Thursday, January 26, 2012
We move forward now, on to phrases 7 & 8:
1. Method consists entirely
2. In the order and disposition of the objects
3. Towards which our mental vision must be directed
4. If we would find out any truth.
5. We shall comply with it exactly if we
6. Reduce involved and obscure propositions
7. Step by step
8. To those that are simpler,
I’ve included phrase 6 as it provides the verb we require for the two following phrases. In 6, we reduce involved and obscure propositions; but how? In 7, we reduce step by step; leading exactly where? In 8 we reduce step by step to simpler propositions. Phrases 6, 7 & 8 are three parts of a more extended phrase, three parts of a single whole.
Here, our key in mastering all three phrases (and their summing up into one larger phrase) is to never forget the verb, what we’re doing. We are reducing. (Continued)
Thursday, January 26, 2012
“If you would like to see skill,
see that you go to the left then right with the cuts.
And left with right,
if you want to fight strongly.”
Johnny L – 1389
When you lack athletic confidence, and failed to spend the hours involved in sporting contest and physical development in your youth, as I failed to do, there are mental gaps that result. One that is daunting for me is remembering left and right. I’m okay with my own hands, but the whole mirror thing – on my right side, if I’m facing you, is your left – that thing, whoa that challenges my brain.
I get lost in who’s who, and what point of view are we speaking from, too. “Attack to the right…” Is that my own right, or my enemy’s right? If it’s my enemy’s right then I have to strike from my left…right? I hate that. So, you can imagine this passage has never been my favorite. What does he mean, “go to the left then right with the cuts”?
After years of confusion, my guess – I know others get this with no mental difficulty – is that our master is saying something like, ‘attack your enemy’s left from your own right with the cuts.’ And, ‘hitting his left, from your right, is how you fight strongly’. (Continued)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
If you pictured that polygraph machine yesterday, in the CIA how-to-beat-a-lie-detector-test class, you probably saw all kinds of little arms, really pens, actually, with their colored lines shooting all over graph paper as the sensors read your slightest little shift in heart rate or respiration. That picture is exactly right, but an old, wonderful friend of ours is always lurking, and he pops his head back up into view right now!
Yes, hello again Rene Descartes, it’s been a little while!
What’s Rene got to do with all this? Well…he’s the guy who turned lines into numbers, and numbers into lines and it is his structure – called the Cartesian Coordinate System – that makes it possible for sensors to turn their number read outs into lines on a graph. Those lines that make the biofeedback possible, they’re actually just numbers. (Continued)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
** 6. Reduce involved and obscure propositions **
Remember our principle about executing only what you understand? When you understand something, your comprehension itself empowers you to generate propositions.
It’s tempting to think in terms of courtship, romance and the propositions lovers extend to each other. Well, let’s surrender to the temptation, briefly! When you propose or extend a proposition to someone, there is a very simple format underlying your statement. If we do such and so, you won’t regret it; or more boldly, if we do such and so you’ll like it, etc.
In everything we do in life we tie effects back to their causes, and we tie causes forward to their effects. A proposition is best understood as nothing more and nothing less than this most fundamental linkage.
What is your proposition to a candidate you have not met yet, when you call to introduce yourself? (Continued)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
“He is a brave man who fights his own weaknesses.”
Johnny L – 1389
Have you ever questioned the power of philosophy to actually affect your life? Have you thought that theory is just a waste of time, what you need is good sound practical guidance? If so, read our master’s words above, again.
This is philosophy. Remember, “philo” is just love, and “sophy” is just wisdom. You can remember that “philo” is love by remembering that Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love. We find the same root in the first syllable.
Would you love to be wise? If so, then you must find your courage and fight your weaknesses. (Continued)
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Are you familiar with biofeedback? A sexy place to picture it is over at the CIA where they train people how to defeat lie detector tests. We have to have a bit of system understanding, though, to get started. You have two systems in your body that generate a constant flow of measurable output for such machines. These two systems are your autonomic and your somatic nervous systems.
If you think of the autonomic system as “automatic;” and the somatic system as simply “controllable by decision” you’ve got the key idea.
The data a lie detector test measures is a picture of your autonomic system – unless – you’ve been trained how to extend the reach and capacity of your somatic system. You can learn to control your breathing, respiration, heart rate, even such things as skin temperature believe it or not. The way you can be trained to do this is actually quite simple. (Continued)
Thursday, January 19, 2012
“With your overconfidence be moderate, which is good for you.”
Johnny L – 1389
http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Johannes_Liechtenauer#Blo.C3.9Ffechten
Personally, I resent this counsel. Me, I always want to be overconfident and right. I’ve never done well with moderation. But, my master tells me it is good for me.
That really is interesting. When you study German Longsword – even much of Master Liechtenauer’s coming counsel – it seems so much to be ‘get in, hit hard, keep hitting hard, go fast, hit harder still and get out with safety once you’ve killed your enemy’. It seems that confidence to the point of overconfidence would be just what the doctor ordered in such a system. (Continued)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Credit: Holly Stein/ALLSPORT
Having been accused of Clintonian parsing last time (harrumph), I’ll not say a single word today about compliance and exactness. I do, however, still wait for proof that I was evilly parsing anything (smile).
Rapidly then, back into our 12-part list from Unpublished Rule 5:
1. Method consists entirely
2. In the order and disposition of the objects
3. Towards which our mental vision must be directed
4. If we would find out any truth.
5. We shall comply with it exactly if we
** 6. Reduce involved and obscure propositions **
In the one word “reduce” we may have found a single-term command that most rapidly and consistently, most forcefully and powerfully explodes from Rene’s drill-sergeant-like lips. Please contemplate this term with every intellectual and practical chop you bring to the table. (Continued)
The Godfather Commentaries #12
The Godfather, Chapter 1, Page 18, Paragraph 4, Sentences 17 & 18
It’s time to meet the girl! Not just for us, but for everyone in the family. She’s not going to impress them, and Michael is savoring that. Never a fool, though, Michael sees what they don’t. Kay is awesome. Her surface, her exterior would disqualify her from any Italian parent’s wish list for their son, most especially their favored son, the prince of the family. Michael sees more, though. (Continued)