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Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Total Warrior

A note of humor to start things off:
"A new Facebook app is coming out that will remind users exactly what they were doing a year ago from that day. Nine times out of ten, the answer will be 'wasting your time on Facebook' " - Conan O'Brien

It has been long, long time time since our forefathers have unraveled the mysteries of focus and harmony that have paved the way for our own training. The circumstances that dictated their cultivation are unquestionalbly different than the issues that characterize the present day. Yet, even on the broadest environmental level, similarities abound.

A quick peak beneath 'spiritual surface', will reveal that the Shaolin monks too were immersed in a world governed by money, politics, and power. I do not wish to have a discussion on the financial and polictal yesteryears of Shaolin monks. It is my intent to convey that in our struggle to become complete warriors today, as was the case of the monks in their day, a proper understanding of money, politics and the flow of power is essential.
 
In the spirit of training, please take a moment to view the following link below. Fair warning: it is fairly lengthy (~1.5 hours) and it is very controversial. It is a product of Porter Stansberry, founder of a legitimate investment company, based in Maryland.

Second Fair Warning: the video comes across as an investment pitch and in fact he is offering investment advice. I do feel however that the video raises some very important issues that could affect of our way of life. As such, it is worth listening to.

After viewing the entire video, I remain very skeptical as it is very difficult to believe that the US could allow its place in the world to crumble as the video suggests. It is also difficult to take a complete contrarian stance as I simply do not have enough evidence against what Stansberry purports.

As a final thought, please DO NOT construe this video as an attempt by me to promote "Fear Mongering." This is NOT the point of this post. I am truly hoping that Stansberry's predicitions which have apparently already begun, do not ring true in the next couple of years. Remember, the 'herd mentality' is not always the best play, especially in the financial markets. At the very least Stansberry's efforts offers us a chance to prepare for the worst.

As a warrior, the goal is totality; it is our duty to be aware and act whether the battle is physical, spritual, or as important, economic.

Until we meet again,
Nav

4 comments:

  1. You're right; this was a REALLY long video. I'm a little bit questionable about some of the so-called "testimonials", especially when they had clips of the British people talking about what happened in England.

    However, there was a very good point that fits with the survival conversations Sifu had with us, and that's the concept of "normalcy bais". It was define as the mental state of someone (or a society) who believes that just because something bad has happened somewhere else, it doesn't mean that the same bad thing will happen to them. When you think about it, Americans are probably the number culprits of normalcy bias, because we were raise with the belief that nothing that bad can happen in America. But look what America's gone through, both in terms of natural and criminal disasters: 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, mass school shootouts, the tornadoes in Joplin/Tuscaloosa to name a few. Then look at the terrible things happening in the world: wars in the Middle East, earthquakes in Asia, all sorts of epidemics.

    Anything can happen anywhere. Makes me kind of wonder how prepared we can really try to be in a world that's so unpredicable, and how to break out of this idea of normalcy bias.

    Thanks for sharing, Nav!

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  2. America's economy sounds like the "Mandate of Heaven" theory, where Chinese scholars predicted the rise and fall of different ruling dynasties. Is there really any way to protect ourselves if America is no longer the leading world power?

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  3. Got to be honest I didn't watch the whole video. Who puts up something that long without adding a pause button?! Moving along, this article encompasses what systems within systems is all about. Political systems, economic systems, social systems are all playing off each other and each individual is a system. Here's the rub, you start with yourself. By training you understand who you are and increase your overall awareness, possibly allowing you to see the ebb and flow of all these different systems. That's my take anyway.

    Rick O'shea (@Shaolin_Ochet) shameless, I know

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  4. Okay, well I'm not going to watch something that long right now but I will respond to your description of it and the comments. I propose we examine why preparedness is something we need to have, or that these measures to plan are somehow in the hopes to protect what our "way of life" is or something. Looking at the entire country's place in the world vs. our own individual place within it are maybe both too extremes. I don't think either of those things can be known fully and therefore do not require definitive answers. So I propose the question is more about being comfortable with the unknown, or as navy seals say being comfortable with being uncomfortable, or as ricko'shea said being okay with change.

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