In the rhythm of the landscape

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Kennemer dunes 360° today. Energy [ results ]

Min/max temperature: 11°C/20°C; humidity: 66%; precipitation: 0 mm; sea level pressure: 1019 hPa; wind: SE 8.0 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Waxing Crescent Moon, 10% visible

"The battlefield is symbolic of the field of life, where every creature lives on the death of another. A realisation of the inevitable guilt of life may so sicken the heart that, like Hamlet […], one may refuse to go on with it. On the other hand, like most of the rest of us, one may invent a false, finally unjustified, image of oneself as an exceptional phenomenon in the world, not guilty as others are, but justified in one's inevitable sinning because one represents the good. Such self-righteousness leads to a misunderstanding, not only of oneself but of the nature of both man and the cosmos. The goal of the myth is to dispel the need for such life ignorance by effecting a reconciliation of the individual consciousness with the universal will. And this is effected trough a realisation of the true relationship of the passing phenomena of time of the imperishable life that lives and dies in all. "

Joseph Campbell in 'The hero with a thousand faces', page 238, first published by Princeton University Press, USA

"You are in danger of falling into a bad way if you wander and choose the wrong path, for the slightest error in judgement can have grave consequences. […] In daily life as well as in [ training ], it is necessary to have an ample and broad mind and to carefully keep it very straight, not too tight and not at all loose. In order not to have your mind too much off to one side, it is necessary to place it in the centre and move it calmly so that it does not cease to move even in moments of change. […] Even at a calm time, the mind is not calm; even at a moment of great speed, the mind is not at all fast. The mind must not be carried along by the body, nor the body by the mind.

[I]t is appropriate to keep the face neither lowered nor raised, nor leaning nor frowning; to keep the eyes unperturbed, the forehead without wrinkles but with creases between the brows; not to move the eyeball and not to blink, though keeping the eyelids slightly lowered. In this way you shape a beautiful, luminous face, keeping the nose straight and the lower jaw slightly protruding. Keep your neck straight, putting some force in the hollow of the nape; lower your shoulders, with the sensation that the torso from the shoulders down forms a unity; keep the back straight, do not stick out your buttocks, push your force downward from your knees to the tips of your toes. Advance the belly slightly forward so that the pelvis does not lose its stability […]"

Miyamoto Musashi in Kenji Tokitsu's 'Miyamoto Musashi. His Life and Writing', page 151, 152, first published in 2000 by Editions Desiris in France