions, yes. Emotional drama, no!
Emotional maturity is not about
avoiding emotions, but it is about avoid-
ing emotional drama.Anyway, what has
to be done has to be done.Then, why
the drama?
Follow TT Rangarajan on
speakingtree.in
Animals Are Better Than Us
We react dramatically because we iden-
tify ourselves with being successful.We
take things for granted, assuming that if
we work hard or spend some extra mon-
ey then success will be ours. Ideally, we
should accept reality as it is,but the prob-
lem is that we are not able to accept fail-
ure. In certain ways, animals are better
than us because they live in the now
and accept reality as it is.
Shabbir Thingna
Drama Is Unavoidable
The difference between being emo-
tional and being dramatic is very small.
Emotional drama is required to express
what we feel, especially when we are
happy.This drama is necessary and un-
avoidable part of life for us.
Aishwarya Chandak
We Project Sad Thoughts
Drama helps in retaining the emo-
tion to linger beyond its season.We love
drama because it crystallises the sense
of I and strengthens the sense of our
identity. Most outburst are centred in
our sorrows because it feels heavy. On
the other hand, happiness feels light and
is not easy to hold on to. Sadness stays
like a rock, happiness flies like a butter-
fly. So we project our sad thoughts and
play the drama queen.
Sathya Lakshman
Emotional Outbursts Are Okay
We have to evolve to become emo-
tionally mature.We are all human, the
more we face hardships, the stronger we
become. Over a period of time, we
learn that nothing is permanent
and what is done is done. Grad-
ually,the so called emotional dra-
ma situations become fewer.
However, a bit of emotional
outburst is good;it makes you
feel lighter and is followed by
a sense of acceptance.
Ruchi Goyal
Drama Attracts Attention
In an age, where people dont have
time for each other, emotional drama
helps attract attention. Often, its inse-
curity that makes you do such things.
Thanks to technological advancements,
our material needs are taken care of, but
our emotional needs are not. Emotions
make us human, so they are good.
Mansi Madan
Emotion Is Energy In Motion
Emotion is sometimes described as
energy in motion. Emotional drama can
be relaxing sometimes as it helps release
pent-up energy. It gives us the oppor-
tunity to show our acting talents. It also
shows our range of emotions. It shows
us the possibilities of the expression of
the energy flowing through us.
Hemu Karkera
Dont Go Against The Current
What is wrong in emotional drama?
We must vent our emotions, but if we
restrain ourselves from doing so, it is
harmful for our emotional health. It
is quite natural to cry on a loss and to
express what can lead to frustration
and depression. Lets not try to stop
the flow of emotions.
Mohan Thakur
T T RANGARAJAN wonders why we give in to our emotions so much that we become dramatic
Why So Much Emotional Drama
Martial art is all about
cultivating integrity.What do
you mean by this?
You must not confuse integrity with
morality and ethics; to have integrity is
to perform and live with 100 per cent
of your being, without doubt, hesita-
tion, remorse or fear. It does not mean
you are perfect or always right; it means
you act in full accord with yourself and
assume responsibility for your actions.
The central purpose of the martial
arts is to fuse the various centres of the
brain and nervous system into one whol-
ly-tuned instrument, so that everything
works together. Different parts of your
body react in different ways. But if you
have integrity,there is no try, as Yoda
would say.You either do, or you dont.
If you are unified, someone who is
not, cannot defeat you in any context;
we first defeat ourselves, then surren-
der victory to our opponent. So peo-
ple who lie and cheat cannot truly be
called martial artists, because they lack
unity of purpose.This may appear like
an oxymoron, because deceit is very
much a part of combat, but once the
concept of integrity is understood, the
discrepancy fades because those who
make deception the central precept of
their lives, tend to first deceive them-
selves, then move on to deceive others.
To thrive despite turmoil, is that
the philosophy of Pammachon?
The central tenet of Pammachon is
simple: we seek power over no man,
but surrender power to no man.As
Nikos Kazantzakis once wrote, in the
space beyond belief and hope, we are
free.The goal in the end is freedom of
every kind; freedom from fear, greed,
envy, poverty and ignorance.There is
a great degree of self-examination in-
volved in the process, of course, and
facing the inevitable realities of our
existence is central: both death and
illness are facts of life and it would be
pointless to pretend otherwise.
Youve said muscle mass is
too much work, why bother
when firearms are used in
modern combat. Then why
martial arts?
Freedom. But freedom does not
mean shirking your responsibilities!
But on a more mundane level, the an-
swer to your question is self-defence.
If you have access to firearms and have
some experience shooting, you will
know that a firearm is secondary to
the person using it.Without the right
training, a person under stress will prob-
ably miss a large target with a pistol at
short range. Someone without the right
physical and mental training runs the
risk not only of using a weapon bad-
ly, but having that same weapon tak-
en away and used on themselves.
But lets forget about Hollywood
movies for a moment, and look at the
average persons life around the world.
The rude drunk or unruly stranger is
likely the worst threat many people
will encounter. And yet, the threat of
violent crime, limited though it is, is
extant. It is far better to be prepared
than unprepared, and at the most ba-
sic level, true martial arts training can
help prepare you for this.
The second basic benefit of mar-
tial education is awareness. Being aware
of when to use force is a fundamen-
tal responsibility. People who do not
have martial training often overreact
with extreme violence when a more
amicable response is appropriate.
Martial education allows the prac-
titioner to know all aspects of their
mind, and know that we can be both
god-like with compassion and wis-
dom and brutal and deadly as a di-
nosaur. It is the monkey brain that pro-
motes fear and worry, lust and anxi-
ety over social (pack) affairs; today we
give it far more credence than it should
have. I say let the monkey sit next to
both the angel and the dinosaur as an
equal member of the team, for that is
what nature intended, and if it is lucky,
it can even catch a glimpse of the mind
of God. And that is true freedom.
How does one come to realise
Divinity through martial arts?
Introspection can help you come to
terms with the Divine, if you are both
lucky and skilled; it is a parallel path to
that of Indian yoga,with the added spice
of physical combat in its repertoire.
Martial arts are indeed an ancient
path towards realisation of the Divine
Spark within all of us, perhaps the old-
est such path still extant.We have dif-
ferent components of our nervous sys-
tem; each one of these is an inde-
pendent mind that strives for control
depending on the circumstances. In-
tegrating these components is a three-
stage process, which, for a minority
of practitioners becomes a four-stage
process allowing them to come into
contact with a part of ourselves not
normally encountered.
As in combat, are the principles
of timing and distancing of great
importance for success in life?
What you truly learn from martial
education and can apply to social af-
fairs goes beyond timing and distanc-
ing; it has to do with viewing the for-
mation. Only a fool would attack a
castles strongest walls, right? A wise
man looks for weak points or flaws
and does not attack a castles strength.
The shape of the castle, its composi-
tion and layout, the thickness or thin-
ness of its walls, all constitute the
fortresses formation.
Everything in life exhibits a for-
mation in turn, whether we are talk-
ing about an individual, a group of
people, an entire society, or even a na-
tion. Martial education allows you to
view that formation in its entirety.
Im not really sure what success
means in this context however; it is
very easy, almost juvenile, to use such
skills in the pursuit of money, for ex-
ample. But I know of no serious mar-
tial artist who has done so; material
possessions are not something we over-
ly aspire to. And yet we have obliga-
tion to provide for both our self and
our family, and never be a burden.Also,
thriving is a relative term. Balance is
essential, as Socrates taught us, and that
this balance is the same whether we
are talking about nature and the en-
vironment in general or human soci-
ety in particular.
In any case, it would be against our
principles to deal with people, as this
would be actively pursuing power over
them.Again, it is not a difficult thing;
for a martial artist, peoples thoughts
and intentions play across their bod-
ies and faces like lights on a Christ-
mas tree. Instead, we use our skills to
protect ourselves and our families, and
as our power grows, to protect the so-
ciety we live in and beyond. Such is
our burden.
poonam.jain1@timesgroup.com
Pammachon or Greek martial art is being revived by KOSTAS DERVENIS. We can be both god-like with
compassion and wisdom, and brutal and deadly as a dinosaur, he tells POONAM JAIN
Keep Fighting Fit
THE SECOND BASIC BENEFIT OF
MARTIAL EDUCATION IS
AWARENESS. BEING AWARE OF
WHEN TO USE FORCE IS A
FUNDAMENTAL
RESPONSIBILITY. PEOPLE WHO
DO NOT HAVE MARTIAL
TRAINING OFTEN OVERREACT
Seekers vote for
emotional drama on
speakingtree.in
KOSTAS DERVENIS

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